The tagline for this film reads: The Monster Demands a Mate and completely removes itself from the guidelines of Mary's novel. Ironically Whale (director) chose to open the film with Mary Shelly (Lancaster) talking to her husband Percy Shelly and their friend Lord Byron about her novel, essentially recapping the first movie in case the audience had not seen the first film. Apparently Whale did not want to make a second Frankenstein film, but he was entranced by the idea of a female monster.....he did not think this film would amount to anything, so he had fun with the script and added humor almost a self-parody which makes this film more popular/fascinating than it's predecessor.
At the start of the film Henry (Clive) and Elizabeth (Hobson...a different woman than in the 1931 Frankenstein film, also directed by Whale) are married and he is recovering from the events of the last film (no, I won't give you details). Elizabeth is overprotective of him, and he wants nothing to do with science or his experiments. This changes when Dr. Pretorius (Thesiger who steals every scene he's in) enters his life. Pretorius is also a scientist who has experimented with life...on a smaller scale (it's a weird scene but he has minature people which he keeps in bottles). Pretorius has discovered the Monster (Karloff) is still alive, and now able to talk (which is shown in the film). The Monster insists that Frankenstein make him a female "Alone bad, friend good", and as insurance for this deed he kidnaps Elizabeth.
Random fact: "The Bride", the most obscure of Universal Studios' Classic Monsters, is on screen for less than five minutes and is the only "Classic Monster" never to have killed anyone. (Information found at IMDb.com).
Rent it once: it's better than any other Frankenstein film...and Roger Ebert considers it a Great Movie (it's in the first addition of his Great Film Books)
Dude, it's quotable: and even if you don't think it is, at least it's memorable!!
At the start of the film Henry (Clive) and Elizabeth (Hobson...a different woman than in the 1931 Frankenstein film, also directed by Whale) are married and he is recovering from the events of the last film (no, I won't give you details). Elizabeth is overprotective of him, and he wants nothing to do with science or his experiments. This changes when Dr. Pretorius (Thesiger who steals every scene he's in) enters his life. Pretorius is also a scientist who has experimented with life...on a smaller scale (it's a weird scene but he has minature people which he keeps in bottles). Pretorius has discovered the Monster (Karloff) is still alive, and now able to talk (which is shown in the film). The Monster insists that Frankenstein make him a female "Alone bad, friend good", and as insurance for this deed he kidnaps Elizabeth.
Random fact: "The Bride", the most obscure of Universal Studios' Classic Monsters, is on screen for less than five minutes and is the only "Classic Monster" never to have killed anyone. (Information found at IMDb.com).
Rent it once: it's better than any other Frankenstein film...and Roger Ebert considers it a Great Movie (it's in the first addition of his Great Film Books)
Dude, it's quotable: and even if you don't think it is, at least it's memorable!!
Rating: Unrated
Director: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff as the Monster
Elsa Lancaster as Mary Shelly/Bride
Colin Clive as Henry
Valerie Hobson as Elizabeth
Ernest Thesiger as Pretorius
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