My Review of Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

 

Written by William Hurlbut And John L. Balderston

Directed by James Whale 

The Monster (to Pretorius/the Bride): "We belong dead."

Yes, I'm reviewing the middle part of a trilogy first but I do promise to get to the other movies at some point. I just really wanted to watch this one first. For a film that's drawing close to it's 90th anniversary, there was plenty to enjoy here.

First of all, the Monster (Boris Karloff) himself might have survived the events of his first outing but he's still the village pariah and he's still being hunted and feeling lonely. Yes, there's sympathy to be had for the Monster during the movie.

Then there's also the man responsible for all the mess the Monster had made. It turned out that Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) also survived the events of the first movie, regretful of his actions while reunited with his fiancee, Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson). However his hopes of staying away from his creation weren't meant to be.

In this movie, the Monster had made an ally in Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger). Pretorius who had a professional rivalry with Frankenstein and forced the latter into aiding him and the Monster by holding Elizabeth prisoner. What was the big plan? Oh, a partner for the Monster of course.

Going by the title of the movie, a bride (Elsa Lanchester) was the order of the day and she appeared almost at the last minute. Of course she wasn't best pleased with the idea of the Monster as a potential mate and their match came to something of a fiery ending. 

- Elsa Lanchester pulled double duty here as she also played Mary Shelley at the start of the movie, recounting the Monster's story.

- Boris Karloff was against the Monster speaking in this movie but not the character getting over his fear of fire by enjoying smoking.

- Henry's referred to as Baron instead of being a doctor in the movie.

- Chronology: Not after the events of Frankenstein (1931).

Bride Of Frankenstein certainly was a triumph of a sequel. While the title character did show up much later than expected and was almost too quickly done away with, she did leave quite an impression. Then again, so did the Monster on his second outing. 

Rating: 9 out of 10