BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

'''Bride of Frankenstein''' is a horror/science fiction film released on April 22, 1935, a sequel to the 1931 film ''Frankenstein''.

Contents

Title note

Plot

Production

Makeup

Sets and special effects

Credits

Cast

Crew

Afterlife

Trivia

Cultural references

References

See also

External links

Title note

The name "Frankenstein" properly refers to the scientist, not the nameless monster; the "Bride of Frankenstein" of the film's title is twofold: the monster's mate (as intoned by Dr. Pretorius at the film's climax), and Frankenstein's new bride Elizabeth. The first "the" in the title appears on advertising for the film, but not on the film itself. It is also worth noting that the intended title of the film was "The Return of Frankenstein."

Plot

Doctor Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has resolved to abandon his experiments in creating life in favour of a peaceful marriage with the beautiful Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson), but his old mentor, the mad scientist Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who has himself created miniature human-like beings, tries to persuade Frankenstein to combine their efforts in "playing God." Frankenstein is torn between his upcoming marriage to Elizabeth, and the appeal of creating life with Dr. Pretorius.
The monster (Boris Karloff) befriends an old blind violinist in the woods, who teaches the monster how to speak. Pretorius, forced to continue his experiments without Frankenstein's involvement, has a chance encounter with the monster; by kidnapping Elizabeth, they blackmail Frankenstein into creating a bride for the monster (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays author Mary Shelley in the film's prologue).
The bride rejects the monster; spurned, he destroys the laboratory. "You live! Go." he tells Frankenstein and Elizabeth. "You stay," he tells the others. "We belong dead." The film ends with the monster (and his bride) presumably dead; it was up to the ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) to resurrect him.
The basis of the film is rooted in the original novel. A subplot from the latter half of the book involves the monster promising to leave Frankenstein, and the human race, alone if Frankenstein will create a mate for him. Frankenstein creates the female monster, but never brings it to life, deciding instead to destroy it.

Production

Actor Colin Clive, who plays Henry Frankenstein, broke his leg in a riding accident during filming, and hence remains seated in most of his scenes ^[1].
Dwight Frye portrays Karl - despite having played hunchbacked dwarf Fritz, who was killed in the original film. The make-up was entirely different, however, since Karl wore short hair and bizarre eyebrows. This role continued a long series of appearances through Universal's Frankenstein saga in which he essayed different roles, culminating in ''Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'' (1943). Likewise, Marilyn Harris (whose character is accidentally killed in the original, in which she played little Maria) reappears here.

Makeup

Universal's makeup ace Jack Pierce paid special attention to the monster's appearance in this film. As well as altering his 1931 design to display the after-effects of the mill fire, he adorned Karloff with a singed hairstyle that actually "grows" during the course of the film. An unavoidable flaw, however, was that the newly prosperous Karloff's face had filled out since the first film and had lost its eerily cadaverous look.

Sets and special effects

The financial success of the original Frankenstein movie enabled the producers to put much more money into the production than its low-budget predecessor. The laboratory is now not just barely equipped, it is overflowing with sparks, dials, and coils. The scene in which the mate is brought to life with a bolt of lightning is greatly improved over the original. Most critics consider ''Bride'' to be a generally better movie, and arguably the best of all non-comedic versions (although the film's dry vein of wit does not go unnoticed ), but especially so for its glittering production values.
The man behind the astounding special photographic effects in ''Bride of Frankenstein'' was John P. Fulton, A.S.C., head of the special effects department at Universal Studios at the time. The scene in which Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) shows Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) miniature people inside glass jars still baffles audiences and even special effects experts today.
The impressive village prison set would be reused for Bela Lugosi's lair in ''The Raven'' later the same year, also starring Boris Karloff. The watchtower staircase was featured in Universal's popular ''Flash Gordon'' serials starring Buster Crabbe, as well as ''Dracula's Daughter'' (1936). Kenneth Strickfaden, who created and maintained the laboratory equipment, shared it in the Mel Brooks homage/spoof, ''Young Frankenstein'' (1974). The European village set, left over from ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' of 1930, was used and maintained for dozens of other studio features, until it was accidentally destroyed by fire.

Credits

Boris Karloff is credited simply as 'KARLOFF', which was Universal's custom during the height of his career, much to Bela Lugosi's dismay. By the third Frankenstein installment four years later (''Son of Frankenstein''), he had reverted to being "Boris Karloff" again and found himself billed under Basil Rathbone in his own series.
Elsa Lanchester is credited for the role of Mary Shelley, but in a nod to the earlier film, the monster's bride is credited only as "?", just as Boris Karloff had been in the opening credits of the first film.

Cast

★ Karloff as The Monster

★ Colin Clive as Dr. Henry Frankenstein

★ Valerie Hobson as Elizabeth Frankenstein

★ Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius

★ Elsa Lanchester as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley/The Monster's Mate

★ Gavin Gordon as Lord Byron

★ Douglas Walton as Percy Shelley

★ Una O'Connor as Minnie

★ E. E. Clive as Burgomaster

★ Lucien Prival as Albert (the butler)

★ O.P. Heggie as Hermit

★ Dwight Frye as Karl

★ Reginald Barlow as Hans

★ Mary Gordon as Hans' wife

★ Anne Darling as Shepherdess (as Ann Darling)

★ John Carradine as a hunter (uncredited)

★ Walter Brennan as a villager (uncredited)

Crew

The movie was adapted by William Hurlbut and John Balderston from an incident in Mary Shelley's novel ''Frankenstein'' in which the creature demands a mate. It was again directed by James Whale, following his success with ''Frankenstein'', ''The Invisible Man'' and ''The Old Dark House''.

Afterlife

The film spawned numerous sequels, none of which were directed by Whale.
The film ''Gods and Monsters'' (1998) depicts the life of James Whale and features reconstructions of the filming of key scenes in ''Bride of Frankenstein''.
In 1998, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

Trivia

★ The thinly disguised homosexual overtones may be a trademark of James Whale (particuarly the relationship between Frankenstein and Pretorius; as explained by film historian Scott MacQueen on the ''Bride of Frankenstein'' DVD commentary track) but also note the other potentially blasphemous imagery in the film, such as the monster's virtual crucifixion at the hands of the villagers.

★ Ernest Thesiger's sly remark, "Do you like gin? It is my only weakness!" is a nod to a similar quotation in ''The Old Dark House'', also intoned by Thesiger.

★ Pretorius mentions that he grew his miniature people "from seed", a reference to the alchemical belief that it was possible to generate homunculi - tiny humanoid creatures - by placing a mixture of flesh and sperm in a dung hill.

Cultural references

Aspects of and the title of the film have been mentioned or alluded to in a number of popular films, television shows, and songs. In the finale of ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' "Magenta" sports a hairdo similar to The Monster's Mate. In the 1998 film ''Small Soldiers'', members of the Commando Elite use the "brain" (actually a military-grade microchip) of a fallen comrade to bring an army of "Gwendy" dolls to life. During the "creation" sequence, Max Steiner's theme for the Bride plays. At the end of the sequence, one of the commandos exclaims "She's alive! Alive!".
The song ''Bride of Frankenstein'' is the title of a single by New Zealand band Toy Love. The song "Dust to Dust" by The Misfits is about the film. In the animated series ''Beetlejuice'', Lydia's band was called "The Brides of Frankenstein." One episode of the children's cartoon series ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' ("Home of the Ancients") shows The Monster's Mate living in an old folks home.

References

1. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166972/bio

See also

★ The Bride (film)

External links

★ ''Bride of Frankenstein'' at the All Movie Guide