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Bride of Frankenstein

January 14, 2023

This article is about the 1935 film. For the character of the same name, see Bride of Frankenstein (character).

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein.[3] The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the titular character at the end of the film. Colin Clive reprises his role as Henry Frankenstein, and Ernest Thesiger plays the role of Doctor Septimus Pretorius.

Bride of Frankenstein
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames Whale
Screenplay byWilliam Hurlbut
Story by
Based onPremise suggested by Frankenstein
1818 novel
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Produced byCarl Laemmle Jr.
Starring
CinematographyJohn J. Mescall
Edited byTed J. Kent
Music byFranz Waxman
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • April 19, 1935 (1935-04-19) (San Francisco, Seattle)
  • April 20, 1935 (1935-04-20) (United States)
Running time
75 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$397,000[2]
Box office$2 million

Taking place immediately after the events of the earlier film, it is rooted in a subplot of the original Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Its plot follows a chastened Henry Frankenstein as he attempts to abandon his plans to create life, only to be tempted and finally blackmailed by his old mentor Dr. Pretorius, along with threats from the Monster, into constructing a mate for the Monster.

The preparation to film the sequel began shortly after the premiere of the first film, but script problems delayed the project. Principal photography began in January 1935, with creative personnel from the original returning in front of and behind the camera. Bride of Frankenstein was released to critical and popular acclaim, although it encountered difficulties with some state and national censorship boards. Since its release the film's reputation has grown, and it is now frequently considered one of the greatest sequels ever made; many fans and critics consider it to be an improvement on the original, and it has been hailed as Whale's masterpiece. In 1998, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In a castle on a stormy night, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron praise Mary Shelley for her story of Frankenstein and his Monster. She reminds them that her intention for writing the novel was to impart a moral lesson, the consequences of a mortal man who tries to play God. Mary says she has more of the story to tell. The scene shifts to the end of the 1931 Frankenstein, in 1899.

Villagers gathered around the burning windmill cheer the apparent death of the Monster. Hans, the father of the girl the creature drowned in the previous film, wants to see the Monster's bones. He falls into a flooded pit underneath the mill, where the Monster—having survived the fire—strangles him. Hauling himself from the pit, the Monster casts Hans' wife to her death. He next encounters Frankenstein's servant Minnie, who flees in terror.

The body of Henry Frankenstein, who is thought to have died at the windmill, is returned to his fiancée Elizabeth at his ancestral castle home. Minnie arrives to sound the alarm about the Monster, but her warning goes unheeded. Elizabeth, seeing Henry move, realizes he is still alive. Nursed back to health by Elizabeth, Henry has renounced his creation, but still believes he may be destined to unlock the secret of life and immortality. A hysterical Elizabeth cries that she foresees death.

Henry visits the lab of his former mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius, where Pretorius shows Henry several homunculi he has created. Pretorius wishes to work with Henry to create a mate for the Monster, with the proposed venture involving Pretorius growing an artificial brain while Henry gathers parts for the mate.

The Monster saves a young shepherdess from drowning. Her screams upon seeing him alert two hunters, who shoot and injure the Monster. The hunters raise a mob that sets out in pursuit. Captured and trussed to a pole, the Monster is hauled to a dungeon and chained. Left alone, he breaks his chains, overpowers the guards, and escapes into the woods.

That night, following the sound of a violin playing "Ave Maria", the Monster encounters an old blind hermit who thanks God for sending him a friend. He teaches the monster words like "friend" and "good" and shares a meal with him. Two lost hunters stumble upon the cottage and recognize the Monster. He attacks them and accidentally burns down the cottage as the hunters lead the hermit away.

Taking refuge from another angry mob in a crypt, the Monster spies Pretorius and his cronies Karl and Ludwig breaking open a grave. The henchmen depart as Pretorius stays to enjoy a light supper. The Monster approaches Pretorius, eats some of his food, and learns that Pretorius plans to create a mate for him.

Henry and Elizabeth, now married, are visited by Pretorius. When Henry expresses his refusal to assist with Pretorius' plans, Pretorius calls in the Monster, who demands Henry's help. Henry again refuses, and Pretorius orders the Monster out, secretly signaling him to kidnap Elizabeth. Pretorius guarantees her safe return upon Henry's participation. Henry returns to his tower laboratory where, despite himself, he grows excited over his work. After being assured of Elizabeth's safety, Henry completes the Bride's body.

A storm rages as final preparations are made to bring the Bride to life. Her bandage-wrapped body is raised through the roof, where electricity is harnessed from lightning to animate her. Henry and Pretorius lower her and, after realizing their success in bringing her to life, remove her bandages and help her to stand, as the Bride of Frankenstein is born.

The Monster comes down the steps after killing Karl on the rooftop and sees his mate. The excited Monster reaches out to her and asks: "Friend?" The Bride, screaming, rejects him. The dejected Monster observes: "She hate me! Like others". As Elizabeth races to Henry's side, the Monster rampages through the laboratory. When Pretorius warns that the Monster's actions are about to destroy them all, the Monster pauses and tells Henry and Elizabeth: "Go! You live! Go!" To Pretorius and the Bride, he says: "You stay. We belong dead". While Henry and Elizabeth flee, the Monster looks at the Bride who hisses at him. Shedding a tear, he pulls a lever to trigger the laboratory and tower's destruction.

Cast

 
Lobby card for re-release of Bride of Frankenstein with Douglas Walton as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lanchester as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Gavin Gordon as Lord Byron.
PLAY 1935 trailer for Bride of Frankenstein

Production

 
Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster in Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Universal considered making a sequel to Frankenstein as early as its 1931 preview screenings, following which the film's original ending was changed to allow for Henry Frankenstein's survival.[4] James Whale initially refused to direct Bride, believing he had "squeezed the idea dry"[5] on the first film. Kurt Neumann was originally scheduled to replace Whale but decided to film The Black Cat instead.[6] Following the success of Whale's The Invisible Man, producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. realized that Whale was the only possible director for Bride; Whale took advantage of the situation in persuading the studio to let him make One More River.[7] Whale believed the sequel would not top the original, so he decided instead to make it a memorable "hoot".[5] According to a studio publicist, Whale and Universal's studio psychiatrist decided "the Monster would have the mental age of a ten-year-old boy and the emotional age of a lad of fifteen".[5]

Screenwriter Robert Florey wrote a treatment entitled The New Adventures of Frankenstein — The Monster Lives!, but it was rejected without comment early in 1932.[8] Universal staff writer Tom Reed wrote a treatment under the title The Return of Frankenstein, a title retained until filming began.[9] Following its acceptance in 1933, Reed wrote a full script that was submitted to the Hays office for review. The script passed its review, but Whale, who by then had been contracted to direct, complained that "it stinks to heaven".[10] L. G. Blochman and Philip MacDonald were the next writers assigned, but Whale also found their work unsatisfactory. In 1934, Whale set John L. Balderston to work on yet another version, and it was he who returned to an incident from the novel in which the creature demands a mate. In the novel Frankenstein creates a mate, but destroys it without bringing it to life. Balderston also created the Mary Shelley prologue. After several months Whale was still not satisfied with Balderston's work and handed the project to playwright William J. Hurlbut and Edmund Pearson. The final script, combining elements of a number of these versions, was submitted for Hays office review in November 1934.[11] Kim Newman reports that Whale planned to make Elizabeth the heart donor for the bride,[12] but film historian Scott MacQueen states that Whale never had such an intention.[8]

Sources report that Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains were considered, with varying degrees of seriousness, for the role of Frankenstein's mentor, Pretorius;[13] others report that the role was created specifically for Ernest Thesiger.[14] Because of Mae Clarke's ill health, Valerie Hobson replaced her as Henry Frankenstein's love interest, Elizabeth.[8] Early in production, Whale decided that the same actress cast to play the Bride should also play Mary Shelley in the film's prologue, to represent how the story — and horror in general — springs from the dark side of the imagination.[15] He considered Brigitte Helm and Phyllis Brooks before deciding on Elsa Lanchester. Lanchester, who had accompanied husband Charles Laughton to Hollywood, had met with only moderate success while Laughton had made a strong impact with several films including The Private Life of Henry VIII (for which he had won an Oscar) and Whale's own The Old Dark House. Lanchester had returned alone to London when Whale contacted her to offer her the dual role.[16] Lanchester modeled the Bride's hissing on the hissing of swans. She gave herself a sore throat while filming the hissing sequence, which Whale shot from multiple angles.[17]

Colin Clive and Boris Karloff reprised their roles from Frankenstein as creator and creation, respectively. Hobson recalled Clive's alcoholism had worsened since filming the original, but Whale did not recast the role because his "hysterical quality" was necessary for the film.[15] Karloff strongly objected to the decision to allow the Monster to speak: "Speech! Stupid! My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm, it was because he was inarticulate – this great, lumbering, inarticulate creature. The moment he spoke you might as well ... play it straight".[18] This decision also meant that Karloff could not remove his dental plate, so now his cheeks did not have the sunken look of the original film.[8] Whale and the studio psychiatrist selected 44 simple words for the Monster's vocabulary by looking at test papers of ten-year-olds working at the studio.[5] Dwight Frye returned to play the doctor's assistant, Karl, having played the hunchback Fritz in the original. Frye also filmed a scene as an unnamed villager and the role of "Nephew Glutz", a man who murdered his uncle and blamed the death on the Monster.[8] Boris Karloff is credited simply as KARLOFF, which was Universal's custom during the height of his career.[19] Elsa Lanchester is credited for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, but in a nod to the earlier film, the Monster's bride is credited only as "?" just as Boris Karloff had been in the opening credits of Frankenstein.

 
Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein. The bride's conical hairdo, with its white lightning-trace streaks on each side, has become an iconic symbol of both the character and the film.

Universal makeup artist Jack Pierce paid special attention to the Monster's appearance in this film. He altered his 1931 design to display the after-effects of the mill fire, adding scars and shortening the Monster's hair.[19] Over the course of filming, Pierce modified the Monster's makeup to indicate that the Monster's injuries were healing as the film progressed.[8] Pierce co-created the Bride's makeup with strong input from Whale, especially regarding the Bride's iconic hair style,[16] based on Nefertiti.[9] Lanchester's hair was given a Marcel wave over a wire frame to achieve the style.[8] Lanchester disliked working with Pierce, who she said "really did feel that he made these people, like he was a god ... in the morning he'd be dressed in white as if he were in hospital to perform an operation".[9] To play Mary Shelley, Lanchester wore a white net dress embroidered with sequins of butterflies, stars, and moons, which the actress had heard required 17 women 12 weeks to make.[5] Lanchester said of her bride costume: "I drank as little liquid as possible. It was too much of an ordeal to go to the bathroom--all those bandages--and having to be accompanied by my dresser".[20]

Kenneth Strickfaden created and maintained the laboratory equipment. Strickfaden recycled a number of the fancifully named machines he had created for the original Frankenstein for use in Bride, including the "Cosmic Ray Diffuser",[21] and the "Nebularium".[22] A lightning bolt generated by Strickfaden's equipment has become a stock scene, appearing in any number of films and television shows.[23] The man behind the film's special photographic effects was John P. Fulton, head of the special effects department at Universal Studios at the time.[24] Fulton and David S. Horsley created the homunculi over the course of two days by shooting the actors in full-size jars against black velvet and aligning them with the perspective of the on-set jars. The foreground film plate was rotoscoped and matted onto the rear plate. Diminutive actor Billy Barty is briefly visible from the back in the finished film as a homunculus infant in a high chair, but Whale cut the infant's reveal before the film's release.[8]

Whale met Franz Waxman at a party and asked him to score the picture. Whale told him: "Nothing will be resolved in this picture except the end destruction scene. Would you write an unresolved score for it?"[17] Waxman created three distinctive themes: one for the Monster; one for the Bride; and one for Pretorius. The score closes, at Whale's suggestion, with a powerful dissonant chord, intended to convey the idea that the on-screen explosion was so powerful that the theater where the film was being screened was affected by it.[25] Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted 22 musicians to record the score in a single nine-hour session.[26]

Shooting began on January 2, 1935,[27] with a projected budget of US$293,750 ($5.81 million as of 2023) – almost exactly the budget of the original – and an estimated 36-day shooting schedule.[28][29] On the first day, Karloff waded in the water below the destroyed windmill wearing a rubber suit under his costume. Air got into the suit and expanded it like an "obscene water lilly".[9] Later that day, Karloff broke his hip, necessitating a stunt double.[18] Clive had also broken his leg.[15] Shooting was completed on March 7. The film was ten days over schedule because Whale shut down the picture for ten days until Heggie became available to play the Hermit.[30] With a final cost of $397,023 ($9.82 million as of 2023), Bride was more than $100,000 ($1.98 million as of 2023) over budget.[28][27] As originally filmed, Henry died fleeing the exploding castle. Whale re-shot the ending to allow for their survival, although Clive is still visible on-screen in the collapsing laboratory.[12] Whale completed his final cut, shortening the running time from about 90 to 75 minutes and re-shooting and re-editing the ending, only days before the film's scheduled premiere date.[1]

Censorship

 
Boris Karloff, director James Whale, and cinematographer John J. Mescall on the set of Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Bride of Frankenstein was subjected to censorship, both during production by the Hays office and following its release by local and national censorship boards. Joseph Breen, lead censor for the Hays office, objected to lines of dialogue in the originally submitted script in which Henry Frankenstein and his work were compared to that of God. He continued to object to such dialogue in revised scripts,[31] and to a planned shot of the Monster rushing through a graveyard to a figure of a crucified Jesus and attempting to rescue the figure from the cross.[32] Breen also objected to the number of murders, both seen and implied by the script and strongly advised Whale to reduce the number.[8] The censors' office, upon reviewing the film in March 1935, required a number of cuts. Whale agreed to delete a sequence in which Dwight Frye's "Nephew Glutz"[8] kills his uncle and blames the Monster,[1] and shots of Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in which Breen felt too much of her breasts were visible. Despite his earlier objection, Breen offered no objection to the cruciform imagery throughout the film – including a scene with the Monster lashed Christ-like to a pole – nor to the presentation of Pretorius as a coded homosexual.[31] Bride of Frankenstein was approved by the Production Code office on April 15.[1]

Following its release with the Code seal of approval, the film was challenged by the censorship board in the state of Ohio.[31] Censors in England and China objected to the scene in which the Monster gazes longingly upon the body intended for reanimation as the Bride, citing concerns that it looked like necrophilia.[33] Universal voluntarily withdrew the film from Sweden because of the extensive cuts demanded, and Bride was rejected outright by Trinidad, Palestine, and Hungary. Additionally, Japanese censors objected to the scene in which Pretorius chases his miniature Henry VIII with tweezers, asserting that it constituted "making a fool out of a king".[31]

Reception

 
Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, and Ernest Thesiger.

The film had its premiere on April 19 in San Francisco, California, at the Oprheum Theater.[34][a] The film went into general release on April 20.[35][36]

Bride of Frankenstein was profitable for Universal, with a 1943 report showing that the film had by then earned approximately $2 million ($31.3 million in 2023 money) for the studio, a profit of about $950,000 ($14.9 million as of 2023).[28][37] The film was critically praised upon its release, although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film's being in the horror genre. The New York World-Telegram called the film "good entertainment of its kind".[38] The New York Post described it as "a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of its kind, is swell".[38] The Hollywood Reporter similarly called the film "a joy for those who can appreciate it".[38]

Variety did not so qualify its review: "[It is] one of those rare instances where none can review it, or talk about it, without mentioning the cameraman, art director, and score composer in the same breath as the actors and director". Variety also praised the cast, writing that "Karloff manages to invest the character with some subtleties of emotion that are surprisingly real and touching ... Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious [is] a diabolic characterization if ever there was one ... Lanchester handles two assignments, being first in a preamble as author Mary Shelley and then the created woman. In latter assignment she impresses quite highly".[39]

In another unqualified review, Time wrote that the film had "a vitality that makes their efforts fully the equal of the original picture ... Screenwriters Hurlbut & Balderston and Director James Whale have given it the macabre intensity proper to all good horror pieces, but have substituted a queer kind of mechanistic pathos for the sheer evil that was Frankenstein".[40] The Oakland Tribune concurred it was "a fantasy produced on a rather magnificent scale, with excellent stagecraft and fine photographic effects".[41] While the Winnipeg Free Press thought that the electrical equipment might have been better suited to Buck Rogers, nonetheless the reviewer praised the film as "exciting and sometimes morbidly gruesome", declaring that "all who enjoyed Frankenstein will welcome his Bride as a worthy successor".[42] The New York Times called Karloff "so splendid in the role that all one can say is 'he is the Monster'".[43] The Times praised the entire principal cast and Whale's direction in concluding that Bride is "a first-rate horror film",[43] and presciently suggested that "the Monster should become an institution, like Charlie Chan".[43] Bride was nominated for one Academy Award, for Sound Recording (Gilbert Kurland).[44][45]

The film's reputation has persisted and grown in the decades since its release. In 1998, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".[46][47] Frequently identified as James Whale's masterpiece,[48] the film is lauded as "the finest of all gothic horror movies".[49] Time rated Bride of Frankenstein in its "All-Time 100 Movies", in which critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel overruled the magazine's original review to declare the film "one of those rare sequels that is infinitely superior to its source".[50] In 2008, Bride was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.[51] Also that year, the Boston Herald named it the second greatest horror film after Nosferatu.[52] In 2016, James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film #7 on a list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals.[53] Entertainment Weekly considers the film superior to Frankenstein.[54]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 51 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9/10. The website's consensus reads, "An eccentric, campy, techinally impressive, and frightening picture, James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein has aged remarkably well."[55] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 95 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[56]

Interpretations

Christian imagery

 
Karloff in the trailer.

Christian imagery appears throughout the film. In addition to the scenes of the Monster trussed in a cruciform pose and the crucified figure of Jesus in the graveyard, the hermit has a crucifix on the wall of his hut – which, to Whale's consternation, editor Ted Kent made glow during a fade-out[8] – and the Monster consumes the Christian sacraments of bread and wine at his "last supper" with the hermit. Horror scholar David J. Skal suggests that Whale's intention was to make a "direct comparison of Frankenstein's monster to Christ".[57] Film scholar Scott MacQueen, noting Whale's lack of any religious convictions, disputes the notion that the Monster is a Christ-figure. Rather, the Monster is a "mockery of the divine" since, having been created by Man rather than God, it "lacks the divine spark". In crucifying the Monster, he says, Whale "pushes the audience's buttons" by inverting the central Christian belief of the death of Christ followed by the resurrection. The Monster is raised from the dead first, then crucified.[8]

Queer reading

 
Elsa Lanchester, on stilts, as the Bride of Frankenstein.

In the decades since its release, modern film scholars have noted the possible queer reading of the film. Director James Whale was openly gay, and some of the actors in the cast, including Ernest Thesiger and, according to rumor, Colin Clive, were respectively gay or bisexual.[58] Although James Curtis, Whale's biographer, rejects the notion that Whale would have identified with the Monster from a homosexual perspective,[59] scholars have perceived a gay subtext suffused through the film, especially a camp sensibility,[60] particularly embodied in the character of Pretorius and his relationship with Henry.

Gay film historian Vito Russo, in considering Pretorius, stops short of identifying the character as gay, instead referring to him as "sissified",[61] "sissy" itself being Hollywood code for "homosexual". Pretorius serves as a "gay Mephistopheles",[14] a figure of seduction and temptation, going so far as to pull Frankenstein away from his bride on their wedding night to engage in the unnatural act of creating non-procreative life. A novelization of the film published in the United Kingdom made the implication clear, having Pretorius say to Frankenstein: "Be fruitful and multiply. Let us obey the Biblical injunction: you of course, have the choice of natural means; but as for me, I am afraid that there is no course open to me but the scientific way".[62]

The Monster, whose affections for the male hermit and the female Bride he discusses with identical language ("friend") has been read as sexually "unsettled" and bisexual.[58] Gender studies author Elizabeth Young writes: "He has no innate understanding that the male-female bond he is to forge with the bride is assumed to be the primary one or that it carries a different sexual valence from his relationships with [Pretorius and the hermit]: all affective relationships are as easily 'friendships' as 'marriages'".[63] Indeed, his relationship with the hermit has been interpreted as a same-sex marriage that heterosexual society will not tolerate: "No mistake – this is a marriage, and a viable one ... But Whale reminds us quickly that society does not approve. The monster – the outsider – is driven from his scene of domestic pleasure by two gun-toting rubes who happen upon this startling alliance and quickly, instinctively, proceed to destroy it", writes cultural critic Gary Morris for Bright Lights Film Journal.[58] The creation of the Bride scene, Morris continues, is "Whale's reminder to the audience – his Hollywood bosses, peers, and everyone watching – of the majesty and power of the homosexual creator".[58]

Filmmaker Curtis Harrington, a friend and confidant of Whale's, dismissed this as "a younger critic's evaluation. All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something, but artists don't think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind".[64] Specifically in response to the "majesty and power" reading, Harrington stated: "My opinion is that's just pure bullshit. That's a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration".[64] He concludes: "I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor".[64] Whale's companion David Lewis stated flatly that Whale's sexual orientation was "not germane" to his filmmaking: "Jimmy was first and foremost an artist, and his films represent the work of an artist – not a gay artist, but an artist".[59]

 
1930s Universal's art director Karoly Grosz designed this offbeat 1935 advertisement.

Home media

In 1985, MCA Home Video released Bride of Frankenstein on LaserDisc.[65] In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released the film on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films.[66]

In 1999, Universal released Bride of Frankenstein on VHS and DVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection".[67][68] In April 2004, Universal released Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection".[69][70] This two-disc release includes Bride of Frankenstein, as well as the original Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and The House of Frankenstein.[69][70]

 
Boris Karloff in the film's trailer.

In 2012, Bride of Frankenstein was released on Blu-ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series.[71] In 2014, Universal released Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection on DVD.[72] This set contains eight films: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.[72] In 2015, the six-film Universal Classic Monsters Collection was released on DVD.[73] In 2016, Bride of Frankenstein received a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring a glow-in-the-dark cover.[74] That same year, the Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu-ray.[75] In September 2017, Bride of Frankenstein received a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook Blu-ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross.[76]

Bride of Frankenstein was included in the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set in August 2018.[77] This box set also received a DVD release.[78]

Remake attempts

 
Scene from Bride of Frankenstein with Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger.
 
Lobby card for double feature with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
 
Karloff in 1935 teaser ad.

Universal Pictures has sought to remake Bride of Frankenstein on several occasions.[79] While the novel Frankenstein has been adapted to film many times, Bride of Frankenstein's closest remake was The Bride (1985), starring Sting, Clancy Brown, and Jennifer Beals.[80] In 1991, the studio sought to remake the film for cable television, and Martin Scorsese expressed interest in directing.[79]

In the first decade of the 21st century, Universal paired with Imagine Entertainment and contracted Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who wrote the screenplay for American Splendor, to write a remake. The screenwriters set the story in contemporary New York. Jacob Estes was also involved with the project at one point and wrote a draft.[80] In June 2009, Universal and Imagine entered discussions with director Neil Burger and his writing partner Dirk Wittenborn,[80] and producer Brian Grazer was assigned to oversee the development of the remake.[81]

In December 2015, Variety reported that David Koepp would write the script.[82] In May 2017, Universal Pictures announced their shared universe film series of rebooted, modern-day interpretations of their classic Universal Monsters titled, Dark Universe. The film series began with the 2017 film The Mummy, and was expected to continue with Bride of Frankenstein with Bill Condon directing the film.[83] Later in October, pre-production had begun when the creative team and studio decided to postpone the release in order to further work on the script with intentions being to improve the story.[84] Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie were still attached to the film as Frankenstein's monster and the film's reluctant bride, respectively.[85] The same month Condon stated that should Jolie decide to leave the project, he would be interested in seeing Gal Gadot play the titular character.[86] On November 8, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects, leaving the future of the Dark Universe in doubt.[87]

In January 2018, Condon was reportedly assembling a production team, consisting of cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler, production designer Sarah Greenwood, composer Carter Burwell, and costume designer Jacqueline Durran.[88]

In November 2019, Condon reflected on the proposed Bride of Frankenstein remake not entering production.[89] He stated: "That was a heartbreaker, really ... the simplest way to say it is that I think The Mummy, and not to say anything against the movie, but the fact that that hadn't worked for them and it was the beginning of this whole reinvention of their monsters gave them cold feet at the end of the day. Because David Koepp was writing the script, I thought it was unbelievably good, and we were on the verge of making a really beautiful movie, I thought. So that was a shame".[90][91] He also noted his uncertainty regarding his ability to publicly discuss the project "because [Koepp], I think, is still involved in figuring out the new approach ... The movie that we started was devised as a great big movie, and at the end of the day, probably these movies should be smaller".[90][91]

An adaptation of the film was being considered with Scarlett Johansson in the titular lead role as the Bride in October 2020, but no further announcements or confirmations have been made since the initial rumours.[92]

Amy Pascal was hired as producer in February 2020, with the project becoming a joint-venture production between Universal Pictures and Pascal Pictures. The studio is courting David Koepp to continue his work as screenwriter. Filmmakers John Krasinski and Sam Raimi have individually had discussions with the studio regarding potentially directing, while Variety reported that Krasinski was given options to develop films from the roster of monsters owned by Universal Pictures.[93][94] In June, Koepp stated that, in addition to still being actively involved with the project, he was also inspired by the success of The Invisible Man.[95] He said that the story will explore the modern-day desire to extend our lives, create life, and cheat death. Furthermore, the filmmaker intends to include plot devices that are relevant to the #MeToo era, stating that "it's horror effortlessly lending itself to metaphor".[96] In March 2022, Koepp revealed that he was no longer involved with the project. He also stated the initial version would have started in the 1870s and would have involved the Bride reawakening in the present day.[97]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Film historian Martin F. Norden says the film had its world premiere in Chicago, Illinois.[35]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Curtis, p. 250
  2. ^ Brunas, et al., p. 116
  3. ^ "Bride of Frankenstein". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  4. ^ Curtis, p. 154
  5. ^ a b c d e Vieria, p. 80
  6. ^ "The Bride of Frankenstein". catalog.afi.com. from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  7. ^ Curtis, p. 234
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l MacQueen, Scott (2004). DVD commentary, Bride of Frankenstein Legacy Collection edition (DVD). Universal Studios.
  9. ^ a b c d Vieira, p. 85
  10. ^ Curtis, p. 134
  11. ^ Curtis, pp. 234–36
  12. ^ a b Newman, Kim (December 2004). "Rewind Masterpiece #18". Empire. p. 181.
  13. ^ Lennig, p. 92
  14. ^ a b Skal, p. 185
  15. ^ a b c Vieira, p. 82
  16. ^ a b Curtis, pp. 243–44
  17. ^ a b Vieira, p. 86
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Bibliography

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  • Curtis, James (1998). James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters. Boston, Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19285-8.
  • Gelder, Ken (2000). The Horror Reader. New York, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21355-X.
  • Gifford, Denis (1973) Karloff: The Man, The Monster, The Movies. Film Fan Monthly.
  • Goldman, Harry (2005). Kenneth Strickfaden, Dr. Frankenstein's Electrician. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2064-2.
  • Johnson, Tom (1997). Censored Screams: The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0394-2.
  • Lennig, Arthur (1993). The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2273-2.
  • Mallory, Michael (2009) Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1896-2.
  • Mank, Gregory W. (1994). Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Films from the Genre's Golden Age. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1112-0.
  • Picart, Carolyn Joan, Frank Smoot and Jayne Blodgett (2001). The Frankenstein Film Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31350-4.
  • Russo, Vito (1987). The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (revised edition). New York, HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-096132-5.
  • Skal, David J. (1993). The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024002-0.
  • Vieira, Mark A. (2003). Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York, Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5.
  • Young, Elizabeth. "Here Comes The Bride". Collected in Gelder, Ken (ed.) (2000). The Horror Reader. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21356-8.

External links

January 14, 2023
bride, frankenstein, this, article, about, 1935, film, character, same, name, character, 1935, american, science, fiction, horror, film, first, sequel, universal, pictures, 1931, film, frankenstein, with, first, film, directed, james, whale, starring, boris, k. This article is about the 1935 film For the character of the same name see Bride of Frankenstein character Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film and the first sequel to Universal Pictures 1931 film Frankenstein As with the first film Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr Frankenstein 3 The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the titular character at the end of the film Colin Clive reprises his role as Henry Frankenstein and Ernest Thesiger plays the role of Doctor Septimus Pretorius Bride of FrankensteinTheatrical release posterDirected byJames WhaleScreenplay byWilliam HurlbutStory byWilliam Hurlbut John L BalderstonBased onPremise suggested by Frankenstein1818 novelby Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyProduced byCarl Laemmle Jr StarringBoris Karloff Colin Clive Valerie Hobson Elsa Lanchester Ernest Thesiger E E CliveCinematographyJohn J MescallEdited byTed J KentMusic byFranz WaxmanProductioncompanyUniversal PicturesDistributed byUniversal PicturesRelease datesApril 19 1935 1935 04 19 San Francisco Seattle April 20 1935 1935 04 20 United States Running time75 minutes 1 CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 397 000 2 Box office 2 millionTaking place immediately after the events of the earlier film it is rooted in a subplot of the original Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus 1818 Its plot follows a chastened Henry Frankenstein as he attempts to abandon his plans to create life only to be tempted and finally blackmailed by his old mentor Dr Pretorius along with threats from the Monster into constructing a mate for the Monster The preparation to film the sequel began shortly after the premiere of the first film but script problems delayed the project Principal photography began in January 1935 with creative personnel from the original returning in front of and behind the camera Bride of Frankenstein was released to critical and popular acclaim although it encountered difficulties with some state and national censorship boards Since its release the film s reputation has grown and it is now frequently considered one of the greatest sequels ever made many fans and critics consider it to be an improvement on the original and it has been hailed as Whale s masterpiece In 1998 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry having been deemed culturally historically or aesthetically significant Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Censorship 5 Reception 6 Interpretations 6 1 Christian imagery 6 2 Queer reading 7 Home media 8 Remake attempts 9 See also 10 References 10 1 Notes 10 2 Citations 11 Bibliography 12 External linksPlot EditIn a castle on a stormy night Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron praise Mary Shelley for her story of Frankenstein and his Monster She reminds them that her intention for writing the novel was to impart a moral lesson the consequences of a mortal man who tries to play God Mary says she has more of the story to tell The scene shifts to the end of the 1931 Frankenstein in 1899 Villagers gathered around the burning windmill cheer the apparent death of the Monster Hans the father of the girl the creature drowned in the previous film wants to see the Monster s bones He falls into a flooded pit underneath the mill where the Monster having survived the fire strangles him Hauling himself from the pit the Monster casts Hans wife to her death He next encounters Frankenstein s servant Minnie who flees in terror The body of Henry Frankenstein who is thought to have died at the windmill is returned to his fiancee Elizabeth at his ancestral castle home Minnie arrives to sound the alarm about the Monster but her warning goes unheeded Elizabeth seeing Henry move realizes he is still alive Nursed back to health by Elizabeth Henry has renounced his creation but still believes he may be destined to unlock the secret of life and immortality A hysterical Elizabeth cries that she foresees death Henry visits the lab of his former mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius where Pretorius shows Henry several homunculi he has created Pretorius wishes to work with Henry to create a mate for the Monster with the proposed venture involving Pretorius growing an artificial brain while Henry gathers parts for the mate The Monster saves a young shepherdess from drowning Her screams upon seeing him alert two hunters who shoot and injure the Monster The hunters raise a mob that sets out in pursuit Captured and trussed to a pole the Monster is hauled to a dungeon and chained Left alone he breaks his chains overpowers the guards and escapes into the woods That night following the sound of a violin playing Ave Maria the Monster encounters an old blind hermit who thanks God for sending him a friend He teaches the monster words like friend and good and shares a meal with him Two lost hunters stumble upon the cottage and recognize the Monster He attacks them and accidentally burns down the cottage as the hunters lead the hermit away Taking refuge from another angry mob in a crypt the Monster spies Pretorius and his cronies Karl and Ludwig breaking open a grave The henchmen depart as Pretorius stays to enjoy a light supper The Monster approaches Pretorius eats some of his food and learns that Pretorius plans to create a mate for him Henry and Elizabeth now married are visited by Pretorius When Henry expresses his refusal to assist with Pretorius plans Pretorius calls in the Monster who demands Henry s help Henry again refuses and Pretorius orders the Monster out secretly signaling him to kidnap Elizabeth Pretorius guarantees her safe return upon Henry s participation Henry returns to his tower laboratory where despite himself he grows excited over his work After being assured of Elizabeth s safety Henry completes the Bride s body A storm rages as final preparations are made to bring the Bride to life Her bandage wrapped body is raised through the roof where electricity is harnessed from lightning to animate her Henry and Pretorius lower her and after realizing their success in bringing her to life remove her bandages and help her to stand as the Bride of Frankenstein is born The Monster comes down the steps after killing Karl on the rooftop and sees his mate The excited Monster reaches out to her and asks Friend The Bride screaming rejects him The dejected Monster observes She hate me Like others As Elizabeth races to Henry s side the Monster rampages through the laboratory When Pretorius warns that the Monster s actions are about to destroy them all the Monster pauses and tells Henry and Elizabeth Go You live Go To Pretorius and the Bride he says You stay We belong dead While Henry and Elizabeth flee the Monster looks at the Bride who hisses at him Shedding a tear he pulls a lever to trigger the laboratory and tower s destruction Cast Edit Lobby card for re release of Bride of Frankenstein with Douglas Walton as Percy Bysshe Shelley Lanchester as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Gavin Gordon as Lord Byron source source source source source source source source PLAY 1935 trailer for Bride of Frankenstein Boris Karloff as The Monster billed as KARLOFF Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein Valerie Hobson as Elizabeth Frankenstein Ernest Thesiger as Doctor Pretorius Elsa Lanchester as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and The Monster s Bride credited as Gavin Gordon as Lord Byron Douglas Walton as Percy Bysshe Shelley Una O Connor as Minnie E E Clive as the Burgomaster Lucien Prival as Frankenstein s butler O P Heggie as Hermit Dwight Frye as Karl Pretorius henchman Ted Billings as Ludwig Pretorius henchman Reginald Barlow as Hans father of the killed girl Maria Mary Gordon as Hans wife Anne Darling as the shepherdess J Gunnis Davis as Uncle Glutz Walter Brennan as a peasant uncredited but with dialogue John Carradine as a hunter uncredited but with dialogue Production Edit Boris Karloff as Frankenstein s monster in Bride of Frankenstein 1935 Universal considered making a sequel to Frankenstein as early as its 1931 preview screenings following which the film s original ending was changed to allow for Henry Frankenstein s survival 4 James Whale initially refused to direct Bride believing he had squeezed the idea dry 5 on the first film Kurt Neumann was originally scheduled to replace Whale but decided to film The Black Cat instead 6 Following the success of Whale s The Invisible Man producer Carl Laemmle Jr realized that Whale was the only possible director for Bride Whale took advantage of the situation in persuading the studio to let him make One More River 7 Whale believed the sequel would not top the original so he decided instead to make it a memorable hoot 5 According to a studio publicist Whale and Universal s studio psychiatrist decided the Monster would have the mental age of a ten year old boy and the emotional age of a lad of fifteen 5 Screenwriter Robert Florey wrote a treatment entitled The New Adventures of Frankenstein The Monster Lives but it was rejected without comment early in 1932 8 Universal staff writer Tom Reed wrote a treatment under the title The Return of Frankenstein a title retained until filming began 9 Following its acceptance in 1933 Reed wrote a full script that was submitted to the Hays office for review The script passed its review but Whale who by then had been contracted to direct complained that it stinks to heaven 10 L G Blochman and Philip MacDonald were the next writers assigned but Whale also found their work unsatisfactory In 1934 Whale set John L Balderston to work on yet another version and it was he who returned to an incident from the novel in which the creature demands a mate In the novel Frankenstein creates a mate but destroys it without bringing it to life Balderston also created the Mary Shelley prologue After several months Whale was still not satisfied with Balderston s work and handed the project to playwright William J Hurlbut and Edmund Pearson The final script combining elements of a number of these versions was submitted for Hays office review in November 1934 11 Kim Newman reports that Whale planned to make Elizabeth the heart donor for the bride 12 but film historian Scott MacQueen states that Whale never had such an intention 8 Sources report that Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains were considered with varying degrees of seriousness for the role of Frankenstein s mentor Pretorius 13 others report that the role was created specifically for Ernest Thesiger 14 Because of Mae Clarke s ill health Valerie Hobson replaced her as Henry Frankenstein s love interest Elizabeth 8 Early in production Whale decided that the same actress cast to play the Bride should also play Mary Shelley in the film s prologue to represent how the story and horror in general springs from the dark side of the imagination 15 He considered Brigitte Helm and Phyllis Brooks before deciding on Elsa Lanchester Lanchester who had accompanied husband Charles Laughton to Hollywood had met with only moderate success while Laughton had made a strong impact with several films including The Private Life of Henry VIII for which he had won an Oscar and Whale s own The Old Dark House Lanchester had returned alone to London when Whale contacted her to offer her the dual role 16 Lanchester modeled the Bride s hissing on the hissing of swans She gave herself a sore throat while filming the hissing sequence which Whale shot from multiple angles 17 Colin Clive and Boris Karloff reprised their roles from Frankenstein as creator and creation respectively Hobson recalled Clive s alcoholism had worsened since filming the original but Whale did not recast the role because his hysterical quality was necessary for the film 15 Karloff strongly objected to the decision to allow the Monster to speak Speech Stupid My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm it was because he was inarticulate this great lumbering inarticulate creature The moment he spoke you might as well play it straight 18 This decision also meant that Karloff could not remove his dental plate so now his cheeks did not have the sunken look of the original film 8 Whale and the studio psychiatrist selected 44 simple words for the Monster s vocabulary by looking at test papers of ten year olds working at the studio 5 Dwight Frye returned to play the doctor s assistant Karl having played the hunchback Fritz in the original Frye also filmed a scene as an unnamed villager and the role of Nephew Glutz a man who murdered his uncle and blamed the death on the Monster 8 Boris Karloff is credited simply as KARLOFF which was Universal s custom during the height of his career 19 Elsa Lanchester is credited for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley but in a nod to the earlier film the Monster s bride is credited only as just as Boris Karloff had been in the opening credits of Frankenstein Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein The bride s conical hairdo with its white lightning trace streaks on each side has become an iconic symbol of both the character and the film Universal makeup artist Jack Pierce paid special attention to the Monster s appearance in this film He altered his 1931 design to display the after effects of the mill fire adding scars and shortening the Monster s hair 19 Over the course of filming Pierce modified the Monster s makeup to indicate that the Monster s injuries were healing as the film progressed 8 Pierce co created the Bride s makeup with strong input from Whale especially regarding the Bride s iconic hair style 16 based on Nefertiti 9 Lanchester s hair was given a Marcel wave over a wire frame to achieve the style 8 Lanchester disliked working with Pierce who she said really did feel that he made these people like he was a god in the morning he d be dressed in white as if he were in hospital to perform an operation 9 To play Mary Shelley Lanchester wore a white net dress embroidered with sequins of butterflies stars and moons which the actress had heard required 17 women 12 weeks to make 5 Lanchester said of her bride costume I drank as little liquid as possible It was too much of an ordeal to go to the bathroom all those bandages and having to be accompanied by my dresser 20 Kenneth Strickfaden created and maintained the laboratory equipment Strickfaden recycled a number of the fancifully named machines he had created for the original Frankenstein for use in Bride including the Cosmic Ray Diffuser 21 and the Nebularium 22 A lightning bolt generated by Strickfaden s equipment has become a stock scene appearing in any number of films and television shows 23 The man behind the film s special photographic effects was John P Fulton head of the special effects department at Universal Studios at the time 24 Fulton and David S Horsley created the homunculi over the course of two days by shooting the actors in full size jars against black velvet and aligning them with the perspective of the on set jars The foreground film plate was rotoscoped and matted onto the rear plate Diminutive actor Billy Barty is briefly visible from the back in the finished film as a homunculus infant in a high chair but Whale cut the infant s reveal before the film s release 8 Whale met Franz Waxman at a party and asked him to score the picture Whale told him Nothing will be resolved in this picture except the end destruction scene Would you write an unresolved score for it 17 Waxman created three distinctive themes one for the Monster one for the Bride and one for Pretorius The score closes at Whale s suggestion with a powerful dissonant chord intended to convey the idea that the on screen explosion was so powerful that the theater where the film was being screened was affected by it 25 Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted 22 musicians to record the score in a single nine hour session 26 Shooting began on January 2 1935 27 with a projected budget of US 293 750 5 81 million as of 2023 almost exactly the budget of the original and an estimated 36 day shooting schedule 28 29 On the first day Karloff waded in the water below the destroyed windmill wearing a rubber suit under his costume Air got into the suit and expanded it like an obscene water lilly 9 Later that day Karloff broke his hip necessitating a stunt double 18 Clive had also broken his leg 15 Shooting was completed on March 7 The film was ten days over schedule because Whale shut down the picture for ten days until Heggie became available to play the Hermit 30 With a final cost of 397 023 9 82 million as of 2023 Bride was more than 100 000 1 98 million as of 2023 over budget 28 27 As originally filmed Henry died fleeing the exploding castle Whale re shot the ending to allow for their survival although Clive is still visible on screen in the collapsing laboratory 12 Whale completed his final cut shortening the running time from about 90 to 75 minutes and re shooting and re editing the ending only days before the film s scheduled premiere date 1 Censorship Edit Boris Karloff director James Whale and cinematographer John J Mescall on the set of Bride of Frankenstein 1935 Bride of Frankenstein was subjected to censorship both during production by the Hays office and following its release by local and national censorship boards Joseph Breen lead censor for the Hays office objected to lines of dialogue in the originally submitted script in which Henry Frankenstein and his work were compared to that of God He continued to object to such dialogue in revised scripts 31 and to a planned shot of the Monster rushing through a graveyard to a figure of a crucified Jesus and attempting to rescue the figure from the cross 32 Breen also objected to the number of murders both seen and implied by the script and strongly advised Whale to reduce the number 8 The censors office upon reviewing the film in March 1935 required a number of cuts Whale agreed to delete a sequence in which Dwight Frye s Nephew Glutz 8 kills his uncle and blames the Monster 1 and shots of Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in which Breen felt too much of her breasts were visible Despite his earlier objection Breen offered no objection to the cruciform imagery throughout the film including a scene with the Monster lashed Christ like to a pole nor to the presentation of Pretorius as a coded homosexual 31 Bride of Frankenstein was approved by the Production Code office on April 15 1 Following its release with the Code seal of approval the film was challenged by the censorship board in the state of Ohio 31 Censors in England and China objected to the scene in which the Monster gazes longingly upon the body intended for reanimation as the Bride citing concerns that it looked like necrophilia 33 Universal voluntarily withdrew the film from Sweden because of the extensive cuts demanded and Bride was rejected outright by Trinidad Palestine and Hungary Additionally Japanese censors objected to the scene in which Pretorius chases his miniature Henry VIII with tweezers asserting that it constituted making a fool out of a king 31 Reception Edit Colin Clive Elsa Lanchester Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger The film had its premiere on April 19 in San Francisco California at the Oprheum Theater 34 a The film went into general release on April 20 35 36 Bride of Frankenstein was profitable for Universal with a 1943 report showing that the film had by then earned approximately 2 million 31 3 million in 2023 money for the studio a profit of about 950 000 14 9 million as of 2023 28 37 The film was critically praised upon its release although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film s being in the horror genre The New York World Telegram called the film good entertainment of its kind 38 The New York Post described it as a grotesque gruesome tale which of its kind is swell 38 The Hollywood Reporter similarly called the film a joy for those who can appreciate it 38 Variety did not so qualify its review It is one of those rare instances where none can review it or talk about it without mentioning the cameraman art director and score composer in the same breath as the actors and director Variety also praised the cast writing that Karloff manages to invest the character with some subtleties of emotion that are surprisingly real and touching Thesiger as Dr Pretorious is a diabolic characterization if ever there was one Lanchester handles two assignments being first in a preamble as author Mary Shelley and then the created woman In latter assignment she impresses quite highly 39 In another unqualified review Time wrote that the film had a vitality that makes their efforts fully the equal of the original picture Screenwriters Hurlbut amp Balderston and Director James Whale have given it the macabre intensity proper to all good horror pieces but have substituted a queer kind of mechanistic pathos for the sheer evil that was Frankenstein 40 The Oakland Tribune concurred it was a fantasy produced on a rather magnificent scale with excellent stagecraft and fine photographic effects 41 While the Winnipeg Free Press thought that the electrical equipment might have been better suited to Buck Rogers nonetheless the reviewer praised the film as exciting and sometimes morbidly gruesome declaring that all who enjoyed Frankenstein will welcome his Bride as a worthy successor 42 The New York Times called Karloff so splendid in the role that all one can say is he is the Monster 43 The Times praised the entire principal cast and Whale s direction in concluding that Bride is a first rate horror film 43 and presciently suggested that the Monster should become an institution like Charlie Chan 43 Bride was nominated for one Academy Award for Sound Recording Gilbert Kurland 44 45 The film s reputation has persisted and grown in the decades since its release In 1998 the film was added to the United States National Film Registry having been deemed culturally historically or aesthetically significant 46 47 Frequently identified as James Whale s masterpiece 48 the film is lauded as the finest of all gothic horror movies 49 Time rated Bride of Frankenstein in its All Time 100 Movies in which critics Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel overruled the magazine s original review to declare the film one of those rare sequels that is infinitely superior to its source 50 In 2008 Bride was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time 51 Also that year the Boston Herald named it the second greatest horror film after Nosferatu 52 In 2016 James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film 7 on a list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals 53 Entertainment Weekly considers the film superior to Frankenstein 54 On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes 98 of 51 critics reviews are positive with an average rating of 9 10 The website s consensus reads An eccentric campy techinally impressive and frightening picture James Whale s Bride of Frankenstein has aged remarkably well 55 Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 95 out of 100 based on 16 critics indicating universal acclaim 56 Interpretations EditChristian imagery Edit Karloff in the trailer Christian imagery appears throughout the film In addition to the scenes of the Monster trussed in a cruciform pose and the crucified figure of Jesus in the graveyard the hermit has a crucifix on the wall of his hut which to Whale s consternation editor Ted Kent made glow during a fade out 8 and the Monster consumes the Christian sacraments of bread and wine at his last supper with the hermit Horror scholar David J Skal suggests that Whale s intention was to make a direct comparison of Frankenstein s monster to Christ 57 Film scholar Scott MacQueen noting Whale s lack of any religious convictions disputes the notion that the Monster is a Christ figure Rather the Monster is a mockery of the divine since having been created by Man rather than God it lacks the divine spark In crucifying the Monster he says Whale pushes the audience s buttons by inverting the central Christian belief of the death of Christ followed by the resurrection The Monster is raised from the dead first then crucified 8 Queer reading Edit Elsa Lanchester on stilts as the Bride of Frankenstein In the decades since its release modern film scholars have noted the possible queer reading of the film Director James Whale was openly gay and some of the actors in the cast including Ernest Thesiger and according to rumor Colin Clive were respectively gay or bisexual 58 Although James Curtis Whale s biographer rejects the notion that Whale would have identified with the Monster from a homosexual perspective 59 scholars have perceived a gay subtext suffused through the film especially a camp sensibility 60 particularly embodied in the character of Pretorius and his relationship with Henry Gay film historian Vito Russo in considering Pretorius stops short of identifying the character as gay instead referring to him as sissified 61 sissy itself being Hollywood code for homosexual Pretorius serves as a gay Mephistopheles 14 a figure of seduction and temptation going so far as to pull Frankenstein away from his bride on their wedding night to engage in the unnatural act of creating non procreative life A novelization of the film published in the United Kingdom made the implication clear having Pretorius say to Frankenstein Be fruitful and multiply Let us obey the Biblical injunction you of course have the choice of natural means but as for me I am afraid that there is no course open to me but the scientific way 62 The Monster whose affections for the male hermit and the female Bride he discusses with identical language friend has been read as sexually unsettled and bisexual 58 Gender studies author Elizabeth Young writes He has no innate understanding that the male female bond he is to forge with the bride is assumed to be the primary one or that it carries a different sexual valence from his relationships with Pretorius and the hermit all affective relationships are as easily friendships as marriages 63 Indeed his relationship with the hermit has been interpreted as a same sex marriage that heterosexual society will not tolerate No mistake this is a marriage and a viable one But Whale reminds us quickly that society does not approve The monster the outsider is driven from his scene of domestic pleasure by two gun toting rubes who happen upon this startling alliance and quickly instinctively proceed to destroy it writes cultural critic Gary Morris for Bright Lights Film Journal 58 The creation of the Bride scene Morris continues is Whale s reminder to the audience his Hollywood bosses peers and everyone watching of the majesty and power of the homosexual creator 58 Filmmaker Curtis Harrington a friend and confidant of Whale s dismissed this as a younger critic s evaluation All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something but artists don t think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind 64 Specifically in response to the majesty and power reading Harrington stated My opinion is that s just pure bullshit That s a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration 64 He concludes I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor 64 Whale s companion David Lewis stated flatly that Whale s sexual orientation was not germane to his filmmaking Jimmy was first and foremost an artist and his films represent the work of an artist not a gay artist but an artist 59 1930s Universal s art director Karoly Grosz designed this offbeat 1935 advertisement Home media EditIn 1985 MCA Home Video released Bride of Frankenstein on LaserDisc 65 In the 1990s MCA Universal Home Video released the film on VHS as part of the Universal Monsters Classic Collection a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films 66 In 1999 Universal released Bride of Frankenstein on VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Monster Collection 67 68 In April 2004 Universal released Frankenstein The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the Universal Legacy Collection 69 70 This two disc release includes Bride of Frankenstein as well as the original Frankenstein Son of Frankenstein and The House of Frankenstein 69 70 Boris Karloff in the film s trailer In 2012 Bride of Frankenstein was released on Blu ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection box set which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series 71 In 2014 Universal released Frankenstein Complete Legacy Collection on DVD 72 This set contains eight films Frankenstein Bride of Frankenstein Son of Frankenstein Ghost of Frankenstein Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man The House of Frankenstein House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 72 In 2015 the six film Universal Classic Monsters Collection was released on DVD 73 In 2016 Bride of Frankenstein received a Walmart exclusive Blu ray release featuring a glow in the dark cover 74 That same year the Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu ray 75 In September 2017 Bride of Frankenstein received a Best Buy exclusive steelbook Blu ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross 76 Bride of Frankenstein was included in the Universal Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection Blu ray box set in August 2018 77 This box set also received a DVD release 78 Remake attempts Edit Scene from Bride of Frankenstein with Colin Clive Elsa Lanchester Boris Karloff and Ernest Thesiger Lobby card for double feature with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi Karloff in 1935 teaser ad Universal Pictures has sought to remake Bride of Frankenstein on several occasions 79 While the novel Frankenstein has been adapted to film many times Bride of Frankenstein s closest remake was The Bride 1985 starring Sting Clancy Brown and Jennifer Beals 80 In 1991 the studio sought to remake the film for cable television and Martin Scorsese expressed interest in directing 79 In the first decade of the 21st century Universal paired with Imagine Entertainment and contracted Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini who wrote the screenplay for American Splendor to write a remake The screenwriters set the story in contemporary New York Jacob Estes was also involved with the project at one point and wrote a draft 80 In June 2009 Universal and Imagine entered discussions with director Neil Burger and his writing partner Dirk Wittenborn 80 and producer Brian Grazer was assigned to oversee the development of the remake 81 In December 2015 Variety reported that David Koepp would write the script 82 In May 2017 Universal Pictures announced their shared universe film series of rebooted modern day interpretations of their classic Universal Monsters titled Dark Universe The film series began with the 2017 film The Mummy and was expected to continue with Bride of Frankenstein with Bill Condon directing the film 83 Later in October pre production had begun when the creative team and studio decided to postpone the release in order to further work on the script with intentions being to improve the story 84 Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie were still attached to the film as Frankenstein s monster and the film s reluctant bride respectively 85 The same month Condon stated that should Jolie decide to leave the project he would be interested in seeing Gal Gadot play the titular character 86 On November 8 Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects leaving the future of the Dark Universe in doubt 87 In January 2018 Condon was reportedly assembling a production team consisting of cinematographer Tobias A Schliessler production designer Sarah Greenwood composer Carter Burwell and costume designer Jacqueline Durran 88 In November 2019 Condon reflected on the proposed Bride of Frankenstein remake not entering production 89 He stated That was a heartbreaker really the simplest way to say it is that I think The Mummy and not to say anything against the movie but the fact that that hadn t worked for them and it was the beginning of this whole reinvention of their monsters gave them cold feet at the end of the day Because David Koepp was writing the script I thought it was unbelievably good and we were on the verge of making a really beautiful movie I thought So that was a shame 90 91 He also noted his uncertainty regarding his ability to publicly discuss the project because Koepp I think is still involved in figuring out the new approach The movie that we started was devised as a great big movie and at the end of the day probably these movies should be smaller 90 91 An adaptation of the film was being considered with Scarlett Johansson in the titular lead role as the Bride in October 2020 but no further announcements or confirmations have been made since the initial rumours 92 Amy Pascal was hired as producer in February 2020 with the project becoming a joint venture production between Universal Pictures and Pascal Pictures The studio is courting David Koepp to continue his work as screenwriter Filmmakers John Krasinski and Sam Raimi have individually had discussions with the studio regarding potentially directing while Variety reported that Krasinski was given options to develop films from the roster of monsters owned by Universal Pictures 93 94 In June Koepp stated that in addition to still being actively involved with the project he was also inspired by the success of The Invisible Man 95 He said that the story will explore the modern day desire to extend our lives create life and cheat death Furthermore the filmmaker intends to include plot devices that are relevant to the MeToo era stating that it s horror effortlessly lending itself to metaphor 96 In March 2022 Koepp revealed that he was no longer involved with the project He also stated the initial version would have started in the 1870s and would have involved the Bride reawakening in the present day 97 See also EditBoris Karloff filmography List of films featuring Frankenstein s monster Frankenstein in popular culture Gods and Monsters a 1998 James Whale biopic that draws its title from a quote from Bride of Frankenstein List of horror films of the 1930s List of films featuring miniature peopleReferences EditNotes Edit Film historian Martin F Norden says the film had its world premiere in Chicago Illinois 35 Citations Edit a b c d Curtis p 250 Brunas et al p 116 Bride of Frankenstein Turner Classic Movies Retrieved March 15 2016 Curtis p 154 a b c d e Vieria p 80 The Bride of Frankenstein catalog afi com Archived from the original on December 3 2021 Retrieved December 3 2021 Curtis p 234 a b c d e f g h i j k l MacQueen Scott 2004 DVD commentary Bride of FrankensteinLegacy Collection edition DVD Universal Studios a b c d Vieira p 85 Curtis p 134 Curtis pp 234 36 a b Newman Kim December 2004 Rewind Masterpiece 18 Empire p 181 Lennig p 92 a b Skal p 185 a b c Vieira p 82 a b Curtis pp 243 44 a b Vieira p 86 a b Gifford p 55 a b Curtis p 237 Skal David J 1993 The Monster Show United States Penguin p 189 ISBN 0 14 024002 0 Goldman p 165 Goldman p 183 Picart et al p 40 Picart et al p 39 Curtis p 246 Curtis p 249 a b Mank p xvii a b c 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved April 16 2022 Curtis p 241 Curtis pp 248 49 a b c d Skal pp 187 91 Curtis p 247 Johnson p 166 Towlson Jon 2016 The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films 1931 1936 Jefferson N C McFarland p 117 ISBN 9780786494743 Mank Gregory W 2014 The Very Witching Time of Night Dark Alleys of Classic Horror Cinema Jefferson N C McFarland p 143 ISBN 9780786449552 This Day in History April 19 The Baltimore Sun March 31 2017 Retrieved April 21 2022 Bride of Frankenstein at Orpheum Tomorrow The San Francisco Examiner April 18 1935 p 12 Hanifin Ada April 19 1935 Bride of Frankenstein Seen at Orpheum Today The San Francisco Examiner p 14 a b Norden Martin F 2016 We re Not All Dead Yet Humor Amid the Horror in James Whale s Bride of Frankenstein In Miller Cynthia J Van Riper Anthony Bowdoin eds The Laughing Dead The Horror Comedy Film from Bride of Frankenstein to Zombieland Lanham Md Rowman amp Littlefield p 119 fn 31 ISBN 9781442268326 Monster to Appear Again The Los Angeles Times April 19 1935 p Part I 1 Curtis p 251 a b c Curtis pp 250 51 Variety staff January 1 1935 Bride of Frankenstein Variety Retrieved January 6 2008 The New Pictures Time April 29 1935 Archived from the original on December 4 2008 Retrieved January 6 2008 Soanes Wood May 25 1935 Frankenstein stalks again in Roxie play Oakland Tribune Lyceum screens Monster sequel Winnipeg Free Press May 24 1935 a b c F S N May 11 1935 Bride of Frankenstein At the Roxy The New York Times Retrieved February 1 2009 Mr Karloff is so splendid in the role that all one can say is he is the Monster Mr Clive Valerie Hobson Elsa Lanchester O P Heggie Ernest Thesiger E E Clive and Una O Connor fit snugly into the human background before which Karloff moves The 8th Academy Awards 1936 Nominees and Winners oscars org Retrieved August 7 2011 Bride of Frankenstein Awards Allmovie Retrieved January 9 2008 Easy Rider now listed on National Film Registry CNN November 17 1998 Retrieved January 6 2008 Klady Leonard November 17 1998 Nat l Film Registry adds 25 pix Variety Retrieved May 28 2020 Graham Bob October 9 1998 Bride Is as Lovely as Ever San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved January 8 2008 French Philip December 2 2007 Films of the Day The Bride of Frankenstein The Observer Corliss Richard Schickel Richard February 12 2005 All Time 100 Movies Time Archived from the original on December 26 2007 Retrieved January 6 2008 Empire s The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time Empire Retrieved July 8 2010 Verniere James October 27 2008 Creepy countdown The Herald ranks the 10 scariest flicks in film history Boston Herald Archived from the original on May 22 2011 Retrieved October 28 2008 Charisma James March 15 2016 Revenge of the Movie 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals Playboy Archived from the original on July 26 2016 Retrieved July 19 2016 The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made New York Warner Books 1996 pp 99 100 Bride of Frankenstein Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Media Retrieved November 26 2022 The Bride of Frankenstein Reviews Metacritic Fandom Inc Retrieved November 26 2022 Skal p 189 a b c d Morris Gary July 1997 Sexual Subversion The Bride of Frankenstein Bright Lights Film Journal 19 Retrieved January 7 2008 a b Curtis p 144 Skal p 184 Russo p 50 Egremont Michael quoted in Skal p 189 Young p 134 a b c Del Valle David November 29 2009 Curtis Harrington on James Whale Films in Review p 3 Archived from the original on July 18 2011 Retrieved June 10 2010 Bride of Frankenstein The 1935 LaserDisc Database Retrieved January 23 2020 The Bride of Frankenstein Universal Monsters Classic Collection VHS Amazon com Retrieved January 23 2020 The Bride of Frankenstein Classic Monster Collection VHS ASIN 6300183629 The Bride of Frankenstein Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection DVD ISBN 078323502X a b Frankenstein The Legacy Collection Frankenstein The Bride of Frankenstein Son of Frankenstein The Ghost of Frankenstein House of Frankenstein DVD Amazon com Retrieved January 19 2020 a b Jane Ian April 22 2004 Frankenstein The Legacy Collection Frankenstein Bride of Son of Ghost of House of DVD Talk Retrieved January 23 2020 Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection Blu ray Amazon com Retrieved January 23 2020 a b Frankenstein Complete Legacy Collection DVD Amazon com Retrieved January 19 2020 Universal Classic Monsters Collection Amazon com Retrieved January 16 2020 Squires John September 13 2016 Walmart Releases Universal Monsters Classics With Glow In Dark Covers iHorror com Retrieved January 23 2020 Frankenstein Complete Legacy Collection Blu ray Amazon com Retrieved January 19 2020 Squires John June 27 2017 Best Buy Getting Universal Monsters Steelbooks With Stunning Alex Ross Art Bloody Disgusting Retrieved January 23 2020 Universal Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection Blu ray Amazon com Retrieved January 23 2020 Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection DVD Amazon com Retrieved January 19 2020 a b Klady Leonard November 8 1991 Hopeful Bride Entertainment Weekly No 91 a b c Zeitchik Steven June 18 2009 Bride of Frankenstein to live again The Hollywood Reporter Reuters Hart Hugh June 17 2009 Born Again Bride of Frankenstein in Works Wired News Retrieved March 9 2010 Kroll Justin December 17 2015 Bride of Frankenstein Reboot to Be Written by David Koepp Variety Bill Condon s Bride of Frankenstein Postponed Archived March 6 2019 at the Wayback Machine filmschoolrejects com D Alessandro Anthony October 5 2017 Bride of Frankenstein Now Undated Blumhouse Title To Fill Valentie s Day 2019 Slot Fleming Mike Jr October 5 2017 Bride Of Frankenstein Back To Lab As London Pre Production Postponed Javier Bardem amp Angelina Jolie Expected To Wait Deadline Retrieved October 13 2017 Gonzalez Umberto October 5 2017 Gal Gadot as Bride of Frankenstein Director Bill Condon Proposes Her If Angelina Jolie Exits The Wrap Kit Borys Couch Aaron November 8 2017 Universal s Monsterverse in Peril as Top Producers Exit Exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved March 6 2018 Marc Christopher January 15 2018 Bill Condon s Bride of Frankenstein Assembles a Production Team When Will It Shoot Omega Underground omegaunderground com Archived from the original on February 20 2018 Retrieved March 6 2018 Interview Bill Condon Director of The Good Liar Curzon November 10 2019 Retrieved January 23 2020 a b Weintraub Steve Interviewer Condon Bill Interviewee November 13 2019 The Good Liar Director Bill Condon Interview Collider Interviews on YouTube Event occurs at 20 19 Archived from the original on November 14 2021 Retrieved January 23 2020 a b Jackson Matthew November 15 2019 Director Bill Condon says it was a heartbreaker to lose Bride of Frankenstein reboot Syfy Wire Syfy Retrieved January 23 2020 Scarlett Johansson to Star in New Take on The Bride of Frankenstein It Is Long Overdue People Retrieved September 12 2021 Donnelly Matt February 11 2020 Hollywood Still Trying to Put a Ring on Universal s Bride of Frankenstein EXCLUSIVE Bride Of Frankenstein Reboot Might Still Happen Despite Dark Universe Failure Report GameSpot www gamespot com Bride of Frankenstein Will Stand Alone Is Inspired by Success of The Invisible Man Movieweb June 19 2020 Retrieved June 20 2020 David Koepp gives more info on his Bride of Frankenstein remake www joblo com June 19 2020 Retrieved June 20 2020 Richard Nate March 25 2022 David Koepp on How His Friendship With Steven Soderbergh Shaped KIMI the Art of Screenwriting and His Legendary Career Collider Retrieved July 8 2022 Bibliography EditBrunas Michael John Brunas amp Tom Weaver 1990 Universal Horrors The Studios Classic Films 1931 46 Qefferson NC McFarland amp Co Curtis James 1998 James Whale A New World of Gods and Monsters Boston Faber and Faber ISBN 0 571 19285 8 Gelder Ken 2000 The Horror Reader New York Routledge ISBN 0 415 21355 X Gifford Denis 1973 Karloff The Man The Monster The Movies Film Fan Monthly Goldman Harry 2005 Kenneth Strickfaden Dr Frankenstein s Electrician McFarland ISBN 0 7864 2064 2 Johnson Tom 1997 Censored Screams The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties McFarland ISBN 0 7864 0394 2 Lennig Arthur 1993 The Immortal Count The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi University Press of Kentucky ISBN 0 8131 2273 2 Mallory Michael 2009 Universal Studios Monsters A Legacy of Horror Universe ISBN 0 7893 1896 2 Mank Gregory W 1994 Hollywood Cauldron Thirteen Films from the Genre s Golden Age McFarland ISBN 0 7864 1112 0 Picart Carolyn Joan Frank Smoot and Jayne Blodgett 2001 The Frankenstein Film Sourcebook Greenwood Press ISBN 0 313 31350 4 Russo Vito 1987 The Celluloid Closet Homosexuality in the Movies revised edition New York HarperCollins ISBN 0 06 096132 5 Skal David J 1993 The Monster Show A Cultural History of Horror Penguin Books ISBN 0 14 024002 0 Vieira Mark A 2003 Hollywood Horror From Gothic to Cosmic New York Harry N Abrams ISBN 0 8109 4535 5 Young Elizabeth Here Comes The Bride Collected in Gelder Ken ed 2000 The Horror Reader Routledge ISBN 0 415 21356 8 External links EditBride of Frankenstein at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Data from Wikidata Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein essay by Richard T Jameson on the National Film Registry site The Bride of Frankenstein essay by Daniel Eagan in America s Film Legacy The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry A amp C Black 2010 ISBN 0826429777 pages 234 235 Bride of Frankenstein at the American Film Institute Catalog Bride of Frankenstein at IMDb Bride of Frankenstein at AllMovie Bride of Frankenstein at Rotten Tomatoes Bride of Frankenstein at the TCM Movie Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bride of Frankenstein amp oldid 1132586279, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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