Movie Review: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Synopsis: Even though everyone believes Dr. Henry Frankenstein's creature is dead; it survived the windmill fire and is being hunted by villagers. The disgraced Dr. Pretorius sees an opportunity to build on his own attempts to create life and forces Henry to help him create a mate for the monster by kidnapping Henry's wife, Elizabeth.
Who's in it? The movie stars Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, Ernest Thesiger, Valerie Hobson, Dwight Frye and Elsa Lanchester.
Review: Our Wisconsin summer of extreme weather resulted in yet another day of it being too hot and humid to take a walk at lunch so, once again, I filled the time by watching a movie. I noticed there is a remake of Bride of Frankenstein on one of my movie channels and, since I am still undecided about watching that, decided to go with the original.
I've seen this film probably about a dozen times now and there are things about it that I'm not a huge fan of. However, as far as classic horror goes, it is a film I still think is a must-watch.
Despite playing the title character, Elsa Lanchester gets surprisingly little screentime in this movie, even playing two different characters (the "bride" and Mary Shelly) but is a big part of the reason this movie is as entertaining as it is. The monster look is iconic in itself, but Lanchester also brings a lot more personality to the creature than would be expected.
In fact, I think one of my favorite scenes from this movie is her unexpected reaction to her would-be groom (Boris Karloff). It proved she may have been made for him but that didn't mean he was her type and I thought it was actually kind of humorous, even though I did still feel sorry for the creature after her rejection.
The character that really stood out for me in this movie though was Dr. Pretorius (Thesiger) because he adds an element of evil to the film that otherwise would be missing. The creature isn't really evil, just living in a world that can't accept him. Henry made the mistake of playing God but immediately regretted it. Pretorious is a legitimate villain, something the previous movie lacked.
As I said, there are things about the movie I don't like. For one, there is an awful lot of filler that doesn't have a whole lot to do with the main plot. This includes the lengthy introduction to Pretorius' laboratory.
I'm also just not a fan of Frankenstein's monster's ability to speak. Not so much because he figured out how to do that as much as him going from learning one or two words from a blind hermit (O. P. Heggie) to full sentences in a very short amount of time. It destroyed some of the creature's mystique.
Final Opinion: While not a perfect movie, this is a great classic horror film that is worth watching or re-watching, especially after it inspired a remake.
My Grade: A-
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Here are some reviews of other movies featuring Frankenstein's Monster:
Movie Review: House of Frankenstein (1944)
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