The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) on Netflix
Henry Frankenstein renounces his work and hopes for a quiet life with Elizabeth. His old mentor, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, wants his help in giving the Monster a mate.
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- IMDb7.8/1059,573 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
Villagers gather at the burning mill to cheer the Monster's apparent death, but he has survived the fire. The body of Henry Frankenstein, thought dead there, is brought home to Elizabeth, who sees him move and nurses him back to health. He renounces his creation, though he holds to the idea that he may one day uncover the secret of life. Minnie, the household servant, arrives with a warning about the Monster that goes unheeded. Henry's old mentor, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, now disgraced, shows him the homunculi he has created and proposes that they work together to build a mate for the Monster.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Boris Karloff broke his hip on the first day of shooting Bride of Frankenstein, while wading in the water below the destroyed windmill in a rubber suit that filled with air and swelled like an "obscene water lily"; a stunt double was needed afterward.
- Elsa Lanchester modeled the Bride's hissing on swans and gave herself a sore throat filming the hissing sequence, which James Whale shot from multiple angles.
- Boris Karloff objected to the Monster speaking in Bride of Frankenstein, arguing that the creature's impact came from being inarticulate; the decision also meant he could not remove his dental plate, so his cheeks lost the sunken look of the original film.
- James Whale and Universal's studio psychiatrist chose the Monster's 44-word vocabulary by studying test papers written by ten-year-olds working at the studio.
- Universal makeup artist Jack Pierce altered his 1931 Monster design to show the after-effects of the mill fire, adding scars and shortening the hair, then modified the makeup during filming to suggest the injuries were healing.
- The Bride's iconic hair was based on Nefertiti, with Elsa Lanchester's hair given a Marcel wave over a wire frame; Lanchester disliked working with makeup artist Jack Pierce, who she said would arrive dressed in white as if performing an operation.
- John P. Fulton and David S. Horsley created the homunculi in two days by shooting actors in full-size jars against black velvet, rotoscoping and matting the foreground plate onto the rear plate; a brief shot of Billy Barty as a homunculus infant was cut by Whale before release.
- Franz Waxman scored Bride of Frankenstein after James Whale asked him for an unresolved score, closing with a dissonant chord meant to suggest the on-screen explosion affected the theater; Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted 22 musicians in a single nine-hour session.
