Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger

directed by James Whale

75 minutes

Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) comes to Henry Frankenstein while he is recovering from wounds sustained during the fight with the Monster, towards the end of the Frankenstein (1931). Pretorius suggests that they should work together to make a mate for the Monster. Henry wavers and at first agrees to work with Pretorius.

The Monster kills the parents of the young girl whom he drowned in the previous film. An armed mob hunts down the creature, captures it alive and locks it up, but it escapes. It has a friendly encounter with a blind man who befriends it and teaches it how to speak. The Monster later meets Dr. Pretorius by chance. 

Pretorius explains to the monster what he has planned. The Monster approves and helps out by kidnapping Elizabeth, Henry's wife. Pretorius withholds this information from Henry until Henry expresses some doubts about continuing with the project. Henry presses on and together they create the Bride of Frankenstein.

Thoughts

Elsa Lanchester played two roles in this film. In the opening minutes of the movie she played author Mary Shelly. In the closing minutes of the movie she played the Bride of Frankenstein. It's a shame that there wasn't more of her in this movie.

Boris Karloff received top billing in this movie and the movie is mostly about his character. He was fourth billed in Frankenstein (1931).

This movie is put forth as the sequel to Frankenstein (1931) but there is at least one character from the first movie who seems to be missing from this movie, James Frankenstein's father. He was in the ending of the first movie and very much alive. This film is supposed to pick up where the previous one left off and yet they play it without any mention of his father.

I didn't realize how much of Young Frankenstein (1974) was modeled after this movie until now.

I've seen this movie once before, a long time ago. It is a much better movie than Frankenstein (1931) but I recall it disappointing me the first time around. The title character in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is only in the last five minutes of the movie, which ends fairly abruptly. I think those are the things that disappointed me about this film the first time I saw it.

This time around I was much more impressed by The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). There is some humor in it and also some tender moments, involving the Monster and people it encountered. I was also more impressed with the way it was shot and edited together this time around.