Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

So last Wednesday, October 24th, I went to a see a double feature showing of the old Universal Pictures Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Now I had seen Frankenstein before while in high school, I actually saw it in my high school, in math class for some reason, but Bride of Frankenstein I had not seen. Now while Frankenstein takes its self more or less seriously, Bride of Frankenstein decidedly does not. I was aware that the "Universal Monster" series eventually got quite out there, I'd seen some of the "monster rally" films, I just didn't realize they go so wacky so quickly.

Anyway the movie starts with a little prologue in which Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley converse in a parlor one stormy evening, where Mary Shelley proceeds to expand on her monster tale for the amusement of the other two. We then cut to just after the end of the previous Frankenstein movie, we see the old windmill burn down, Frankenstein is apparently destroyed, some villages stay around to make sure, and a couple of them get killed because Frankenstein wasn't really destroyed. The Monster (Karloff) escapes the ruined structure and then proceeds to wander around in the wilderness for a time, before he comes across an old blind hermit (O.P. Heggie in a career defining role), who is kind to him and teaches him rudimentary speech.

In the movies other plot Henry Frankenstein (again played by Colin Clive) is recovering from injuries sustained in the previous film, and has come to renounce his wicked monster making ways. He is all set to marry his fiance Elizabeth (played by Valerie Hobson because the previous Elizabeth, Mae Clarke, was ill at the time of shooting), when he is visited by his old mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius (a scene stealing Ernest Thesiger). Dr. Pretorius has heard of Frankensteins creation of the monster and its now well known subsequent escape, he desires that his former pupil team up with him to continue there work. While Pretorious has been successful at "growing" about a half-dozen "homonucli", six inch creatures he keeps in glass jars and dresses in arch-typical clothing, he hasn't been able to master size yet. Pretorius wants Dr. Frankenstein to create a female body for which he will grow a brain as a mate for the monster. Dr. Frankenstein refuses and goes on to marry Elizabeth.

Well things are going pretty well for The Monster at this point, he's actually not a bad guy, but he is recognized by some traveling hunters who stop by the old hermits house. Frankenstein flees their guns, fire, and subsequent hunting parties and ends up hiding out in an underground crypt. In the crypt The Monster comes upon Pretorious on a corpse hunting expedition, the manipulative doctor convinces the simple creature the he is his friend, and gets him to kidnap Elizabeth. With his wife abducted Dr. Frankenstein agrees to work with Pretorius on the condition that when there work is completed he let Elizabeth go. 'The Bride' they create (Elsa Lanchester) turns out to herself be afraid of Frankenstein, The Monster doesn't take this well, and the proceedings end in fire.

This movies rather odd, at first I didn't care for it but it really grew on me. It has a decidedly camp sensibility that has lent the film to 'gay readings', especially with the Pretorius character. The film is over the top, full of weird visual effects, like the "homonucli", and bizarre comic moments and characters, like Una O'Conner as Frankenstein's screechy voiced  housekeeper Minnie. I was a bit surprised how little of 'the Bride of Frankenstein' we see in Bride of Frankenstein, Lanchester is on screen for all of five minutes, maybe  three of which as 'the bride'. This is a unique picture, distinct in tone both from what came before and what would follow it, I am glad I got to see it on the big screen. ***1/2