The Universal Years 1931 – 1935
In 1931 Universal released the first sound version of Frankenstein. It was directed by James Whale who not only had a wonderful visual sense, but also a flair for the dramatic as well as the symbolic. The film was intended to be directed by Robert Florey (Murders in the Rue Morgue, Twilight Zone Original Television Show) who had wanted to cast Bela Lugosi. When Lugosi turned it down because he feared being typecast after having just done Dracula (some say it was because he didn’t want to be covered up with all that make-up), Florey left the project. Whale was then assigned to the film and cast the unknown Boris Karloff. The choice of Boris Karloff for the part of the monster was nothing short of inspired. In addition to his being physically perfect for the role, Karloff insisted that the creature should not speak and gave the performance of his career without uttering a single word.
This is not the only detail that differed from the novel. I would guess that most viewers of the movies who have not read the novel would be surprised to see how different Shelly’s story is from the films that have been based on her idea. In the novel, the Monster not only spoke, but he reasoned. Though there was no ‘bride’ in the novel, it was what the Creature was demanding from his creator– a woman to be his mate. It was the reason that the Monster haunted and terrorized Frankenstein and his family, but the Doctor having made one mistake had no intention of making another. Whale’s interpretation presents the Monster as an innocent. Whereas in the novel, the Creature knows fully well what he is doing from the outset. Whale’s creativity shaped a mythos that would endure well beyond his two features. Even though Hammer took what they felt was a different approach to the story in the 1950’s (more later) to avoid a lawsuit from Universal, they too were influenced by Whale.
German expressionism cast a large shadow in the production due to Whale’s love for the style, the dark and shadowy almost dreamlike quality of Frankenstein is the result. Working with cinematographer, Arthur Edeson (The Invisible Man, The Maltese Falcon) who shared Whale’s admiration for the German expressionist films of the 1920’s resulted in a harmonious vision that has become a milestone in film history.
The Monster’s innocence and search for the light are thwarted again and again by ignorance and hate. The scene with the little girl, played by Marilyn Harris (Destry Rides Again, uncredited) has suspense, terror, and finally pathos as he runs away from what he has done. The Creature’s lack of malice brings the viewer to pity the Monster.
Audiences would have to wait until 1935 for the sequel to Frankenstein. The wait was rewarded with the best of the Frankenstein movies. The Bride of Frankenstein is James Whale’s culmination of the mythos that he began with Frankenstein. Today’s audiences may not realize what an enormous success Frankenstein was and that horror films were not looked down on as they sometimes are today. In many cases, they were the studios top money makers.
The symbolism begun in Frankenstein is continued here. The Creature’s search for the light in the darkness of the world is thwarted by hubris, ignorance and fear. Karloff picks up where he left off and gains power through the slow introduction of speech as he struggles even harder to be accepted by a world that is not at all ready or willing.
One of the best known scenes is when the Monster is in the Hermit’s (O.P. Heggie) Cottage. It was famously parodied in Mel Brook’s, Young Frankenstein (more on that later) but it was played here for truth and takes us to the brink of empathy just barely managing not to push us over. After his first experience of human compassion, the Creature must again flee when the Hunters arriving at the cabin make sure we are yanked back to the harsh and ugly reality of his situation.
Whale’s spot-on casting went beyond his choice of Boris Karloff. As important was the inclusion of the sinister Dr. Pretorius played with furious abandon by Ernest Thesiger (The Old Dark House, The Robe, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone). Thesiger went off the rails in his role of the instigator of the creation of the Bride. He pushes the reluctant Frankenstein hard and fast to commit yet another atrocity. He has so many wonderful moments in the film that I might have called it, Doctor Pretorius and the Bride of Frankenstein. The stand out is the scene with his ‘little people’ that has been said to be one of Whale’s contributions to Walter Hurlbut & John L. Balderston’s screenplay. We are convinced from the moment he arrives that he is irrevocably insane and will appeal to the irrational in Dr. Frankenstein’s scientific mind overwhelming the good doctor’s common sense.
The bride of Dr. Frankenstein is played by Valerie Hobson. In some of the posters and ads there was a hint that she may be in the running to be the monster’s bride.
The other bride is of course is played by Elsa Lanchester (Mary Poppins, Murder by Death). Lanchester also portrays Mary Shelly in the over the top prelude that opens the film, and is set in the mansion of Lord Byron. This little vignette of a night when the teen-aged Mary Shelly continues her telling of the tale of Frankenstein is unsettling because it reveals the fact that a teenage Mary was not only alone in an old mansion with Percy Shelly and Lord Byron but she also penned this tale of horror.
Her performance as the Bride is short, but forcefully unforgettable. The montage of the doctor’s preparations, and the storm, and the strobing electrical equipment all build up to the introduction of the bride. After the customary cinematic foreplay with the flashing lightning, the first sign of life is the movement of her fingers, then we hear her moan, but the big ‘she’s alive’ moment comes when we see her eyes through a slit in the bandages that cover her from head to toe. Pretorius and Frankenstein raise the table and her arms rise as the doctors watch. Next, the camera cuts to allow us to see her fully unveiled and wearing a white lab gown that looks bizarrely like a wedding dress. Franz Waxman’s score rumbles as Dr. Pretorius announces, “The Bride of Frankenstein,” and the score segues into wedding bells. All this makes it so much worse when the unexpected comes as even his specially created bride rejects the Creature. How much can a Monster stand? Giving up his faith in the world of men, the Creature throws in the towel with the line, “…we belong dead,” as he, Pretorius and the Bride are left to the fire.
Jack P. Pierce designed and applied the make-up for Bride of Frankenstein as he had for Frankenstein and would for all of the other Universal horror films to come. Considered a pioneer in the years that he worked at Universal making the monsters possible, he clearly was the studio’s greatest asset from 1930 to 1947. Although Bela Lugosi wouldn’t allow him to apply the make-up for Dracula (Lugosi’s background was Theater and he had always applied his own make-up), he was instrumental in the character design. The films remain a testimony to one of the most talented of Hollywood’s make-up artists.
Sadly, Whale would not direct any more of the Frankenstein films. One can’t help wonder how much better Son of Frankenstein or Ghost of Frankenstein would have been if he had held onto the reigns. Without him, the subsequent films based on Mary Shelley’s monster would become much less than he had imagined in the first two classic films of the Universal series. Though they would retain some of the actors and some exceptional performances that would keep the story moving toward the future, something very vibrant was missing. It was that spark of genius that one finds in directors and producers as disparate as Val Lewton, John Huston, David O. Selznick, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller, and Alfred Hitchcock. He would go on to make other films, but none with the power or success of his Frankenstein films.
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The Universal Years: 1939 – 1948
