Bride of Frankenstein

“An audience needs something stronger than a pretty little love story. So, why shouldn't I write of monsters?”

A direct sequel to their original Frankenstein movie, this is a rare sequel that many feel is better than the sublime original, and that includes me.

This movie starts out a bit differently than its predecessor, with Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays the bride), Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), and her husband Percy (Douglas Walton), discussing how they enjoy her original story of Frankenstein, which then leads into the new story she wishes to tell to expound upon the original. Gavin Gordon really hams it up here, with the other two feeling more realistic to me. Gavin especially rolls the letter R to an extreme degree and feels like he’s still on the stage instead of in a film.

Colin Clive returns as Doctor Henry Frankenstein, with Boris Karloff again as the monster. Elizabeth is played by a different actress this time (Valerie Hobson). Dwight Frye returns to the series as Karl, the murderer turned lab assistant along with Ted Billings as his partner in crime, Ludwig. We also have the misfortune of Una O’Connor having a significant role as Minnie, one of the servants of the Frankensteins, and she’s more annoying than usual here, a significant achievement in a way; there’s the sympathetic blind hermit that is played by O.P. Heggie; and our last main cast member is Dr. Septimus Pretorius, played by the perfectly cast Ernest Thesiger.

I want to spend a moment discussing Mr. Thesiger here. He’s in several other movies as well, although the only other film I’ve personally seen him in so far is The Old Dark House, where he also stars with Boris Karloff. He plays the disturbing eccentric to perfection in both films. He comes off charming enough, but also has enough creepiness to make you distrust him and his motives almost immediately. His character, Doctor Pretorius, is the main catalyst for moving the plot of this movie forward. His ability to slip from erratic intellectual, gracious host, and ruthless mastermind, has to be experienced to get the full effect; he’s simply wonderful in this role. It is this rather ominous character that drives the plot of this film. His goading, cajoling, and even threats to get Henry to help him animate a female creature feel very real. He does have quite a lot of humor to add as well, even if some is very odd, and he repeats a line at two different points in the film with one slight change that I found both brilliant and highly amusing as well. He almost steals the show, he’s simply that good.

"This skull only had one owner, and low mileage!"

The other main driver is the monster himself. He felt sympathetic in the original film, but that goes to much greater heights in this one. He feels childlike and innocent unless he is harassed or attacked, which happens with unfortunate regularity. With his alarming appearance setting so many to automatically recoil in horror and violence, he paints a tragic and lonely figure instead of a horrific one. His scenes with the blind hermit are especially moving as the hermit’s talent with the violin is what first attracted him, and the hermit treats him with kindness, even teaching him to speak. This idyllic interlude is ruined by a couple of lost woodsmen, and it ends tragically. For me, this is the most moving part of the film, even more moving than the film’s powerful conclusion.

Henry feels like he has little to no control during the film. After the continuation of the events of the previous movie start this one off, he is in poor shape and while he is recovering, Dr. Pretorius appears to him, with the threats and promises I previously mentioned. Clive does a solid job, just like in the original, but I’m wondering if part of why we even have the dominating character of Pretorius here is that he was not well at this time of his life, dying only two years after this film. It’s rather sad, since I think he really sells the role in both films, even if I find Cushing’s take on the character more engaging with his darker approach.

I enjoy Hobson’s Elizabeth a bit more than Mae Clark’s take on the character, even with one point early in the film where she comes off almost mad (which fortunately doesn’t last), although more realistic and less stilted at times than her predecessor. She sells the role decently enough and even tells Pretorius off at one point, which was quite welcome.

Ironically, despite the title of the film, the titular bride is barely in it. She’s the most important feature of the movie’s climax, but before then, she features heavily in the plot, but doesn’t manifest until the scene of her creation, a scene that is reminiscent of the original animation of the monster, but even more grandiose. When she does finally appear, she’s stunning, and Elsa plays her so very well. Her jerky movements and uncertainty reflect the newborn creature well, and her reactions to the original monster are excellently done. It’s a stellar performance despite her limited dialog, all sold with facial expressions, body language, and some hissing and screaming.

"The hair is great, but my dress looks like a shroud."
"It is a shroud!"

The film’s ending is spectacular and rather depressing at the same time, which sums the film up as a whole quite well. With the monster being so forlorn and eager to find a friend, and failing so often, with the one time it was going well ending so disastrously, the film feels more tragic than horrific, although horror is certainly evident, with some surprisingly dark moments at times. It’s another classic film that moves at a faster pace than one may expect, although hardly at breakneck speeds, it’s not as languid as some others can be.

"If you liked it, you should have put a ring on it!"

It solidly continues the first movie’s story, has top-notch acting in most cases, makes the monster feel more real than ever, makes the bride so striking and memorable despite her short appearance, and just flows so well with just the right amount of humor (barring Una O’Connor’s constant hysterics anyway), so it’s one of the very best of the classic Universal horror films. There is a bit of misogyny with them wanting to make a female creature for the male one specifically, but it’s not constant, and they don’t overplay that aspect, thankfully. It’s an excellent film, and I consider it to be the very best of all the classic Universal horror films. Quite a treat for this season!

Four eccentric hairdos out of four.

-Boris Karloff thought the monster should not talk, but I agree with many other lovers of this film, that I feel giving him some speech makes the monster more relatable.

-A young John Carradine has an uncredited role as one of the lost woodsmen that finds the monster with the blind hermit in the woods.

-Mary Shelley gets full credit for the original story here, unlike the original movie, where they refer to her by her husband’s name.

-Young Frankenstein parodies all of the first three of the classic Frankenstein series, but the blind hermit scene in that movie and in this picture is an especially fun comparison.

-There’s a point late in the film where the monster tells Henry to ‘Sit down!’ in a role-reversal of the situation in the original film. I thought that was a nice touch.

-I find it very interesting that despite the bride only briefly appearing in the film, her iconic look, and especially her hairdo, are still used for Halloween events, movies, and costumes to this very day. Madeline Kahn’s version of Elizabeth even uses the hairdo near the end of Young Frankenstein.

Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.

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