By the mid-1930s, with Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, and The Invisible Man under his belt, director James Whale was a horror genre king weary of his crown. Luckily, Universal Studios chief Carl Laemmle and his son, producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. convinced Whale to take one more crack at the genre. The resulting Bride of Frankenstein turned out to be perhaps the finest film in a decade that produced many horror classics. You can now judge the quality of this early masterpiece yourself as Bride of Frankenstein comes to DVD as part of Universal's feature-packed Classic Monster Collection.
Making a Mate
The formerly mute Monster (Boris Karloff) gains speech in this slyly comic sequel to the original Frankenstein. Tossing off bon mots like, "Living bad, dead good," the creature finds himself alone and hunted in a cruel world. His creator, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive), would really just like to forget the whole thing and get on with his life with his new bride, Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson). A blind man (O.P. Heggie) befriends the creature and introduces him to the joys of wine and music, but, that, too ends badly.
Enter Dr. Pretorius (Ernst Thesiger), effete and mad as a hatter, forcing Dr. Frankenstein out of retirement with a plan to ease the monster's suffering: Make him a bride (Elsa Lanchester). Pretorius envisions "a new world full of gods and monsters" - an entire race of the undead roaming the earth. Unfortunately, he neglects to consider the pitfalls of such an arranged marriage.
Special Features
Alas, The Bride of Frankenstein does not look as good as its predecessors, Frankenstein and The Mummy, in the DVD Classic Monster Collection. The problem isn't with the transfer itself, but rather with a scratchy, somewhat faded source print. This disc's monaural sound is somewhat better than the first two films, but it is a shame that no more effort was made to restore the visual aspects this classic.
Film historian Scottt MacQueen contributes a feature-length audio commentary to Bride of Frankenstein. His knowledge of the film is breathtaking, as he takes the viewer both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. His delivery, though, leaves a lot to be desired. He obviously scripted his remarks ahead of time and merely reads them in a rushed, droning monotone. MacQueen has plenty of information to impart, but the canned quality of his monologue makes getting through the complete commentary a tedious chore.
Nearly as informative, but far more entertaining, is the documentary included on the disc, She's Alive! Creating the Bride of Frankenstein. Hosted by director Joe Dante, the documentary features lots of clips, as well as commentary from Gods and Monsters director Bill Condon, writer/director Clive Barker, Boris Karloff's daughter, Sarah, makeup artist Rick Baker, and a host of film historians, including MacQueen. She's Alive! provides both a captivating, in-depth look into the film and an affectionate look back at the personalities involved in creating it.
Fascinating Photos
In addition to the audio commentary and documentary, the Bride of Frankenstein DVD includes a theatrical trailer, production notes, bios, Web links, and a photo gallery. The photo gallery is almost worth the price of the disc all by itself. It contains a collection of posters, as well as a complete chronological record in stills of the production of The Bride of Frankenstein.
This Bride holds up better than most films of its era. Funny and scary at the same time, with gorgeous cinematography that still impresses in spite of a bad print, The Bride of Frankenstein remains a must-have for the classic horror fan.
— PAM GRADY
By the mid-1930s, with