Review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) by Scott E — 23 Oct 2012

After watching this film so many years later, I find many good things about the film and a couple of VERY bad things about it. This film is to me the very first B movie. The original Frankenstein was a tremendous horror film.

The first sequel The Bride of Frankenstein has some superior plot lines, taken from the original story and opening with a scene of the author Mary Shelley continuing the Frankenstein tale, we see a sympathetic Henry Frankenstein.

A man injured and recovering from the events in the first film. The monster played by Boris Karloff is a true character in this film. He develops, he is hated and he is chased and feared by all who see him.

While he is still a sympathetic monster he is also frightening in his rage. The flaws in this film are the unforgettable clowns like Minnie (Una O'Connor) who portrays a quite buffoonish semi-comedic maid, whose character would be better suited for an Abbott and Costello film or the Three Stooges than a macabre serious film like this.

Dwight Frye plays Karl, another cartoonish figure similar to his performance as Renfield in Dracula. He tries to be creepy but he's actually just a plot device. The writing of the film is not as strong as I wish it.

But some actors really do a fine job. Ernst Thesinger plays Dr. Septimus Pretorius in a memorable fashion, a man with intentions and a cruel streak who coerces an unwilling Dr Frankenstein to create a female monster.

There is a slow build up to the pay off scene showing the bride. And then instantly the movie ends rather abruptly. It seems there were too many limitations on the imaginations of the writers to take this story anywhere.

The entire film seems expository setting us up with character and plot to get to a finally which is memorable mostly for its brevity. My take on it is this film could be best enjoyed if you were to watch both films consecutively.

James Whale did what he could with the script and the cast. But sadly the film just doesn't work, it is not genuine in the emotions of many of the characters. The Burgormeister, the maid, the hunchbacked sidekick, they are unexplained and unexplored, they take away from the film.

Colin Clive and Valerie Hobson as classic and graceful. Boris Karloff is menacing and has a pathos that is felt, but he is awkward and not as fearful as he could be. The best scene in the film involves the time he encounters the blind hermit beautifully played by O.

P Heggie, but the scene is so incredibly condensed that it cannot ring true, it is almost a stage play scene. The single shot technique makes an incredulous and unbelievable new friendship evolve from hello, have some food, we're best friends now go to sleep.

One of the drawbacks to films of the era was the difficulty of pacing scenes like this. But the actors did a very good job of trying to sell it. The special effects are really not worth mentioning, the costumes were interesting the sets were grand the lighting was good for its day and the music appropriate.

Overall there were multiple messages being sent. That it is not good for man to be alone. We all fear it. We are afraid of losing loved ones, and not being accepted. True evil can come in the form of a rowdy mob, or vengeance, or coercion, or in simple rejection.

I do not reject this movie. It aimed high and misfired.