Amazon.com essential video: It appeared, at the end of the epochal 1931 horror movie Frankenstein, that the monster had perished in a burning windmill. But that was before the runaway success of the movie dictated a sequel. In Bride of Frankenstein, we see that the monster (once again played by Boris Karloff) survived the conflagration, as did his half-mad creator (Colin Clive). This remarkable sequel, universally considered superior to the original, reunites other key players from the first film: director James Whale (whose life would later be chronicled in Gods and Monsters) and, of course, the inimitable Dwight Frye, as Frankenstein's bent-over assistant. Whale brought campy humor to the project, yet Bride is also somehow haunting, due in part to Karloff's nuanced performance. The monster, on the loose in the European countryside, learns to talk, and his encounter with a blind hermit is both comic and touching. (The episode was later spoofed in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein.) A prologue depicts the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, being urged to produce a sequel by her husband Percy and Lord Byron. She's played by Elsa Lanchester, who reappears in the climactic scene as the man-made bride of the monster. Her lightning-bolt hair and reptilian movements put her into the horror-movie pantheon, despite being onscreen for only a few moments. But in many ways the film is stolen by Ernest Thesiger, as the fey Dr. Pretorious, who toasts the darker possibilities of science: "To a new world of gods and monsters!" Absolutely. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - BRIDE IS STILL SCARY
I JUST WATCHED "THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN" FOR THE FIRST TIME (73 YEARS AFTER ITS MAKING). WHILE MOVIE MAKING HAS OBVIOUSLY TRAVELED LIGHT YEARS FROM THE TECHNIQUES USED IS THIS FILM, IT IS STILL A TRUE ... Read More
Rating: - First class movie making
Bride of Frankenstein is one, if not THE best, Universal horror movie made in their golden era of the 1930's. A direct sequel to Frankenstein, but in nearly every way a better movie. This is a much more ... Read More
Rating: - An all time great horror classic
One of the best horror movies ever made. A much more human monster is seen here with Karloff making friends, smoking a cigar and even speaking. All the supporting performances are just right, especially ... Read More
Rating: - MY LOVE FOR THIS ONE NEVER ENDS IT HAS EVERYTHING
WHERE DO I START? THIS MOVIE JUST IS A LOVEABLE ENJOYABLE JOURNEY THAT PACKS IT ALL,ANYTIME I CAN CATCH THIS ONE I STOP AND DO JUST THAT BORIS WAS EXTREMELY JUST WONDERFUL!!!! AND THE BRIDE..MAN SHE PLAYED ... Read More
Rating: - The Only Monster Here is its Montrosity of Failure
They should have brought this sequel back to life instead of the bride, even though it is widely hailed as the superior installment in the Frankenstein canon. I was not expecting a comedy, but it was a huge ... Read More
- BRIDE IS STILL SCARY
- The Only Monster Here is its Montrosity of Failure