Bride of Frankenstein

A WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS: TWO MASTERPIECES BY JAMES WHALE

90th anniversary screening in a digitally restored print.

Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
Duration: 75’
Year of Production: 1935

One of the masterpieces of fantastic cinema (and cinema in general) began as a sequel to the massive success of the 1933 Frankenstein, yet it ended up enriching and surpassing its predecessor. Elsa Lanchester embodied both the writer Mary Shelley and the Monster’s bride, Boris Karloff gave voice to his character’s despair, and director James Whale delivered a grand guignol masterpiece.

In Bride of Frankenstein, comedic touches highlight the harsh distortion of a society that wants to consider itself normal, contrasted with the noble “barbarism” of a creature born different who simply wishes to communicate. His loneliness meets and doubles with the presence of the woman created for him. He lacks answers to her questions, and she, shocked by her existence, doesn’t have time to fully realize or share her pain with him.

Full of dark humor and heartfelt sympathy for his two noble monsters, the film instantly entered the timeless lexicon of pop culture and remains a prime example of the grandeur Hollywood cinema was once capable of. Ioanna Papageorgiou