ACitizenCalledKane Review of Bride of Frankenstein

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

"To a new world of gods and monsters!"

[8/10 · 7 January 2005]

Picking up where James Whale's 1931 horror classic, Frankenstein, left off, we are presented a very intriguing sequel. This film takes the ideas of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and embellishes upon them quite a bit. Although I believe that James Whale's sense of humor and "camp" quality take away from the picture, I believe that the thoughts that are brought to the story make up the difference. I am not going to debate whether The Bride of Frankenstein is superior to the original, or not. It is as futile as a battle of the sexes. While The Bride of Frankenstein uses the same characters, and same story as a base, they are quite different, which is why I feel that comparing the two is utterly pointless. While Frankenstein brought up moral issues about man playing God, this film focuses more on the after-effects, human nature, relationships, and, in some very odd ways, family mechanics (no pun intended. Boris Karloff's second incarnation of the monster is much more human, more sensitive, and more developed. In the first film, he merely smashed through things, strangled townspeople, and expressed very basic emotions (fear, anger, etc.). Here, we see that the monster now understands how alone he is. He has developed a longing for acceptance and even love. His true nature is also revealed, I believe, in a few scenes in particular. The most poignant of which is the scene in the blind hermit's cabin. Much credit is due to O. P. Heggie for his emotional performance as the kind, lonely, blind man, who is unable to see the physical deformities of the monster, but still sees the the basic humanity within him. Being able to see, the rest of the villagers fear the monster, and attack it on sight. This scene is very important because it shows how we, as human beings, judge others so harshly on appearances. Colin Clive returns as Dr. Frankenstein, no longer bent on the creation of life from the dead. That is, until he is provided with a new scientific venture through the flamboyant former philosophy professor, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger). His proposition is to create a new monster, a mate for Frankenstein's monster, so as to develop a race of creatures. At first, Frankenstein is against the notion, but soon, his ambition gets the better of him once again. Their collaboration reaches a climax with the unveiling of their new creature, The Bride of Frankenstein (Elsa Lanchester). There are many iconic scenes in this film, particularly, the "birth" of the bride. This is an interesting movie, owing much to early German expressionism, and while I don't know if it is superior to Frankenstein, I will say that it is definitely worth seeing, especially for fans of classic horror films.