THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When Universal adapted Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein into a motion picture in 1931, it became a backbone to the studio’s legacy as much as Dracula and the other fictional monsters in the pre 60s era. The smartest thing they did is let Director James Whale tell half of the story so that the audience can ask for more and boy did we get it.
PLOT
1935’s Bride of Frankenstein continues from the events of the first film. The reanimated monster of Henry Frankenstein is proven to be alive from the fire caused by the lynch mob when shown to kill the farmer Hans, father of the girl Maria he accidentally drowned. After he strangles him, he casts his wife to fall to her death. Henry’s servant Minnie sees him and she returns to the village, her warning is unheeded. As Henry recovers, he renounces his creation but still believes it unlocked the secret of immortality, which leaves his fiancé Elizabeth hysterical as she foresees death. After recovery, he meets former mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius who shows him to have created multiple humunculi as a proposal to create a mate for the Monster. As the monster moves forward, he unintentionally scares a shepherdess that causes her to fall into a pond. He saves her from drowning, but remains frightened of him to the point where two hunters who try to chain him until he escapes into the woods. There, he meets a blind hermit who treats him as an equal despite not knowing who he is. The same hunters find him in the same cottage and they chase him away once they recognize him, but it results in the cottage getting burnt down on accident. With the Monster continuing to hide for his life, he finds a crypt and meets Pretorius who shares he wants to make a mate for him. After finally marrying Elizabeth, Henry is sure he doesn’t want to take part in the experiment, but Pretorius & the Monster show align when choosing to demand his involvement and hold his wife hostage to make him do it. With the assurance of Elizabeth being safe, Doctor Frankenstein assembles the body to make life again in his laboratory. On a stormy day, he sends the new body above and allows it to be electrocuted to come alive like his previous creation. Upon realization he’s replicated success, he removes the bandages to let her walk. The Monster doesn’t hesitate in seeing her once come to life, but his intended mate rejects him with a scream. Disappointed that he feels hated by her the way everyone else does, he goes on a rampage trashing the lab. He allows Henry to leave and reunite with his wife, whereas he chooses to destroy the lab with himself in it alongside the mate and Pretorius. The film ends with Henry & Elizabeth reuniting as they watch the destruction ensue.
THOUGHTS
When getting to read the original novel, I was still surprised with the fact that the first film only told half of the story. You can call it a cheat to lure the audience in for more, but boy was it effective. This ain’t even the first sequel, as that credit goes to The Fall of a Nation, the sequel to The Birth of a Nation which are only a year apart from each other, but it feels like the first of its kind for actually feeling grand like before. Whale was able to keep the pace at a flow as if we never left this fictional setting, which is the gift of making a sequel. And with that in mind, every aspect that worked before is just as effective here. This is an extension to the previous lesson to how there are consequences in playing god and this case, we see how it can inspire the wrong people. This is the case for Henry Frankenstein because Colin Clive shows him to be one who is trying to shelf his past ambition, but is forced to take part in something he's spiritually responsible for. Valerie Hodson fills in the shoes of Elizabeth to continue portraying her as a victim of circumstance beause no matter how much she loved Henry, she was never safe until the past was put behind them both which it thankfully does by then. It is safe to say Pretorius comes off as the villain in this story because Ernest Thesiger made him the bigger egomaniac to think making another monster is the solution to deal with one. Boris Karloff is indeed what gives this follow-up such strong elevation because he gains more growth than anyone around him can bare to realize. He learns to speak and becomes less afraid of fire when taking an interest in smoking. If that ain't growth, I wouldn't know what is. When he's learning new things, he is still chased away from others because he's still too dangerous to have around. He supported the idea of having his own bride because he felt he'd have at least one person incapable of hatred. Elsa Lanchester, who also played a fictional version of Mary Shelley in the cold open, was goddamn incredible in the last 5 minutes playing the Bride. All the fear she was feeling in her limited amount of time represented all the anxiety we deal with day by day because so much of our lives can happen in the blink of an eye, and having a partner immediately was a lot for her to take because she didn't have the time to understand it. Of course, the Monster didn't even realize what she was feeling because he was so heartbroken on rejection being so universal of a feeling towards him. He chose to take his life with two more because he wanted them to suffer like him at that point, accepting he was never meant to be made. That plus the tear he shed was saddening because all he was seeking was acceptance and just knew he'd never get it. And that is just the scariest feeling any one can ever relate to. I didn't event want Pretorius to die either since he didn’t intend to hurt anybody, but since he likely was gonna keep making monsters without precaution, it became a two birds & one stone solution. Since this surprisingly would still not be the end of the Monster or Doctor Frankenstein, it's clear to me how some things will be hard to be rid of for better or worse. In conclusion, Bride of Frankenstein is a fantastic example on how beneficial sequels can be in terms of storytelling. If you enjoyed the first film, see this now.
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