FAQ

While sitting before a fire on a rainy evening with her fiancé Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Walton) and their friend Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon), Mary Wollstonecraft (Elsa Lanchester) tells the second part of the Frankenstein tale, following what was already revealed in the first Frankenstein (1931) (1931) movie. In this part of the story, which she hasn't yet written, the monster (Boris Karloff) demands a mate, so Dr Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his mentor Dr Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), professor of philosophy booted from the University for 'knowing too much', attempt to build him one.

Bride of Frankenstein is based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by 19-year old British author Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley [1797-1851]. The success of the first Frankenstein film prompted the idea of making a sequel. Several ideas (as well as screenwriters) later, director James Whale hired playwright John L. Balderston to come up with yet another version. Balderston decided to return to an incident from the novel in which the creature demands a mate, but it was playwrights William J. Hurlbut and Edmund Pearson who came up with the final script that eventually became Bride of Frankenstein. A novelization, by Michael Egremont, based on the original unedited screenplay, was issued in 1935 by Queensway Books in London, but never appeared in the United States until a limited edition reprint was offered in 1976. Bear Manor Media produced a paperback edition in 2012.

They follow on but, assuming you're vaguely familiar with the story of Frankenstein, you won't be missing anything. There aren't too many references to the first film, and you'll pick up everything you need to know as it goes on.

Mary Shelley named the doctor Victor Frankenstein. In his book It's Alive! The Classic Cinema Saga of Frankenstein (1982), Gregory Mank claims that 'Henry' dates back to a 1920's stage adaptation in London by Peggy Webling in which Victor's name was exchanged with that of his best friend Henry.

Frankenstein and Pretorius bring the monster's bride (also played by Elsa Lancaster) to life. When she sees the monster, she screams. The monster tries to be friendly to her, even gently holding her hand. She screams again. "She hate me," he says. After allowing Frankenstein and Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson) to leave the laboratory, the monster pulls the self-destruct lever (don't all castles have one?) and blows up the lab, killing himself, his bride, and Dr Pretorius.

Universal Studios made eight Frankenstein movies, starting with Frankenstein, which also starred Boris Karloff as the monster. In Bride of Frankenstein, the monster gets a mate. In Le fils de Frankenstein (1939), Dr Frankenstein's son Wolf (Basil Rathbone) revives his father's monster. The monster (Lon Chaney Jr.) is revived again in Le Spectre de Frankenstein (1942) and treated by Dr Frankenstein's son Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke). The Wolfman (Lon Chaney, Jr) recovers the monster's body (this time played by Bela Lugosi) from a block of ice and he is revived again by Dr Mannering (Patric Knowles) in Frankenstein rencontre le loup-garou (1943). In La Maison de Frankenstein (1944), mad Doctor Neiman (Boris Karloff) revives the monster (Glenn Strange) in order to exact revenge on his enemies. In La maison de Dracula (1945), the monster (Glenn Strange) is again found by the Wolfman (Lon Chaney, Jr) and revived by renowned Doctor Edelman (Onslow Stevens). Many purists insist that the classic Universal Frankenstein saga ends here, but some also count Deux nigauds contre Frankenstein (1948) in which Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Doctor Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert) attempt to transplant Wilbur's brain into the monster (Glenn Strange).