Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Directed by James Whale
After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Henry Frankenstein falls under control of his former mentor, Dr. Pretorius, who insists the now-chastened doctor resume his experiments in creating new life. Meanwhile, the Monster remains on the run from those who wish to destroy him.
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What critics compared Bride of Frankenstein to
…but also the 1931 movie and the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein…
…expanding the humanity James Whale achieved for in his classic 1930s “Frankenstein” pictures, “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein.”
Goth’s Bride of Frankenstein-inspired wedding dress alone should get costume designer Kate Hawley an Oscar nomination.
The old “Bride of Frankenstein” attempted to humanize the Monster (the blind hermit had a brief but telling scene), but the dominant themes of that classic were horror and camp.
…the films that came after it (Bride of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and even comedies like Young Frankenstein)…
…not that most of the sequels, remakes, and spinoffs since the franchise-best Bride of Frankenstein have been anything to write home about…
As he did in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” the filmmaker captures a mixture of Gothic romanticism, offbeat eroticism, dreamworld logic and monstrous cruelty common to such classic fairy tales as the aforementioned “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Beauty and the Beast” and such unforgettable films as “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “The Bride of Frankenstein.”
This breakthrough lands Clive and Elsa presumably writer-director Vincenzo Natali is deliberately referencing Elsa Lanchester and Colin Clive, co-stars of The Bride of Frankenstein on the cover of Wired magazine and earns them the gratitude of some nefarious pharmaceutical corporation with plans to harvest Fred and Ginger's "proteins."
Movie geeks will recognize that these hipsters (who dress like club bunnies rather than lab rats) are named after Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester, the mad scientist and his creation in The Bride of Frankenstein.
Clive and Elsa are, of course, a reference to Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester, who played Dr. Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein in the 1935 masterpiece "The Bride Of Frankenstein," and that obvious joke is also a statement of mission: Natali knows exactly what story he's teling, and he wants to bring Mary Shelly's original concepts into the age where genetic miracles have become almost commonplace.
Adrien Brody - sorry, Oscar winner Adrien Brody - and Sarah Polley are punky biogeneticists Clive and Elsa (apparently named for Colin Clive and Elsa Lanchester , who played the mad scientist and his creation in 1935's "The Bride of Frankenstein").
The Mummy – the bloody awful 2017 one with Tom Cruise – was the first in the series, with The Bride of Frankenstein slated to follow a year or two later.
Universal’s original 1933 “The Invisible Man” with Claude Rains in the title role was directed by James Whale (“The Bride of Frankenstein”) and adapted by R.C. Sherriff (“Journey’s End”).
"The Creature from the Black Lagoon," "The Wolfman," "The Bride of Frankenstein," and "Van Helsing" were all confirmed to be parts of the series in addition to "The Invisible Man," but Universal made the unfortunate mistake of kicking things off with a bland and boring reboot of "The Mummy."
Later he was to script Freund's other memorable directorial work, the delirious Mad Love (1935), and for James Whale he would script arguably the best of the Universal Horrors, James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
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"Of course, he screwed up the sequel by being himself, but that does little to dilute the ideological righteousness of the first," our own Alex Jackson wrote of Burton's more prototypical Batman Returns, and while I actually prefer that film to this one, the switch from Batman's Art Deco to Batman Returns' Edward Gorey-cum-German Expressionism recalls the jarring transition from the gothica of The Bride of Frankenstein to the Caligari backdrops of Son of Frankenstein.
The young actor Finlay MacMillan plays him with such pouty adolescent petulance that you can almost imagine him growing up to be a Dr. Pretorius type in The Bride of Frankenstein.
It’s a modern day twist on the Bride of Frankenstein, one that will have you frightened, yet sympathetic, as Nikki plays the part of a monster who never asked to be made, and whose motivation is to love her creator without limits.
…including “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932), “The Invisible Man” (1933), “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935), “The Wolf Man” (1941)…
…it’s a re-animated cinematic corpse that isn’t quite as beautiful as the Bride of Frankenstein, but it’s not quite dead-on-arrival either.
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Since then, successors have included Bride of Frankenstein (1935), satires like Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974) and British actor/director Kenneth Branagh’s artsy Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994).
…the films that came after it (Bride of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and even comedies like Young Frankenstein) cemented the story’s mythic stature…
Director/co-writer Brooks and star/co-writer Gene Wilder brilliantly spoof the Universal Frankenstein films (lovingly skewering Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein) while creating their own emotional, comedic take on Mary Shelley's classic tale.
“Stitch bad,” says the alien to Lilo, magically evoking the end of “Bride of Frankenstein” when the monster declares, “Alone bad — friend good.”