Bride of Frankenstein starts where James Whale's earlier classic Frankenstein ended. There is a clever but brief piece of dialogue between Mary Shelley and Lord Byron who asks Mary to continue where she left off. Dr Frankenstein is in his sickbed, recovering from the attack by the monster, who also happens to be alive. He is visited by the even more diabolical Dr Pretorius who is also in the business of experimenting and creating life - in his case miniature humans. Pretorius tries to get Frankenstein to create a female companion for the monster who is rampaging around the countryside. Frankenstein was a jolly good film but Bride of Frankenstein is even better. This time, Boris Karloff as the monster gets to speak - this only serves to make him more pathetic and it also makes us more sympathetic towards him - especially in the scene set in the blind hermit's hut which manages to make a point about appearances being superficial. Dr Pretorius is a fantastic evil scientist, making Frankenstein look like Dr Doolittle. The film is more humorous and complex than its predecessor which was played fairly straight. Most of the cast are culled from Frankenstein (1931) - Karloff as the monster, Colin Clive as Dr Frankenstein. James Whale, since the release of Frankenstein, had acquired a good reputation in Hollywood and was basically given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do in Bride of Frankenstein. Whale wanted to make the film humorous and playful. And he succeeded on both fronts with a great cast, witty script and some pretty amazing camera work and direction.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
