The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- Starring:
- Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, (more)
- Director(s):
- James Whale
- Category:
- Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
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This greatest of all Frankenstein movies begins during a raging thunderstorm. Warm and cozy inside their palatial villa, Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Shelley's wife Mary (Elsa Lanchester) engage in morbidly sparkling conversation. The wicked Byron mockingly chastises Mary for frightening the literary world with her recent novel Frankenstein, but Mary insists that her horror tale preached a valuable moral, that man was not meant to dabble in the works of God. Moreover, Mary adds that her story did not end with the death of Frankenstein's monster, whereupon she tells the enthralled Byron and Shelley what happened next. Surviving the windmill fire that brought the original 1931 Frankenstein to a close, the Monster (Boris Karloff) quickly revives and goes on another rampage of death and destruction. Meanwhile, his ailing creator Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) discovers that his former mentor, the demented Doctor Praetorius (Ernst Thesiger), plans to create another life-sized monster -- this time a woman! After a wild and wooly "creation" sequence, the bandages are unwrapped, and the Bride of the Monster (Elsa Lanchester again) emerges. Alas, the Monster's tender efforts to connect with his new Mate are rewarded only by her revulsion and hoarse screams. "She hate me," he growls, "Just like others!" Wonderfully acted and directed, The Bride of Frankenstein is further enhanced by the vivid Franz Waxman musical score; even the film's occasional lapses in logic and continuity (it was trimmed from 90 to 75 minutes after the first preview) are oddly endearing. Director James Whale was memorably embodied by Ian McKellen in the Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 75 mins
Complete Cast:
- Boris Karloff - The Monster
- Valerie Hobson - Elizabeth Frankenstein
- Ernst Thesiger - Dr. Septimus Pretorius
- O.P. Heggie - The Hermit
- Una O'Connor - Minnie
- Tempe Piggott - Auntie Glutz
- Kansas de Forest - Ballerina
- Grace Cunard - Woman
- Peter Shaw - Devil
- Lucien Prival - Otto
- Edwin Mordant - Coroner
- Gavin Gordon - Lord Byron
- Helen Parrish - Girl
- Josephine McKim - Mermaid
- Norman Ainsley - Archbishop
- Mary Gordon - Hans's Wife
- Billy Barty - Baby
- Colin Clive - Henry Frankenstein
- Elsa Lanchester - Mary Shelley/The Bride
- Dwight Frye - Karl
- E.E. Clive - Burgomaster
- Reginald Barlow - Hans
- Helen Gibson - Woman
- John Carradine - Huntsman
- Anne Darling - Shepherdess
- Douglas Walton - Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Walter Brennan - Neighbor
- Lucio Villegas - Priest
- Gunnis Davis - Uncle Glutz
- Neil Fitzgerald - Rudy
- Monte Montague - King
- Ted Billings - Ludwig
- Joan Woodbury - Queen
- Director(s):
- James Whale
- Writer(s):
- William Hurlbut, John L. Balderston
- Producer(s):
- Carl Laemmle, Jr.
- Categories:
- Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- 1998 - The Bride of Frankenstein - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
