ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Boris Karloff and Colin Clive lend their talents to a sequel that equals the classic original. The basic tone is quite different from its predecessor, laced with a great deal of subtle satire.

The film begins on a stormy evening at the mansion of Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester) and her husband Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), along with their friend, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon). Lancaster cringes each time a lightning bolt flashes outside, and she tells the two fascinated men the strange sequel to her famous story, "Frankenstein". The narrative begins just minutes after the original film ended, at the smoldering remnants of the burning windmill in which the monster presumably perished. The monster emerges from the water in the flooded cellar of the windmill, scorched but still alive.

Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is taken to the village, where he begins his recovery from the injuries received after being thrown from the windmill by the monster. During his recuperation he is contacted by Dr. Praetorious (Ernest Thesiger), who wants to work with him on a new process for creating life (great special effects of miniature people in glass bottles). Dwight Frye (Dr. Frankenstein's lackey in the original) plays Karl, Dr. Praetorious' lackey in this one.

The film's standout scene involves a blind hermit who befriends the hapless monster, teaching him the pleasures of good conversation, good violin music, and a good cigar after dinner. None of the subsequent Frankenstein movies allowed the monster to show this tortured, human side to its character.





In the climax, Clive and Thesiger collaborate to make a mate for the monster (also played by Elsa Lanchester), but the ungrateful girl does not respond well to her freakish mate.







Masterful direction by James Whale from a screenplay by John L. Balderston. The powerful music was written by Franz Waxman (and re-used frequently thereafter in such things as "Flash Gordon"). A good job by all. Followed by a sequel in 1939 , "Son of Frankenstein".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[noetic_hatter]

First things first: Sloth from The Goonies owes a great deal to Karloff's Monster. His childlike glee and innocent need for love mixed with an unpredictable capacity for violence come right out of Bride of Frankenstein. Go ahead. Watch them both, and tell me that actor didn't study Karloff. I'll wait. . .

You back? Then you know what I mean.

Now where was I? Ah, yes, I didn't think this film could surpass the original. On first viewing, I was prepared to give it a lower rating. I couldn't stand Una O'Connor's Minnie -- or any of the comic relief, for that matter, which seemed to distract more than it helped. I missed Mae Clark's Elizabeth and thought her replacement (Valerie Hobson) to be pretty but lacking in talent. And I lamented at the scarcity of expressionistic sets that so defined the best scenes in the original.

But I felt like I was missing something. I have read for years how Bride was James Whale's masterpiece and the greatest of the Universal monster pictures. So I decided to give it another viewing. And the second time through, I was dumbfounded.

I ignored the things that bothered me the first time, concentrating on the ominous shadows and wind when Minnie tries to say she's seen the Monster, for instance. I started to see connections that I hadn't seen before, like Frankenstein's own hand moving to indicate that he too was alive. And I lost myself in Karloff's brilliance. There's so much he does here that could easily fall into farce, especially in the sublime Blind Hermit scene. We could be laughing at the creature's attempts to learn to speak and to enjoy music, but instead we clap and smile like little children -- feeling his pleasure at learning and being loved. And our hearts cry out when he stumbles from the burning building calling for his now-absent "Friend!"

Even more perfect than Karloff is Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), a new character who comes across as a slighty queenier and more diabolical Quentin Crisp. He's the kind of person who will engage in what Frankenstein calls "black magic" or have a macabre late night snack in a catacomb, laughing maniacally at a skull and bones he's stacked before him while sipping his drink. He's delicious and charming and not remotely redeemable. Joseph Breen must have had fits trying to censor the character.

Pretorius and Frankenstein work together in the original tower lab. Their scene far surpasses the lab scenes in the first film. The machines are bigger and louder. And the camera jumps back and forth between the two men, providing distorted closeups under an ever-more otherworldy mix of light and shadow. Truly a thing to behold, the scene's use of black and white photography has rarely been matched in any era.

Of course, we can't finish a discussion of this movie without mentioning The Bride herself. Elsa Lanchester has about 5 or 6 minutes of screentime (half of it in the prologue, as a stunningly beautiful Mary Shelley with a lovely low neckline the camera likes to notice). So she gets maybe 3 minutes to provide one of the most iconic images in all of horror cinema. And she succeeds. Boy does she ever. That hair. Those dark eyes. The birdlike movement of her head. Even the hiss. She's wonderful.

And now what say I? Bride is a masterpiece.

[noetic_hatter]

After I wrote that previous review in Oct 2012, I got a chance to see Frank and Bride on the big screen a few weeks later that same month.

Doctor Pratorius (Ernest Thesiger) is more delicious on the big screen than he is on the small screen -- and that's saying something. So is Dwight Frye, whatever character he plays in any film.

Watching this and the original in succession really accentuates how much more sly humor James Whale has added. Una O'Connor's over the top Minnie notwithstanding, there's just a greater perverse joy in the goings-on, compared to the gorgeous but played-completely-straight original.

And really, what's with all the crucifixes? You'd think there's some kind of message about wrongful execution, especially since the Monster himself gets crucified. *wink*

[Bud Brewster]

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Holy molly, I really like reading your comments!

Thanks goodness you like writing them, and we're getting them pretty fast here at All Sci-Fi. Twenty-one post on your first day! Sweet!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Ludi]

My particular subject of study, Ernest Thesiger, only worked on a couple of sci-fi films. Here's a little tidbit about his experience working on "Bride of Frankenstein"

Again I went to Hollywood to do another picture for James Whale - "The Bride of Frankenstein" and again worked with Boris Karloff, who is a very different person without his horrific makeup - kind and surprisingly gentle. On the screen he is definitely "Karloff" but in private life his real name of Pratt suits him better. My makeup in "The Bride" took long enough to put on - about an hour and a half, but poor Boris had to be worked upon for nearly three hours, by which time his face had been so much overlaid with chicken skin and rubber solution that I didn't dare make him laugh in case the whole elaborate creation of the makeup man [Jack Pierce] (as conceited an artist as ever I came across) should be ruined. Boris couldn't sit down; so heavily padded was he that he had to have a special seat made for him - more like a back-board with a ledge on which he put the part that most people sit upon. How I disliked that makeup man! But he certainly knew his business.

- Ernest Thesiger, from his unpublished memoir, I Was

More about the film: http://ernestthesiger.org/Ernest_Thesiger/Bride_of_Frankenstein.html
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ernestthesiger.org

[Bud Brewster]

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A wonderful story, Ludi — one which brings alive the fascinating world of Hollywood magic and the magicians who fascinate us with what they do.

Thanks for sharing it with us . . . and please keep 'em comin'. As you can tell. All Sci-Fi desperately needs more folks who are knowledgeable about the films from the decades prior to 1950!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I've always thought that Karloff's version of the monster looked scarier in the original Frankenstein because he was so thin, not the hulking version in a sheepskin tunic we see in later films like Son of Frankenstein.


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But this IMDB trivia item has something which explains a subtle difference in Karloff's face between the original and Bride of Frankenstein.
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Boris Karloff protested against the decision to make The Monster speak, but was overruled. Since he was required to speak in this film, Karloff was not able to remove his partial bridgework as he had done to help give the Monster his sunken cheek appearance in the first Frankenstein (1931). That's why The Monster appears fuller of face in the sequel.
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And yet I've compared pictures from the original and the sequel. I really can't tell the difference which the trivia item describes. The pictures below are from Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein respectively. Perhaps Karloff removed the partial bridgework for the publicity still below.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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First of all, noetic_hatter, you're comments on this movie are a delight to read — and re-read, which I just did. They really generate a strong urge to watch this movie again at the first opportunity.

Second, I was struck by these statements.

[Gord Green]

As iconic as the original FRANKENSTEIN is, I think BRIDE is the jewel in the tri-partate crown that is FRANK-BRIDE-SON!.

[Bud Brewster]

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I found this great poster on Bogmeister's site, the Galactic Base of Science Fiction.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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Years ago I had a friend who worshiped this movie and went to amazing lenghts to get a VHS tape of it by hijacking a department story VCR in the electronics department and guarding it religiously for two hours while he taped the movie from a local station that aired it!

He supplied the VHS tape for this wild "heist", and he fled the scene after the movie was over. The tape remained a prized process of his for several years . . . until he loaned to a doofus who used the tape to record a football game!

His idiot "friend" had no idea that he destroyed a treasured tape.

A true story. Swear to God.

IMDB has 80 trivia items for this movie which you might also find interesting. Enjoy!
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Boris Karloff protested against the decision to make The Monster speak, but was overruled. Since he was required to speak in this film, Karloff was not able to remove his partial bridgework as he had done to help give the Monster his sunken cheek appearance in the first Frankenstein (1931). That's why The Monster appears fuller of face in the sequel.

Note from me: By gum, THIS is why the original monster looks so wonderfully cadaverous in the original, but less so in the sequels! I KNEW something was different!

Boris Karloff sweated off 20 pounds laboring in the hot costume and makeup.

Note from me: And yes, he STILL doesn't look as thin and scary in the movies that were made after the original!

Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the girl The Monster accidentally kills in the original Frankenstein (1931), appears uncredited as another young girl. She is the leader of the group of young schoolgirls who encounter the Monster as he runs away from the blind man's burning house.

Director James Whale deliberately gave her a one-word line ("Look!"), so she would be paid more by the studio as an actor with a speaking role, instead of as an extra.

Note from me: What does this say about James Whale? That he's a great guy, that's what!

When filming the scene where the monster emerges from the burnt windmill, Boris Karloff slipped and fell into the water-filled well. Upon being helped out, it was discovered that he had dislocated a hip in the fall.

The hip was strapped into place and Karloff soldiered on. He continued to receive massage and heat treatments for the hip for the rest of the shooting of the film.

Note from me: If you think being movie star is all glitz and glamour, try acting with a dislocated hip!

The tiny mermaid in Dr. Pretorius' bottle was Josephine McKim, a member of the 1924 and 1928 U.S. Women's Olympic Swim Teams and one of the four members of that team to win the 1928 gold medal in the 400-Meter Freestyle Relay. McKim was also Maureen O'Sullivan's body double in the infamous nude swimming scene of the previous year's Tarzan and His Mate (1934).

Note from me: All this time I thought I was lusting after Maureen O'Sullivan's luscious derriere! (Well, it still looks delicious . . . )

The musical soundtrack for this film proved so popular, it was used again in the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials starring Buster Crabbe.

Note from me: I watched the Flash Gordon serials every Saturday morning on local TV in the earlier 1950s, and the music was imprinted on my sci-fi lovin' brain. I found out decades later where the music came from, but since I've been a sci-fi lover since I was very young, the music still seems like the score for Flash Gordon instead of for this classic horror film.

Director James Whale originally did not want to do a sequel to Frankenstein (1931). For a time, Universal considered producing a sequel without Whale's involvement.

One possible story included an educated monster continuing Henry's research, while another chronicled Henry's creation of a death ray on the eve of a world war. However, after 4 years of badgering by Universal, Whale agreed to do the film.

Note from me: Wow! A "smart" monster making his daddy proud by becoming a doctor! Or a death ray that beats the Nazis! I'm can't help wishing those stories had been used for the sequel!

There was an epilogue to this movie featuring Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley, but it was cut from the final film.

Note from me: Raise your hand if you wish you could watch this "lost" scene! (Yeah, me too!)

Elsa Lanchester was only 5'4" but for the role was placed on stilts that made her 7' tall. The bandages were placed so tightly on her that she was unable to move and had to be carried about the studio and fed through a straw.

Note from me: Is it just me, or does this sound as creepy as the scenes in the movie?

Several scenes were cut after censor's objections. References to the scandalous sexual arrangements of Mary, Shelley, and Byron were eliminated, particularly the line of dialogue: "We are all three infidels, scoffers at all marriage ties, believing only in living freely and fully."

Breen's office also objected to shots they considered too revealing of Elsa Lanchester's cleavage in the prologue.

Note from me: The next time I watch this movie I'll remember this and get more aroused than I have in the past. I mean . . . damn . . .

Special effects experts John P. Fulton and David S. Horsley spent two days shooting Dr. Pretorius' miniature beings. The actors were placed in full-sized bell jars set against black velvet. These shots were meticulously lined up to match them with shots of Ernest Thesiger, Colin Clive and the interior set.

Note from me: Imagine how easy this would have been today, with CGI! We should all feel guilty about that! Shame, shame . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Universal Studios MONSTERS: A Legacy of Horror by Michael Mallory.

If the Monster in Frankenstein was a childlike innocent, here he is portrayed as a nightmarish teenager. Not only does he pick up smoking and drinking habits, but he shows a newfound interest in women, talks back to his "parent," and suffers from falling in with a bad influence, namely Dr. Pretorius.

Bride of Frankenstein was definitely James Whale's film, giving full reign to his vision, personality, and quirky — sometimes perverse — sense of humor.

Yet another bizarre joke is that lever on the laboratory wall, which the Monster knows is deadly: why would an otherwise brilliant scientist install a device in a laboratory whose raison d'etre was to blow the place to smithereens?

[Bud Brewster]

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"Self-destruct will commence in zero seconds." Boom!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a few funny thoughts concerning an "alternate universe" prequel and a two sequels to The Bride of Frankenstein.

I realize that the movie's title seems imply that the "bride" is to wed Dr. Frankenstein, not the Monster.

Strictly speaking, the title should have been The Bride of Dr. Frankenstein's Monster. With that in mind, my idea for an imaginary prequel would be called —

The Fiance' of Dr. Frankenstein's Monster

It's a love story in which the Monster falls in love with a beautiful blind girl who loves the Monster for his "inner beauty" (and also because he's such a good listener).

But she dies in a horrible accident, leaving her horribly dismembered!

However, the sympathetic doctor puts her together again and brings her back to life! (After all, practice makes perfect.)

Tragically, the girl's mother was so stricken with grief when she learned of her daughter's tragic death that she threw herself off a cliff. The Monster convinces the doctor to put her back together as well, for the sake of his beloved finance'. (By this time the doctor was getting pretty good at this stuff.)

And thus we have —

The Mother-in Law of Dr. Frankenstein's Monster

But the marriage of the Monster and his wife does not go well (as they often do . . . or don't . . . whatever ), and the married couple decide to split up. Thus we have the second sequel.

The Ex-Wife and the Former Mother-in-Law of Dr. Frankenstein's Monster

In this "alternate universe", The Son of Frankenstein would be about the child the married couple had before the divorce, and the title would be —

The Son of Frankenstein's Monster and His Blind, Resurrected Wife
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)