DVD The Bride of Frankenstein
It appeared, at the end of the epochal 1931 horror movie Frankenstein, that the monster had perished in a burning windmill. But that was before the runaway success of the movie dictated a sequel. In Bride of Frankenstein, we see that the monster (once again played by Boris Karloff) survived the conflagration, as did his half-mad creator (Colin Clive). This remarkable sequel, universally considered superior to the original, reunites other key players from the first film: director James Whale (whose life would later be chronicled in Gods and Monsters) and, of course, the inimitable Dwight Frye, as Frankenstein's bent-over assistant. Whale brought campy humor to the project, yet Bride is also somehow haunting, due in part to Karloff's nuanced performance. The monster, on the loose in the European countryside, learns to talk, and his encounter with a blind hermit is both comic and touching. (The episode was later spoofed in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein.) A prologue depicts the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, being urged to produce a sequel by her husband Percy and Lord Byron. She's played by Elsa Lanchester, who reappears in the climactic scene as the man-made bride of the monster. Her lightning-bolt hair and reptilian movements put her into the horror-movie pantheon, despite being onscreen for only a few moments. But in many ways the film is stolen by Ernest Thesiger, as the fey Dr. Pretorious, who toasts the darker possibilities of science: "To a new world of gods and monsters!" Absolutely. --Robert Horton |
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Review(s): DVD The Bride of Frankenstein | |
| A Classic Horror Sequel That Outdoes the Original |  |
Even after nearly 70 years, few horror movies match the perfect juxtaposition of spooky ambiance and morbid hilarity that can be found in James Whale's THE BRIDE OF FRANEKENSTEIN. Superior to the first film--though that one is also a masterpiece--Whale's direction is brilliant throughout. Especially interesting is the scene where the "Bride" is created: The use of harsh lighting, odd camera angles, and abrupt cutaways creates an eerie and uncomfortable feeling that heightens the horror of the event depicted, and while watching it all unfold seamlessly, it easy to see why the film is considered the archetype for all mad-scientist horror flicks.The acting is also quite superb. Ernest Thesiger (Doctor Pretorious) and Elsa Lanchester (The "Bride") both deliver wonderfully quirky over-the-top performances, but they don't upstage Karloff, who still imparts his portrayal of the monster with the same ambivalent mixture of pathos and loathing that helped make the first film so memorable. The performances alone make this film worth watching (again and again!), but add to it the gothic sets, the fine direction, and the outrageous mixture of horror and comedy, and you have a classic horror flick that has yet to be beaten. Whale's best film, by far!
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| "To a new world of Gods and Monsters!" | |
It could only have taken a brilliant God of the Cinema such as James Whale to direct this stylish, delightful, and in many ways superior sequel to his original FRANKENSTEIN film. More faithful to the original story, the Monster (again played by Boris Karloff), who can now speak, survives the fire from the windmill and with the aid of an eccentric old scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger in an unforgettably loony performance) seeks Henry Frankenstein (again played by Colin Clive) to create a female companion for him. Film contains a wonderful cast of supporting players as Valerie Hobson replacing Mae Clarke as Elizabeth, Una O'Connor as Minnie the Housemaid, Dwight Frye, Mary Gordon, Torben Meyer, Tempe Pigott, E.E. Clive, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton, and let's not forget Elsa Lanchester who plays not only the Bride, but in a delightful prologue Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley! Lanchester, with the green Monster make-up, formal wedding gown, and wacky Queen Nefirtiti hairstyle is such a standout, she almost steals the film from both Thesiger and Karloff! DVD includes a wonderful documentary "She's Alive! The Making of the Bride" hosted by GREMLINS and EXPLORERS director Joe Dante, and an equally fascinating film commentary by Scott MacQueen. In short, one of the greatest films in Hollywood History is now even greater!
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| Universal's definitive Frankenstein motion picture | |
Rarely is a sequel, particularly a horror sequel, better than its predecessor, but Bride of Frankenstein (1935) easily replaced the 1931 original classic as the definitive Universal Frankenstein movie. Director James Whale did not want to do another Frankenstein movie for the most admirable of reasons, and largely because of his feelings on the matter he brought to a life a sequel that sought perfection in every discernible way and provided a much deeper and more poignant look at the monster of Frankenstein's creation - the comedic exploitation of the monster did not begin on his watch. The addition of a full-scale musical score added depth and its own emotional layers to the drama, Karloff brought amazing pathos and humanity to the creature, and Elsa Lanchester, in a few short minutes, gave the world one of the truly eternal horror images and icons in the form of the Bride of Frankenstein's Monster (which is what the film should have been called).Most of the principal cast members of the original Frankenstein movie reprise their roles here, including Colin Clive as Frankenstein and the inimitable Boris Karloff as the monster. Mae Clarke, however, was unavailable for health reasons, and a seventeen-year-old Valerie Hobson took on the role of Elizabeth, Frankenstein's fiancée. This is a noticeable change, as Hobson played Elizabeth in a strikingly different manner. As you may have guessed, Frankenstein's monster did not actually die in the big fire that ended the first motion picture. The windmill was built over a cistern (more like a great big underground pond, if you ask me), and the monster escapes the conflagration, not before killing a couple of people and scaring Minnie, this film's version of interminable comic relief, half to death. Dr. Frankenstein, for his part, also survives (although we already knew this thanks to the last-minute concluding scene of the first movie). He regrets his foolish attempts to play God, even though he still speaks with a mad zeal about the dreams he pursued so dangerously. Enter Dr. Praetorius (Ernest Thesiger), a former professor of Frankenstein's and the kind of evil genius our reformed young doctor should have become. Praetorius has been doing his own God-like experiments and now seeks to join his knowledge with that of Frankenstein to make not a man, but a woman. In the film's only borderline ridiculous moments, we see the products of Praetorius' work - the film work and special effects are brilliantly done, but the whole idea is just laughably silly. Still, you can't help liking old Praetorius because he is everything a mad scientist should be. Frankenstein has now become - well, (...) a cowardly man who seems incapable of acting on his own accord. Luckily, Dr. Praetorius knows how to deal with a man such as Frankenstein, and he eventually succeeds in getting the good doctor back in the lab for one final experiment. As for Frankenstein's monster, we finally get to see the humanity of the character emerge. Seeking friendship, he is met only with fear, screams, and malice. He does manage to find a friend in the countryside, however - the sound of violin music takes him to the home of a blind hermit. In one of the most touching scenes in cinema history, the blind man takes the monster in, thanks God for finally sending him a friend to assuage his loneliness, and shines the full light of humanity, all too briefly, on the lonely creature. Naturally, this time of happiness does not last long, but the monster does develop the ability to speak before he is separated forever from his friend. He ends up crossing paths with Dr. Praetorius, who quickly sells him on the idea of a mate, setting the stage for another pyrotechnic creation scene that gives us the unforgettable Bride of Frankenstein. The cinematography, musical score, and basically everything else are well-nigh perfect in this film; despite the ridiculous editing demands of the censors, Bride of Frankenstein achieves the pinnacle of monster movie success. Still, it bothers me that these films have defined Frankenstein's monster as a creature much different than the literary monster of Mary Shelley's creation. The first film completely stood Shelley's story on its head, missing the point entirely. How ironic it is for Bride of Frankenstein to feature a prologue featuring the character of Mary Shelley herself, in company with her companion Percy Bysse Shelley and the flamboyant Lord Byron, explaining the meaning of her work and then introducing yet another bastardization of the real Mary Shelley's literary masterpiece. The original monster, as envisioned by Shelley, was not the creature at all; it was Dr. Frankenstein, not so much because he played God but because he abandoned his monstrous creation and left him alone to fend for himself. Bride of Frankenstein rights some of this wrong by showing the depth of humanity in the monster, but it cannot undo the wrongs already done the character. In the context of the cinema, he will forever be a "monster," a shadow of his true literary self, forced to suffer at the hands of man while the true villain of the story fails to even attempt to redeem himself or to suffer the harsh yet noble fate that he so rightfully earned in Shelley's original story.
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