Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

In James Whale's superior sequel to his 1931 classic:

  • the scene of the first appearance of the Monster (Boris Karloff) chest-deep in water when he emerged from the dark shadows under the burnt-down windmill - surviving from the original Frankenstein (1931) film
  • the scene of the great mad and demented scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), Dr. Henry Frankenstein's (Colin Clive) former mentor, coercing Henry into creating an artificial bride for the Monster
  • the unveiling of Dr. Pretorius' bell-jars with six small homunculi specimens (a Queen, a King, an Archbishop, the Devil, a Ballerina who only danced to Mendelssohn's "Spring Song", and a Mermaid) to Dr. Frankenstein ("There is a pleasing variety about my exhibits")
  • the Monster's appearance when hungry to a family of gypsies roasting meat on a campfire spit (and burning his hands in the hot fire), and his pursuit by townspeople through surrealistic woods and settings
  • the Monster's attraction to the blind hermit's (O. P. Heggie) refuge when he heard the hermit playing a violin, and the hermit taught the Monster lessons in how to eat, drink, smoke, and play music ("We are friends, you and I"); and the tremendous pathos in the characterization of the Monster (with facial expressions, gutteral responses, and actually words of dialogue)
  • the Monster's scene with Pretorius in the crypt/mausoleum, when the crazed doctor promised to make a life-sized "friend" for the Monster, who exclaimed with a smile: "Woman. Friend! Yes, I want Friend like me!"; the Monster expressed his self-knowledge about his creation by Henry: "I know. Made me from dead. I love dead. Hate living"; as he handled a skull, the Monster repeated Pretorius' promise: "Woman. Friend. Wife"
  • the classic scene of the reanimation or creation/"birth" of the Bride (Elsa Lanchester) with cracks of lightning bolts (Frankenstein: "She's alive, alive!"), and the revealing moment when her eyes opened - seen in a slit in her bandaging; and the unveiling of her face with the unwinding of bandages, revealing a wild electrified hairdo and jerky twitching movements
  • the great movie moment of the Monster meeting his Bride when she let go with a piercing shriek of rejection and revulsion -- and the Monster despaired: ("She hate me, like others")
The Monster's Bride
  • the climactic scene when the Monster decided to spare Henry Frankenstein (and Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson)) by permitting them to rush to safety outside, but planned on killing himself, the Bride, and Dr. Pretorius by pulling a level to set off an explosive: ("Yes, go! You live! Go! (To Pretorius) You stay! We belong dead!")
  • in the finale, explosions rocked the stone-tower and rubble buried everyone inside alive, while on a hillside closeby, Elizabeth and Henry happily embraced as he offered comforting words to her: "Darling. Darling"
Explosions Destroy Laboratory and Stone-Tower
Elizabeth and Henry Watched and Embraced

Mad Scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) With Bell-Jars

The Six Homunculi Specimens

Hungry Monster Appearing to Gypsies

The Monster Smoking with the Blind Hermet

Monster to Pretorius: "Yes, I want Friend Like Me"


The Bride Unwrapped

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