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Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester

It appeared, at the end of the epochal 1931 horror movie Frankenstein, that the monster had perished in a burning windmill. But that was before the runaway success of the movie dictated a seque...( read more  read more... )l. In Bride of Frankenstein, we see that the monster (once again played by Boris Karloff) survived the conflagration, as did his half-mad creator (Colin Clive). This remarkable sequel, universally considered superior to the original, reunites other key players from the first film: director James Whale (whose life would later be chronicled in Gods and Monsters) and, of course, the inimitable Dwight Frye, as Frankenstein's bent-over assistant. Whale brought campy humor to the project, yet Bride is also somehow haunting, due in part to Karloff's nuanced performance. The monster, on the loose in the European countryside, learns to talk, and his encounter with a blind hermit is both comic and touching. (The episode was later spoofed in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein.) A prologue depicts the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, being urged to produce a sequel by her husband Percy and Lord Byron. She's played by Elsa Lanchester, who reappears in the climactic scene as the man-made bride of the monster. Her lightning-bolt hair and reptilian movements put her into the horror-movie pantheon, despite being onscreen for only a few moments. But in many ways the film is stolen by Ernest Thesiger, as the fey Dr. Pretorious, who toasts the darker possibilities of science: "To a new world of gods and monsters!" Absolutely. --Robert Horton

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81% liked it

17,508 ratings

Unrated, 75 min.

Directed by: James Whale

Release Date: April 22, 1935

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DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (790)

  • rubystevens
    November 12, 2009
    rubystevens
    a rare sequel better than the original. dr. pretorious steals the show
  • flixsterman
    July 19, 2009
    flixsterman
    This is arguably the best of Universal's classic monster movies. It's also director James Whale's last horror film. Whale, who directed the original Frankenstein, returned with a very different approach for the sequel. Where the sets of Frankenstein were close to perfect in th...( read more)eir European authenticity, sets for "The Bride" were essentially a hodge-podge of canted architecture and macabre facades. The director also reworked the characters. He reduced Henry Frankenstein [Colin Clive] to what amounted to be a minor supporting role, added Dr. Pretorius [Ernest Thesiger], a flamboyant mad scientist (providing dark comic relief), and gave voice to the monster [Karloff]. The result is a film that is entirely original and self-sustaining.

    Aside from the opening scene and perhaps some later close-ups of the bride [Elsa Lanchester], there is little to frighten an audience here. Instead Whale achieves something much more rare. He creates a film that subtly pokes fun at itself while, at the same time, is very serious in it's approach.

    If there is anything here to be critical of it is Whale's unabashed attempt at religious symbolism. The camera seems to love the cross prominently displayed in the hermit's shack, and the raising of the captured monster tied to a stake is an obvious and distasteful reference to the crucifixion. It seems to me that what we have here is a case of Whale's enormous ego getting the better of his good judgment. Otherwise, the film may be as close to flawless, in terms of direction, casting, makeup, and set design, as any production before or since. A true cinematic masterpiece.
  • ohagankieran
    February 7, 2009
    ohagankieran
    As well as being superior to the original, it also towered over the rest of the universal franchise. This is a landmark in the horror film history. Everything is basically superior in this film. In the original we had like this boring doctor guy who gets killed but in this one we...( read more) get this guy called Dr.Pretorius whose intentions are evil and blasphemous and uses Black Magic instead of Science, theres the Bride of course, and even Frankensteins chick who is the same character but this one is much hotter.
  • sononothing
    November 5, 2008
    sononothing
    One of the first true sequels and the first sequel that is superior to the original film, The Bride of Frankenstein picks up right where the original film leaves off. The monster (again played by Boris Karloff) is not dead and is still terrorizing the village as Dr. Frankenstein ...( read more)(Colin Clive returning) recovers from his fall from the windmill. His rest is short lived as Dr. Pretorious (played with relish by Ernest Thesiger) approaches Frankenstein about merging his creation experiments with his own and creating a mate for his monster.

    James Whale returns to direct and once again gives us an amazing array of sights to behold (including Pretorius's experiments). Karloff gets to speak in this one and gives us one of the best lines in film history as his monster becomes even more sympathetic than in the last film. A great achievement with a story that not only builds on the original, but expands it into new territory. A classic horror picture.
  • groaningbitch
    July 9, 2008
    groaningbitch
    "bride of frankenstein" is one of the rare cases in cinema that the sequel indisputedly surpasses the original. naturally lots have been remarked upon the brilliance of james whale.

    unawared by most, "bride of frankenstein" also extends the homoeroticism from its precessor on...( read more) the character dr. pretorius who utters the legendary line "to the new world of gods and monsters" while he flaunts his little men in the jars (strangely it provoked the japanese ban then due to its mockery toward the royalty.) the mostly apparent scene would be dr. pretorius intrudes dr. frankenstein's bedroom in spite of the maid's warning in his fiancee's presence, discussing the course of "creating life" with insistence on excluding her. (an "intercourse" with discrimination toward the woman) it's a impudent poise on the caricature of elder anemic homosexual, admitted by whale himself.

    and the most heterosexual character with masculinity would probably be the monster who is eager to have a female mate (compared with the deviant pretorius and the wimpish frankenstein), demonstrating his enormous interests toward the creature called "woman". but the monster's friendly lovemaking is rebuffed abruptly as whale's ruthless disdain for heterosexuality as well as the pride of his own orientation. but wouldn't be it another suggestive tone of homosexual identification with woman since frankenstein and pretorius are ardent to create a female being (a pursuit of feminity?). they might be my crude speculations.

    un-noticed by most, the actress who plays frankenstein's fiancee is substituted with valerie hobson instead of mae clarke in the original since mae clarke is forgotten or dismissed as the grapefruit lady in "public enemy". and it is wonderful opportunity for una o'connor to showcase her comic flair as the screaming maid whose neurotic nerves borders on annoyance.
  • paultheitie
    November 13, 2009
    paultheitie
    a classic horror film in every sense, whale refines his technique while at the same time offering social commentary, karloff turns in another iconic performance, dramatic, comical and surreal all the same
  • Yelverton
    November 13, 2009
    Yelverton
    Excellent sequel to an excellent horror film.
  • twraiderfan
    October 4, 2009
    twraiderfan
    classic in every sense of the word
  • jerrykimbro1
    October 1, 2009
    jerrykimbro1
    A sequel even better than the original. A true all time classic!
  • GreenGoblin92
    September 30, 2009
    GreenGoblin92
    Another oldie crapfest.

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The Bride of Frankenstein Trivia

  • Which British director directed the classic Universal horror films: Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and the Invisible Man?  Answer »
  • Who played Septimus Pretorious, the sinister doctor who promised Frankenstein's Monster a mate, in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935)?   Answer »
  • The movie line "We belong dead" [Bride Of Frankenstein] was voted # 1 as the greatest movie line by Premiere in 2007 ?  Answer »
  • Who portrays Frankenstein the monster in Bride Of Frankenstein ?   Answer »
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