1935
I am completely exhausting after traveling all day but I am persevering with my reviews mostly because I don't want to do my other work. I have now seen Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and good ole Frankenstein. I can tell you, the series really peaks with this one and gets steadily worse afterward.
This movie picks up right where the other leaves off. Everyone thinks the monster is dead but he lives! He also desires a mate which is where the creepy creature pictured above comes into play. Everything I have read about this movie leads me to believe that it is universally agreed upon that this sequel is better than the original. I did not expect to agree but watching just five minutes of this movie convinces me to concur with that opinion. The beginning was particularly interesting because it shows Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley talking about her story. So watch it and get ideas for a wonderfully cliche Halloween costume!
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Elsa Lancaster said the sound she made were inspired by the swans in Regent's Park, London. I love the swans there; no dissing allowed!
The Bride's hair was held into place by a wire horsehair cage.
They are not so bad!
I agree that Bride... is better than the first installment. The cool Goth is a bit tuned down, but there is more story here. To bad we see so little of Elsa Lancaster.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I haven't seen her in anything else.
DeleteOh I bet you have .. maybe just didn't realise... But this is her stand out role, and deserved to be better known. Far to often she ended up doing almost cameo type roles as crotchety old women.. But my eyes always light up and expectations rise when I see she is in a film.
ReplyDeleteI refer you back to a recent comment about Charles Laughton I made under 'Mutiny on the Bounty' (Frank Lloyd dir.) about 4 or 5 days ago.
I was going to be scathing about this one but everyone and accepted wisdom disagrees with me, so I'll try and be balanced.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Gothic atmosphere was very good. And the direction and editing of the exciting moments was generally very well done. Whereas the original was constrained by trying to build a movie around the plot and structure of a novel, this could be a real film which was to its advantage.
But, at other times, I couldn't understand what anyone was thinking when they made this.
The script was as leaden and plot exposition-based as anything I've ever seen. Like the caption cards in silent movies so we know what's going on, but extended throughout an entire talking picture.
The housekeeper Minnie (WARNING: British TV comedy references ahoy!), who seemed to have been played by Mrs Overall from Acorn Antiques, was the worst example of this. Much of it reminded me of a French and Saunders cinema spoof. And the way the monster was lured out of the way of the experiments by "Drink!" was so precisely like Jack in Father Ted that I'm assuming that the character was part based upon this film.
Plus, I can accept the usual mix of English and German accents you get in a film like this, to try and ensure an ambience of medieval Europe. But why do the two jail guards then speak/shout with New York accents?
I guess I expected this to be really campy so my standards were kind of low. I'm too American to understand the comedy references. The only British tv show I watched when I lived in London was Come Dine With Me. Phenomenal.
DeleteAmanda, don't worry, I didn't get the 'Acorn Antiques' reference either .. not seen it, don't even know of it. Neither am I overly familiar with 'Father Ted' .. only ever seen snippets. I have seen some F&S movie spoofs .. Well, I get the point you are making .. but good spoofs are good because they lovingly capture the spirit of the original.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, come dine with me? Oh shudder...
But we are here to talk about 'Bride ''
Sorry Dessie, but I think this is a great film.. My only variant from accepted wisdom is that I won't put it streets ahead of 'Frankenstein'. Sure, it's camp.. but come on.. it's from it's era.. and it was directed bt James Whale .. that's it's charm.
PS, I've just seen that today is Boris Karloff's birthday..
ReplyDeleteWhich birthday? The one when he was brought to life by the Baron or from when one of his body parts was originally born?
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