Four years after wowing audiences with the original “Frankenstein”, Director James Whales returned with what is often hailed by critics as an equally impressive film: “Bride of Frankenstein”. For my money, I greatly prefer the first installment over its sequel. “Bride of Frankenstein” is a classic film and a more than worthy follow-up to “Frankenstein”, but suffers from a somewhat uneven atmosphere which is all that keeps it from matching the quality of its predecessor.
Following his narrow survival at the windmill, Baron Henry von Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has decided to hang-up his lab coat, marry his darling Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson) and move on with his life. Frankenstein’s “happily ever after” is to be denied, however, once his eccentric mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), comes to pay him a visit. Dr. Pretorius wants Frankenstein to continue his experiments into the creation of life and will stoop to any means in order to make him. Meanwhile, the monster (Boris Karloff) has survived certain doom at the burning windmill and continues to ransack the countryside in a desperate attempt to find peace and understanding. After a chance encounter with Dr. Pretorius, though, the monster becomes a tool to force Frankenstein into creating his next monstrosity: woman (Elsa Lanchester).
Universal doesn’t pay much mind to most of their sequels to their Classic Monster franchises. With good reason, too, as the majority of those sequels are of such inferior quality that they’re best left in obscurity. There is one exception, though: “Bride of Frankenstein”. This has to do with a couple things. Firstly, the movie isn’t terrible. Secondly, the Bride-herself is of such striking visual appeal that she’s easily as memorable as the Mummy or the Gillman. As far as sequels are concerned, “Bride of Frankenstein” is an anomaly amongst the Universal Classic Monster library.
James Whales offers us an almost complete cast reunion of all the worthwhile characters from the original. Colin Clive reprises his role as Frankenstein, though truth be told, he isn’t in the film nearly as much as he should be, disappearing for long stretches of time as the monster roams about the forests, doing his thing. Clive is much more active during the finale, where he creates the Bride (complete with Frankenstein’s catchphrase, “It’s alive!”). Valerie Hobson replaces Mae Clarke as Elizabeth, but not to worry, the performance is so identical that you won’t care, even if you notice. New to the fold is Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius. With Frankenstein having seen the light, Pretorius is the true villain of the film, portraying something akin to Frankenstein’s dark side (determined to achieve the same end as Frankenstein, but through less wholesome means). He’s very flamboyant and foppish, almost to the point of overacting, but never obnoxious.
And, of course, you have the immortal Boris Karloff as the monster. Karloff gets to stretch his acting muscles a bit more in this installment, as the sympathetic angle of the monster is played up much more than before. If you didn’t feel sorry for him in the last film, you’ll definitely pity him in this installment. While pop culture parodies (such as Phil Hartman’s Frankenstein on Saturday Night Live) have somewhat tainted his lines and performance with a comedy association, Karloff’s portrayal of the monster remains truly remarkable. He challenges the audience, as the monster is sympathetic, sure, but in his naiveté he kills quite a few people (“Bride of Frankenstein” has quite the body-count for its day), which really isn’t excusable. Despite her status as a horror icon, the Bride is hardly in the film at all, appearing only at the end for a handful of minutes. Still, her interaction with the monster in those minutes really makes the movie, leading up to the classic line, “She hate me” and the monster’s final, somber revelation.
I mentioned earlier that “Bride of Frankenstein” suffers from an uneven atmosphere, and that really is the film’s only failing. The original “Frankenstein” was a tremendously grim movie with scarcely any levity to speak of. For whatever reason, Director James Whales decided to interject lots of comedy relief to break up the darkness of the plot, and it’s all pretty annoying. The main source of “comedy” is a shrill housemaid named Minnie (Una O’Connor), who takes every opportunity to make outrageous wild takes and excruciating deadpan statements directly into the camera. She might not have been so bad had she been used sparingly, but she garners nearly as much screentime as Frankenstein-himself.
Another part of the movie I always thought seemed out of place is the scene where Dr. Pretorius unveils his early experiments, revealing glass cases of miniature people. The entire scene is done for comedic effect, featuring an amorous king, a reluctant queen, an over-worked archbishop and several others. The moment seemed more like a means to showcase some cool special effects (that were groundbreaking back in 1935 and hold up surprisingly well) rather than any attempt to fit the feel of the movie. I’ve never been able to stand the scene, anyway.
Instances of bad comedy aside, “Bride of Frankenstein” is a worthy companion to the original and only ever-so-slightly inferior. It forms the middle portion of a fine trilogy of films, with “Son of Frankenstein” being an enjoyable (though too-often overlooked) sequel.
Grade: B- (as in “Beware the Political Correctness Police, as they’ll likely want to ban this movie for encouraging smoking”.)
Following his narrow survival at the windmill, Baron Henry von Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has decided to hang-up his lab coat, marry his darling Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson) and move on with his life. Frankenstein’s “happily ever after” is to be denied, however, once his eccentric mentor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), comes to pay him a visit. Dr. Pretorius wants Frankenstein to continue his experiments into the creation of life and will stoop to any means in order to make him. Meanwhile, the monster (Boris Karloff) has survived certain doom at the burning windmill and continues to ransack the countryside in a desperate attempt to find peace and understanding. After a chance encounter with Dr. Pretorius, though, the monster becomes a tool to force Frankenstein into creating his next monstrosity: woman (Elsa Lanchester).
Universal doesn’t pay much mind to most of their sequels to their Classic Monster franchises. With good reason, too, as the majority of those sequels are of such inferior quality that they’re best left in obscurity. There is one exception, though: “Bride of Frankenstein”. This has to do with a couple things. Firstly, the movie isn’t terrible. Secondly, the Bride-herself is of such striking visual appeal that she’s easily as memorable as the Mummy or the Gillman. As far as sequels are concerned, “Bride of Frankenstein” is an anomaly amongst the Universal Classic Monster library.
James Whales offers us an almost complete cast reunion of all the worthwhile characters from the original. Colin Clive reprises his role as Frankenstein, though truth be told, he isn’t in the film nearly as much as he should be, disappearing for long stretches of time as the monster roams about the forests, doing his thing. Clive is much more active during the finale, where he creates the Bride (complete with Frankenstein’s catchphrase, “It’s alive!”). Valerie Hobson replaces Mae Clarke as Elizabeth, but not to worry, the performance is so identical that you won’t care, even if you notice. New to the fold is Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius. With Frankenstein having seen the light, Pretorius is the true villain of the film, portraying something akin to Frankenstein’s dark side (determined to achieve the same end as Frankenstein, but through less wholesome means). He’s very flamboyant and foppish, almost to the point of overacting, but never obnoxious.
And, of course, you have the immortal Boris Karloff as the monster. Karloff gets to stretch his acting muscles a bit more in this installment, as the sympathetic angle of the monster is played up much more than before. If you didn’t feel sorry for him in the last film, you’ll definitely pity him in this installment. While pop culture parodies (such as Phil Hartman’s Frankenstein on Saturday Night Live) have somewhat tainted his lines and performance with a comedy association, Karloff’s portrayal of the monster remains truly remarkable. He challenges the audience, as the monster is sympathetic, sure, but in his naiveté he kills quite a few people (“Bride of Frankenstein” has quite the body-count for its day), which really isn’t excusable. Despite her status as a horror icon, the Bride is hardly in the film at all, appearing only at the end for a handful of minutes. Still, her interaction with the monster in those minutes really makes the movie, leading up to the classic line, “She hate me” and the monster’s final, somber revelation.
I mentioned earlier that “Bride of Frankenstein” suffers from an uneven atmosphere, and that really is the film’s only failing. The original “Frankenstein” was a tremendously grim movie with scarcely any levity to speak of. For whatever reason, Director James Whales decided to interject lots of comedy relief to break up the darkness of the plot, and it’s all pretty annoying. The main source of “comedy” is a shrill housemaid named Minnie (Una O’Connor), who takes every opportunity to make outrageous wild takes and excruciating deadpan statements directly into the camera. She might not have been so bad had she been used sparingly, but she garners nearly as much screentime as Frankenstein-himself.
Another part of the movie I always thought seemed out of place is the scene where Dr. Pretorius unveils his early experiments, revealing glass cases of miniature people. The entire scene is done for comedic effect, featuring an amorous king, a reluctant queen, an over-worked archbishop and several others. The moment seemed more like a means to showcase some cool special effects (that were groundbreaking back in 1935 and hold up surprisingly well) rather than any attempt to fit the feel of the movie. I’ve never been able to stand the scene, anyway.
Instances of bad comedy aside, “Bride of Frankenstein” is a worthy companion to the original and only ever-so-slightly inferior. It forms the middle portion of a fine trilogy of films, with “Son of Frankenstein” being an enjoyable (though too-often overlooked) sequel.
Grade: B- (as in “Beware the Political Correctness Police, as they’ll likely want to ban this movie for encouraging smoking”.)
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