| Photos (see all 22 | slideshow) | Videos |
| 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 Mate (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) | |
| 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) | |
| 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) | |
| Lucio Villegas | ... | Priest (uncredited) | |
| Joan Woodbury | ... | Little Queen (uncredited) | |
Directed by | |||
| James Whale | |||
Writing credits | ||
| William Hurlbut | (writer) | |
| 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) | |
| 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 | |||
| 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) | |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb top 250 movies | IMDb Horror section |
| IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |
Interestingly, Whale did not want to make a sequel to his incredibly successful 1931 FRANKENSTEIN, and bowed to studio pressure only when he received assurance of absolute control. The result is perhaps his most personal film--a strange collage of Gothic horror, black humor, religious motifs, and sexual innuendo--and one of the great classics of the genre.
The plot elaborates an idea contained in the Mary Shelly novel: Frankenstein is pressured to create a mate for the monster. In Shelly's novel, the doctor eventually balks; in the film, however, he sees the experiment through due to a mix of his own obsession and the manipulations of a new character, Dr. Pretorious, and the two create the only truly iconographic female monster in the film pantheon of the 1930s horror film: "The Bride," brilliantly played by Elsa Lanchester.
The cast is excellent throughout, with Colin Clive and Boris Karloff repeating their roles and Frankenstein and the monster, and Valerie Hobson an able replacement for Mae Clarke in the role of Elizabeth; Ernest Thesiger and Una O'Connor also give incredibly memorable performances as the truly strange Pretorius and the constantly hysterical maid Minnie. The art design is remarkable, and the Waxman score is justly famous. But the genius of the film lies not so much in these new and bizarre characters, in the familiar ones, or in the production values: it is in the way in which Whales delicately balances his elements and then subverts them.
FRANKENSTEIN owes much of its power to its directness--it has a raw energy that is difficult to resist, still more difficult to describe. But THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN owes its power to its complexity. Nothing here is quite what it appears to be, and throughout the film we constantly receive mixed messages about the characters and implications of their situations. While Thesiger's Dr. Pretorius is justly celebrated as a covert gay icon of the darkest possible variety, and while many people quickly grasp Whale's often subversive use of Christian imagery, the film has many, many layers that do not reveal themselves upon a single viewing.
The single most startling sequence, at least to my mind, is the famous scene in which the Monster stumbles into the lonely cottage of the blind hermit, a role beautifully played by O.P. Heggie. On the surface, the sequence would seem to be about how cruelly we judge people by appearances, and how true kindness can lift the fallen. It was not until I had seen the film several times that it dawned upon me that Whale has essentially endowed the a scene with a host of covertly homosexual overtones--and then tied them to a series of Christian elements for good measure. It is startling, to say the least.
The current Universal DVD release is exceptional, and the film is supported with an interesting documentary and a still more interesting audio commentary track. Critics and fans continue to battle of whether FRANKENSTEIN or THE BRIDE is the better film--but I say they are so completely different that the question simply doesn't arise. Whatever the case, if you are a fan of 1930s horror and James Whale in particular, this is a must own see, must own.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer