Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

James Whale

Writers:

William Hurlbut (screenplay)
William Hurlbut (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 April 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

WHO will be The Bride of Frakenstein WHO will dare ?

Plot:

Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein (goaded by an even madder scientist) builds his monster a mate.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Mad Scientist | Experiment | Miniature People | Crypt

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	The Monster (as Karloff)
Colin Clive	...	Baron Henry von Frankenstein
Valerie Hobson	...	Elizabeth von Frankenstein
Ernest Thesiger	...	Dr. Pretorius
Elsa Lanchester	...	Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley / The Monster's Bride (as ?)
Gavin Gordon	...	Lord Byron
Douglas Walton	...	Percy Shelley
Una O'Connor	...	Minnie - Housekeeper
E.E. Clive	...	Burgomaster
Lucien Prival	...	Albert - Butler
O.P. Heggie	...	Hermit
Dwight Frye	...	Karl
Reginald Barlow	...	Hans
Mary Gordon	...	Hans' Wife
Anne Darling	...	Shepherdess (as Ann Darling)
Ted Billings	...	Ludwig
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Curtis	...	A Hunter
Helen Parrish	...	Communion Girl (scenes deleted)
Robert Adair	...	A Hunter (uncredited)
Norman Ainsley	...	Little Archbishop (uncredited)
Billy Barty	...	Little Baby (uncredited)
Frank Benson	...	Villager (uncredited)
Maurice Black	...	Gypsy (uncredited)
Walter Brennan	...	Neighbor (uncredited)
Mae Bruce	...	Villager (uncredited)
A.S. 'Pop' Byron	...	Henry VIII: Little King (uncredited)
John Carradine	...	Hunter at Hermit's Cottage (uncredited)
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	Procession Leader (uncredited)
Grace Cunard	...	Villager (uncredited)
J. Gunnis Davis	...	Uncle Glutz (uncredited)
Kansas DeForrest	...	Little Ballerina (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon	...	Gypsy's Mother (uncredited)
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Gypsy's Wife (uncredited)
Neil Fitzgerald	...	Rudy (uncredited)
Brenda Fowler	...	A Mother (uncredited)
John George	...	Villager (uncredited)
Helen Gibson	...	Villager (uncredited)
Marilyn Harris	...	Girl (uncredited)
Rollo Lloyd	...	(uncredited)
Josephine McKim	...	Little Mermaid (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Man Being Strangled by the Monster in Flashback During Prologue (uncredited)
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Villager (uncredited)
Sarah Schwartz	...	Marta (uncredited)
Peter Shaw	...	Little Devil (uncredited)
Mary Stewart	...	Neighbor (uncredited)
Frank Terry	...	A Hunter (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon	...	Maid (uncredited)
Lucio Villegas	...	Priest (uncredited)
Joan Woodbury	...	Little Queen (uncredited)

Directed by
James Whale

Writing credits
William Hurlbut		(screenplay)
William Hurlbut		(adaptation) and
John L. Balderston		(adaptation) (as John Balderston)
Mary Shelley		(novel "Frankenstein")
Josef Berne		adaptation (uncredited)
Lawrence G. Blochman		adaptation (uncredited)
Morton Covan		adaptation (uncredited)
Robert Florey		story (uncredited)
Philip MacDonald		adaptation (uncredited)
Edmund Pearson		screenplay (uncredited)
Tom Reed		adaptation (uncredited)
R.C. Sherriff		adaptation (uncredited)

Produced by
Carl Laemmle Jr.	....	producer

Original Music by
Franz Waxman

Cinematography by
John J. Mescall

Film Editing by
Ted J. Kent		(as Ted Kent)

Art Direction by
Charles D. Hall

Makeup Department
Irma Kusely	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Otto Lederer	....	makeup associate (uncredited)
Jack P. Pierce	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred Frank	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Harry Mancke	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Joseph A. McDonough	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
William Hedgcock	....	sound technician (uncredited)
Gilbert Kurland	....	sound supervisor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects
David S. Horsley	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)
Ken Strickfaden	....	special electrical properties (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
William Dodds	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Alan Jones	....	second camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
C. Bakaleinikoff	....	conductor (as Bakaleinikoff)
Clifford Vaughan	....	orchestrator: musical score (uncredited)
Oliver Wallace	....	musician: organ (uncredited)

Other crew
Carl Laemmle	....	presenter
Flo Brummel	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Buddy Daggett	....	secretary: Carl Laemmle Jr. (uncredited)
Peter Shaw	....	stand-in: Ernest Thesiger (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1935) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Film Classics (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Realart Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Universal (1935) (France) (theatrical) (as Universal Films S.A.)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Net5 (2004) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Universal Orchestra  orchestra
• Universal Scoring Stage  orchestra

Also Known As:

Frankenstein Lives Again! (USA) (working title)
The Bride of Frankenstein (USA) (poster title)
The Return of Frankenstein (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:A (original rating) | UK:H (re-rating: 1943) | UK:PG (video rating: 1989) | UK:X (re-rating: 1956) | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | Norway:16 (1986) | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 (1976) | Germany:12 (video rating: 2000) | USA:Approved (PCA #768)

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Director James Whale originally did not want to do a sequel to Frankenstein (1931).

Goofs:

Continuity: After the monster throws Karl off the tower parapet, the camera pans away to a long shot of the Cosmic Diffusor, yet the Monster is nowhere in sight.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lord Byron: Prologue
[looking out the window at a thunderstorm]
Lord Byron: How beautifully dramatic! The cruelest savage exhibition of nature at her worst without.
[turns to face Mary and Percy Shelley, both seated]
Lord Byron: And we three. We elegant three within. I should like to think that an irate Jehovah was pointing those arrows of lightning directly at my head. The unbowed head of George Gordon, Lord Byron. England's greatest sinner. But I cannot flatter myself to that extent. Possibly those thunders are for our dear Shelley. Heavens applause for England's greatest poet.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Red Dwarf: D.N.A. (#4.2)" (1991)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) ****

Reactions to this, James Whale's ageless masterpiece, are varied; some say it just could be the Greatest Horror Film Ever Made, some think it's just an overblown tongue-in-cheek comedy sham. Probably Whale himself would have been the first to label his picture a "farce", but count me among those who think it's a brilliant piece of work, well in consideration as one of the undisputed top-tier horror classics of any decade. It qualifies as horror, but mostly plays along more like a child's twisted storybook fantasy. It's renowned as one of the few movie sequels which may be considered even better than its original (in this case, that would be James Whale's 1931 FRANKENSTEIN). While I think both films are excellent, with the first being more serious in tone than its follow-up, I'd give the hair's edge to BRIDE.

Boris Karloff returned to portray the Frankenstein Monster, and he gives what is easily one of his finest performances. Here, the scarred creature emerges from the charred windmill he was burned in, and falls into the unscrupulous hands of the demented Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger, note-perfect in a part he seems born to play). Pretorius was once a colleague of Henry Frankenstein, the monster's creator (Colin Clive), and now connives his way back into the disinterested Frankenstein's life just as he's about to wed his fiancé, Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson). This time, the idea is to fashion a female for the creature, and Pretorius enlists the hulking Monster as an anxious partner into his scheme.

Karloff gets to talk as the Monster in this film, and while the actor himself believed it was a mistake to give the creature speech, I must respectfully disagree; it made him even more pitiable and human. The film's most wonderful sequence features the wandering creation stumbling awkwardly into the hut of a lonely blind hermit, who cannot see and therefore is unable to judge the Monster strictly from his unnerving physical appearance. Instead, he offers the creature food, water, and a place to sleep, while teaching him the most basic forms of communication. It is a truly great cinematic moment.

There is very little to quibble about within this film (Valerie Hobson's hysterical Elizabeth comes the closest at achieving that), and Whale's passion for lightweight comic relief in his horror films works perfectly. Aside from Thesiger's Pretorius, much of that comes courtesy of Una O'Connor, who is a delight as Frankenstein's sniveling maid. Elsa Lanchester immortalized herself forever with her electrified hairdo as the Monster's intended Mate, and she is also seen early on in a dual performance prologue as the more dainty Mary Shelley, the author who "penned the nightmare". Franz Waxman's glorious score punctuates the wondrous proceedings.