
Universal Pictures survived through the most difficult years of the depression by focusing on genre films and low-budget serials. In the early 1930s, the studio was associated with B-grade fare that appealed to audiences but didn’t win any accolades from critics or the cultural elite. Its most profitable genre, and the one for which we remember it today, is the horror film, a mix of the Gothic and science fiction traditions that appealed mostly to date-night viewers and bold youngsters. Films like DRACULA (1931), THE MUMMY (1932), THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), and THE BLACK CAT (1934) wooed audiences of the period. The most financially successful of the Universal horror films, however, was a tale of a mad scientist who discovered how to create life, and experimented using corpses: loosely adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley, FRANKENSTEIN (1931).
In 1934, Carl Laemmle, Jr., head of production at Universal and son of the founder of the company, set about to make a sequel to the big hit, then slated to be titled “The Return of Frankenstein.” Seven different screenwriters contributed to the developing script before the final plot, a variation on Shelley’s storyline about the creation of a female monster, was decided upon. Stars Colin Clive and Boris Karloff would return to play the Doctor and the Monster. Elsa Lanchester, the respected stage actress and wife of Charles Laughton, was hired to play the girl-ghoul. Director James Whale, who initially didn’t want to make another horror film, ultimately signed on to make a sequel to his immensely successful original. With Whale on board, the film was injected with a screwball sensibility, amending the solely terrifying charm of the original to incorporate a dark comic quality, and causing many contemporary viewers to see a gay/camp element to the film that is consistent with Whale’s homosexuality. The title, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, was not created until shooting had already begun in early 1935. Released on April 22, 1935, the film was a hit. It is now widely considered to be Whale’s masterpiece.
The film opens brilliantly with a framing sequence that features Elsa Lanchester as author Mary Shelley, accompanied by Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) and Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton). The violins of Franz Waxman’s beautiful score complement a scene of thunder and lightning viewed by the authors and poets from their sitting-room window. Everything about the scene is wonderfully comic, an over-the-top portrayal of a nineteenth-century night that cannot help but plaster a smile onto the viewer’s face. The cravat-heavy costuming, the stagey vocalizations with constantly rolled “R”s, the shiny make-up, and the stunning close-ups of Lanchester’s devilish smiles all create a scene of transcendent comic potential, contrasting with the gruesome imagery and themes to come.
The scene also serves an ingenious narrative function that continues to be copied in horror films today. Byron teases Shelley, “Frightened of thunder, fearful of the dark, and yet you have written a tale that sent my blood into icy creeps.” This allows him to recapitulate the basic plot elements of the original film, using flashbacks to highlight the key scenes. It also enables Shelley to add, “That wasn’t the end at all. Would you like to hear what happened after that?”
So the film begins, and a fantastic film it is. Whale’s direction, especially in the climactic bride-animation scene, is remarkable and far surpasses the fantasy and gusto of the original; the electrical equipment and scenery look great (even after all these years), and the canted angles, creating striking diagonals in the frame, create a tension and energy that match anything done by Sergei Eisenstein.
The real shining element of the film, however, is Colin Clive. Clive plays the Doctor, a tormented soul who is always at the brink of hysterics, and who steals every scene. Usually, it is a supporting actor who has the ability to take the scene away from the lead; it’s especially impressive when a lead actor does it, because his commanding performance draws attention away from everything. Still, it’s even more impressive when that lead is playing against a monster built from cadavers! Clive would be the best thing about the film, except Elsa Lanchester manages to squeeze her way into the last moments. One of the gags about the film is that the Bride doesn’t appear until four minutes before the end. When she does, however, she lights up the already climaxed film, shrieking from the back of her throat and chewing all over the scenery. It is a rare and fabulous moment in a film full of greatness, a fun and frightful picture that created a new world of gods and monsters. (Daniel Metz)
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