The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 28 days to go.
“Yes, a woman. That should be really interesting”. So says Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesinger) to Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), when he proposes to create a mate for the iconic Monster (Boris Karloff). The line is delivered in a rather tongue and cheek tone, which suggests a somewhat meta commentary surrounding this film.
Bride of Frankenstein was meant as a direct sequel to the 1931 classic, but in so many ways, it couldn’t be more different than what we were exposed to in the original. Bride creates a different and more unique world than its predecessor, built on dark humour, a witty screenplay, risque allegories, and a sensational production design which ranks among the best looking horror films of all time.
The film also doubles down on the pathos and sadness of Karloff’s Monster, this time giving him a primitive, though articulate voice, which at times hinges on sadness and philosophy. It’s the only time a Universal Horror monster has been given so much range and empathy, which in turn creates the crown jewel film in the entire canon of the long running horror franchise.
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Bride of Frankenstein picks up directly where the last film left off, in the giant windmill where Dr. Frankenstein and his monstrous creation faced off. Henry was thrown off the windmill while The Monster was left to die in the burning wreckage.
However, we soon see that Henry survived his fate and is taken back to his castle where he can soon recover and marry his fiance Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson taking over for the original’s Mae Clarke). The Monster is also alive, seen surviving the wreckage and even killing the parents of the little girl he so famously killed in the first film. Although Frankenstein’s housekeeper Minnie (Una O’Connor) witnesses The Monster alive, no one believes her.
Meanwhile, Henry is mending along in his castle when he is visited by the strange enigmatic Dr. Pretorious, a former mentor and who comes to him with a proposition: to create a mate for The Monster. He takes Henry to his lab to bear witness to his own experiments of creating small human beings which he keeps in glass jars.
In one of the film’s most imaginative and satirical sequences, we see Pretorious comment on the social positions of his creations. Which include a king and queen, a ballerina, an archbishop a mermaid, and a person who resembles The Devil. A reluctant Henry at first agrees to the proposition, although he will later have second thoughts, while the two mad scientists toast to a new world of Gods and Monsters.
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The Monster in the meantime is roaming the countryside trying to avoid the townspeople. But when he helps a young shepherdess, he is mistaken for harming her and is soon captured. In a scene which directly evokes Christ’s crucifixion, The Monster is strung up on a pole and chained up in a dungeon. He quickly escapes, and finds solace in the home of a blind old hermit.
It’s here we see the film’s tenderest scene where the hermit becomes The Monster’s only friend and cannot judge him since he cannot see. The scene becomes somewhat of a christian allegory of loving your fellow man as well as not judging them. Director James Whale inserts much Christian imagery in this scene as a reminder of this message, but also in a mocking way to show the hypocrisy of the villagers who consider themselves God fearing Christians.
The Monster is soon found out, and must flee his one true friend, which results in him hiding out in a monastery. There he meets Dr. Pretorious, who promises him he won’t be lonely for long as soon as he and Dr. Frankenstein create a woman. However, he will need The Monster’s help to persuade Frankenstein to finish the work.
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Bride of Frankenstein plays a lot with its tone moving from one extreme to the next. At times it could be sincere and poignant, but can then turn to humour and wit. There isn’t the type of uneasy horror which was prevalent in the first film, such as the scene where The Monster kills the little girl. Instead most of the horror is subdued in favour of farce, satire, and camp.
A lot of this had to do with the personality of director James Whale. Whale was perhaps the most talented filmmaker Universal ever got to direct their horror films, bringing with him his sardonic wit and whimsy. When Frankenstein proved to be successful, Whale was given Carte Blanche to do whatever he wanted for the sequel. The film then becomes an example of uninhibited imagination where nothing seems impossible and the sky’s the limit.
Perhaps one of the most ingenious elements Whale injects comes from the opening prologue involving Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester who also plays The Bride). In a somewhat modern take, Whale portrays Shelley as a prim and proper lady of leisure, but only hints at the darkness she kept underneath. The scene only plays better now since we know more of who Shelley was as a person, coming from a pioneering feminist mother who’s writings she was raised on. It’s a very interesting scene satirizing the role of women, and the expectations which were put upon them at the time.
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But the film also plays on the idea of death, almost to the point of obsession. Whale sees death almost like an escape from the futility and unfairness of life. We see it mostly in the pathos of Karloff’s Monster, who longs for death even though he is kept alive.
In one of the film’s inspiring choices, The Monster is given a voice, something he didn’t have in the original. It is here where we can have more understanding into his thoughts and feelings about the world around him, primitive though they may sound. When The Monster spouts the phrase “I love dead, hate living”, it’s as sad and tragic as the brilliant pantomime Karloff used in the original film, adding more texture and nuance to the character. We see how he has come to this conclusion after being treated as an outcast, and something thought of as unholy.
This feeling of death and loneliness is given greater weight, in the film’s most inventive set piece in the creation of The Bride. Once, a woman is created for The Monster, she screams in horror at the sight of him, sealing his fate as someone who could never be loved. The scene is at once audacious, campy, but at its heart, tragic, leaving death as the inevitable conclusion for this band of freaky misfits.
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Although in the original film, the production design was already top notch, the sequel exceeds the expectations which probably was helped by more innovative techniques and a bigger budget. Universal horror films have always owed a debt to the silent films of German expressionism, and it can be seen most prominently in this film particularly with the use of light and shadow.
Whale creates sumptuous contrasts of dark and light imagery giving the film a rich, flamboyant texture. The creation scene in particular is pumped up to the extreme using its black and white cinematography to great effect, while placing the camera in exaggerated angles emphasizing elements of the fantastical.
The set design of Frankenstein’s lab are added on from the original to give a highly unique world of science and fantasy which has often been copied but never duplicated. And finally, the music score by Franz Waxman adds to the operatic scope of the film creating a harmonious sensation to the proceedings and one of the most memorable film scores in all of horror.
Bride of Frankenstein feels like its own unique film which could stand apart from the other Universal horror films. While all of the classic films from the long running franchise have their moments of brilliance, they all follow a similar formula. Bride of Frankenstein follows its own rules, and is not beholden to any form of material it is meant to copy. It is the creation from a visionary filmmaker at the height of his powers, with its own unique point of view, and it’s the reason it can stand today as one of the great films in horror.
