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Bride of Frankenstein 1935 | Not Rated | Horror, Sci-Fi | d. James Whale Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester |
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| The monster speaks! And now he wants a mate! This Universal Studios sequel to 1931’s classic, Frankenstein, re-teamed Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein and Boris Karloff as the creature, with director James Whale, who resisted doing the film for four years. Actually more loyal in several key elements to the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, Bride has left appreciative audiences two of the most iconic scenes in all cinematic adaptations of the Frankenstein story: Karloff’s moving response to a blind cottager’s kindness and Elsa Lanchester’s memorable appearance as the bride, both famously parodied by Mel Brooks in Young Frankenstein. The story picks up where the original left off, showing Karloff’s creature emerging from the burnt wreckage of the mill in which he had been trapped in 1931 (in one take of the scene, Karloff actually fell and broke his leg) and having Dr. Frankenstein cajoled into creating a female creature by an evil associate, Dr. Septimus Pretorius. Mayhem of course ensues. At only 75 min. long, the first print’s body count was too high for the censors and the killing had to be toned down. But the horror of creating life from inanimate flesh still pervades the film, along with the poignancy of a creature utterly alone in a hostile world. Lanchester never speaks a word as the female creature and is on screen for less than five minutes, but her shock hairdo and hissing response to Karloff’s pleading overtures have become the stuff of film legend. - Tom Schmid | ||