Universal Studio in the height of the Hollywood Studio System was famous for three things that kept it in the black besides those famous studio tours that survive to this day. The Deanna Durbin musicals, the Abbott&Costello comedies and those great Gothic horror films with Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and most of all Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Those sets were used over and over again, you can recognize them if you're a real student of the genre.
Although some have criticized it, I rather like the beginning of Bride of Frankenstein in a Regency drawing room where the creative minds of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley are meeting. Of course the subject gets around to how she would continue the story, it just can't end right there. So while Gavin Gordon as Byron and Douglas Walton as Percy Shelley listen, Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley starts to tell about the further doings of her characters.
Of course Colin Clive as Victor Frankenstein thought dead when he was brought out of the ruin, turns out to be alive, but in need of medical attention. The monster is also not dead, he's been put together even stronger than an ordinary human. As is first two victims he kills the parents of the little girl he killed in the original Frankenstein film.
While Clive is recuperating at home under the care of his wife played here by Valerie Hobson, Clive receives a visit from his former teacher and mentor who originally aroused his interest in experiments along this line. Ernest Thesiger is Doctor Praetorious, a scientist whose reputation is more dubious than that of Frankenstein. He's been experimenting with bringing people back to life and he shows his little creations to Frankenstein. What he describes sounds a lot like cloning Mini Mes as Doctor Evil did. But DNA was not heard of back in the early 19th century.
He thinks they ought to combine there efforts and create a female back from the dead to be a mate for the Frankenstein monster. Who knows if the big guy gets a little something something at home, maybe he won't have quite such a bad attitude. When the monster after wreaking havoc again on the countryside is finally back in the Frankenstein laboratory, he insists on a 'friend' for himself. It's a real mess that Clive has gotten himself in again.
Bride Of Frankenstein with that incredible climax when the monster tries to court his bride will still give you frights for weeks on watching it. The Gothic horror atmosphere that James Whale created on the Universal sets is still capable of creeping one out.
Boris Karloff did not repeat his monster role after this and Colin Clive died in 1937 before the next Frankenstein film was made. Still the cycle may have been the most successful of all the Universal monster franchises. It certainly my favorite of all of them.
Although some have criticized it, I rather like the beginning of Bride of Frankenstein in a Regency drawing room where the creative minds of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley are meeting. Of course the subject gets around to how she would continue the story, it just can't end right there. So while Gavin Gordon as Byron and Douglas Walton as Percy Shelley listen, Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley starts to tell about the further doings of her characters.
Of course Colin Clive as Victor Frankenstein thought dead when he was brought out of the ruin, turns out to be alive, but in need of medical attention. The monster is also not dead, he's been put together even stronger than an ordinary human. As is first two victims he kills the parents of the little girl he killed in the original Frankenstein film.
While Clive is recuperating at home under the care of his wife played here by Valerie Hobson, Clive receives a visit from his former teacher and mentor who originally aroused his interest in experiments along this line. Ernest Thesiger is Doctor Praetorious, a scientist whose reputation is more dubious than that of Frankenstein. He's been experimenting with bringing people back to life and he shows his little creations to Frankenstein. What he describes sounds a lot like cloning Mini Mes as Doctor Evil did. But DNA was not heard of back in the early 19th century.
He thinks they ought to combine there efforts and create a female back from the dead to be a mate for the Frankenstein monster. Who knows if the big guy gets a little something something at home, maybe he won't have quite such a bad attitude. When the monster after wreaking havoc again on the countryside is finally back in the Frankenstein laboratory, he insists on a 'friend' for himself. It's a real mess that Clive has gotten himself in again.
Bride Of Frankenstein with that incredible climax when the monster tries to court his bride will still give you frights for weeks on watching it. The Gothic horror atmosphere that James Whale created on the Universal sets is still capable of creeping one out.
Boris Karloff did not repeat his monster role after this and Colin Clive died in 1937 before the next Frankenstein film was made. Still the cycle may have been the most successful of all the Universal monster franchises. It certainly my favorite of all of them.