Bride Of Frankenstein


Karloff and Lachester

14 X 14 " Brushed Metal frame in glass ready to hang.

Playing an audio clip  from  the movie


BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN



Doctor Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has resolved to abandon his experiments in creating life in favour of a peaceful marriage with the beautiful Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson), but his old mentor, the mad scientist Dr. Septimus Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), who has himself created miniature human-like beings, tries to persuade Frankenstein to combine their efforts in "playing God." Frankenstein is torn between his upcoming marriage to Elizabeth, and the appeal of creating life with Dr. Pretorius.

The monster (Boris Karloff) befriends an old blind violinist in the woods, who teaches the monster how to speak. Pretorius, forced to continue his experiments without Frankenstein's involvement, has a chance encounter with the monster; by kidnapping Elizabeth, they black-mail Frankenstein into creating a bride for the monster (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays author Mary Shelley in the film's prologue).

The bride rejects the monster; spurned, he destroys the laboratory. "You live! Go." he tells Frankenstein and Elizabeth. "You stay," he tells the others. "We belong dead." The film ends with the monster (and his bride) presumably dead; it was up to the Son of Frankenstein to resurrect him.  The movie was adapted by William Hurlbut and John Balderston from an incident in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein in which the creature demands a mate. It was again directed by James Whale, following his success with Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Old Dark House.

The financial success of the original Frankenstein movie enabled the producers to put much more money into the production than its low-budget predecessor. The laboratory is now not just barely equipped, it is overflowing with sparks, dials, and coils. The scene in which the mate is brought to life with a bolt of lightning is greatly improved over the original. Most critics consider Bride to be a generally better movie, and arguably the best of all non-comedic versions (although the film's dry vein of sardonic wit does not go unnoticed), but especially so for its glittering production values.




The impressive village prison set would be reused for Bela Lugosi's lair in The Raven (1935 film) of the same year, also starring Boris Karloff. The watchtower staircase was featured in Universal's popular Flash Gordon serials starring Buster Crabbe, as well as Dracula's Daughter (1936). Kenneth Strickfaden, who created and maintained the laboratory equipment, shared it in the Mel Brooks homage/spoof, Young Frankenstein (1974). The European village set, left over from All Quiet on the Western Front of 1930, was used and maintained for dozens of other studio features, until it was accidentally destroyed by fire.


 Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein".

The bride's conical hairdoo, with its lighting–trace white streaks on each side has become an iconic symbol of both the character and the film.

The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Trivia

The film was originally to be titled The Return of Frankenstein.
The thinly disguised homosexual overtones may be a trademark of James Whale (particuarly the relationship between Frankenstein and Pretorious; as explained by film historian Scott MacQueen on the Bride of Frankenstein DVD commentary track) but also note the other potentially blasphemous imagery in the film: The monster's virtual crucifixion at the hands of the villagers.
Ernest Thesiger's sly remark, "Do you like gin? It is my only weakness!" is a nod to a similar quotation in The Old Dark House, also intoned by Thesiger.

Universal's makeup ace Jack Pierce paid special attention to the monster's appearance in this film. As well as altering his 1931 design to display the after-effects of the mill fire, he adorned Karloff with a singed hairstyle that actually grows during the course of the film.  Dwight Frye appears here as Karl - despite having played hunchbacked dwarf Fritz, who was killed in the original film. This began a long series of appearances through Universal's Frankenstein saga in which he essayed different roles, culminating in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Likewise, Marilyn Harris (also murdered in the original, in which she played little Maria) reappears here.  Colin Clive who plays Doctor Frankenstein broke his leg in a riding accident during filming, and hence remains seated in most of his scenes.

The basis of the film is rooted in the original novel. A subplot from the latter half of the book involves the monster promising to leave Frankenstein, and the human race, alone if Frankenstein will create him a mate. Frankenstein creates the female monster, but never brings it to life, deciding instead to destroy it.
Watch closely at the end of the film, for a hint at an alternate ending. After sending his creator to safety and pulling the lever to destroy the castle -- the film cuts to an overhead shot and you can see the same doctor unconscious at the bottom left of the screen STILL INSIDE the castle. Originally they planned to kill the doc, and once they changed their mind they could not afford to rebuild the set.
Bride of Frankenstein is also the title of a single by New Zealand band Toy Love.




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