The Bride of Frankenstein: A Review

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Monsters must lead such interesting lives. That extends to their romantic lives. The Bride of Frankenstein manages to more than hold its own among the great horror films. A richer story with brilliant performances makes The Bride of Frankenstein a great cinematic treat.

It is a dark and stormy night. Three great British writers find themselves in luxurious shelter thanks to Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon). He marvels to his friend Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton) about the third member of their party. Lord Byron cannot believe that the demure Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester) could have come up with such a frightening tale as that of Frankenstein. Mary tells them that there is more to tell. After a brief recap of Frankenstein, we get to her new story.

Both Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his Monster (Boris Karloff, billed as "Karloff") survived the fire and rioting. Henry is spirited away back to Castle Frankenstein. The Monster manages to crawl out from the ruins. Frankenstein family housekeeper Minnie (Una O'Connor) sees the Monster, but no one believes her tale that the Monster lives. Henry is recovering from his experience, attended by his fiancée Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson, the only original Frankenstein actor not reprising their role). Henry wavers between rejecting and embracing his forbidden knowledge.

One person who definitely wants Henry Frankenstein to embrace that forbidden knowledge is Dr. Septimus Pretorious (Ernest Thesiger). He is Henry's former mentor who has had success with his own experiments but has been unable to get his creations to be the right size. He pushes Henry to join forces and bring man back from the dead. The Monster for his part continues rampaging the countryside. He then finds unexpected refuge in the hut of a blind hermit (O.P. Heggie). Unaware of the Monster's appearance, the hermit welcomes him and even teaches him to speak. It is until well-meaning hunters "rescue" the hermit that the Monster flees. He eventually encounters the mad Pretorious, who will now create Woman.

With that, the Monster demands a mate!

Pretorious pushes and eventually forces Henry to return to his nefarious experiments to create the Bride of Frankenstein (Elsa Lanchester in a dual role). Pretorious stoops to using the now Baroness Frankenstein as a hostage to ensure Henry's collaboration. Will the Bride find the Monster to her liking? Who will live and who will die in this climatic showdown?

The Bride of Frankenstein should be studied in how to make a good sequel. The Regency Era prologue gives us a quick recap of what has come before while integrating itself well to the new film. We get the needed information while still finding something new within it. 

Despite being the title character, the actual Bride of Frankenstein does not appear until an hour and ten minutes in The Bride of Frankenstein. Given that the film runs a surprisingly short one hour and fifteen minutes, it is more remarkable that she has so little screentime. Despite that, it was a brilliant decision by director James Whale and screenwriter William Hurlbut to hold back until almost the end. That built up anticipation, the audience knowing that she would eventually appear.

It was also a brilliant idea to have Elsa Lanchester play both Mary Shelley and the titular Bride. In the opening prologue, we see Lanchester as the demure proper Regency lady. At the end, we see this frightening figure. Lanchester plays both roles brilliantly. Her turn as the Bride is now iconic despite the brief appearance. Her sharp head and body movements as well as the sounds that she makes evoke a new creature unaware of anything around her. That is, until she sees her intended husband. Without any knowledge of beauty or ugliness, her frightened reaction is both unsurprising and tragic.

Tragic in terms of how Boris Karloff played the Monster. Karloff had initially opposed having the Monster speak. In this case, we see that Karloff was wrong. The Monster speaking actually enriches the character. It makes the Monster more sympathetic and tragic. He is something of an innocent in this world that routinely rejects him. It also makes him more menacing when needed. Perhaps not since Garbo Talks! in Anna Christie has a cinematic figure become richer textually than Frankenstein's Monster.

Ernest Thesiger is delightfully and wickedly campy as the mad Dr. Pretorious. This is a character who finds joy in his wickedness. His wry commentaries on the various tiny humans that Pretorious has created are in turns funny, arrogant and bitchy. Pretorious is not someone to be trifled with. He is also theatrical and a bit loony. Una O'Connor brings comic relief as Minnie. With her own wacky wardrobe and flights of screaming, O'Connor makes Minnie a figure of fun. She manages to be funny even when she is expressing vindictiveness against the Monster. Her reaction to seeing the Monster standing next to her brings levity to the proceedings.

The Bride of Frankenstein manages to bring a lot of humor to things. There are the performances of Thesiger and O'Connor. There is some of the witty dialogue. After Pretorious' two graverobbers finish, they express horror at their actions. Karl (Dwight Frye, returning in another role from that of Frankenstein) comments to his partner, "This is no life for murderers". Karl's efforts to play off exactly how he got a fresh heart are simultaneously funny and creepy. Earlier, the pompous Burgermeister (E.E. Clive) talks firmly to two policemen after the Monster is first captured. "Now I can get back to more important duties", he snaps. "And leave us to ours," one of the police tells his partner. Clive's double take lends to the humor.

Another Clive, Colin Clive, keeps to his past performance as Frankenstein. It seemed a bit more crazed than last time. It was a bit more exaggerated than I think it needed to be. That was nothing compared to Valerie Hobson as Elizabeth, Baroness Frankenstein. She seemed downright theatrical. I found Hobson wildly overdramatic in The Bride of Frankenstein as to be almost grating.      

A perhaps overlooked element in The Bride of Frankenstein's success is in its score. One might be surprised to find that this horror sequel would have the legendary Franz Waxman write its music. Waxman however, to use modern parlance, understood the assignment. He created charming and elegant music for the Regency-era prologue. He created eerie, menacing music for most of the film. he even threw in vaguely church wedding like bells for when Pretorious announces, "The Bride of Frankenstein!". 

Few sequels match let alone exceed the original. The Bride of Frankenstein is fortunate in that it does exactly that. I believe that The Bride of Frankenstein is a deeper, richer and curiously, wittier film than its predecessor. Given that Frankenstein is already a brilliant film, its bride manages to outshine it. The Bride of Frankenstein has as a tagline, "The Monster Demands a Mate!". With The Bride of Frankenstein, it is a match made in heaven. 

DECISION: A+