I probably didn't need to sew -- pun intended -- two pictures together for my second quarantine battle, because there are perfectly good pictures of the monster and his intended bride in the same shot from Bride of Frankenstein. But my edited picture gives them a more oppositional quality, so I'm going with it.So I'd never seen Bride of Frankenstein before, but then neither had I seen Frankenstein. I know, I know. I only just saw Tod Browning's Dracula within the last decade or so and still have not seen the original King Kong. I'm behind. I had nearly 5,600 other films I needed to watch first.
The reason for me finally watching it is that I drew Bride of Frankenstein as my monthly pick in Flickchart Friends Favorites Fiesta, which is a Facebook group in which people randomly draw the highest ranked film they haven't seen from each others' charts, and watch it that month. I've mentioned it before.
You're allowed to reject sequels where you haven't seen the original, but instead of doing that for my May viewing, I decided just to use it as an excuse to finally watch James Whale's Frankenstein. I've seen so many iconic images from it that I feel like I've seen it, not to mention having also watched Gods and Monsters, which is about Whale. But actually sitting down to watch the movie hadn't happened yet.
I changed that on Tuesday night, and then followed it on Wednesday with Bride -- a double feature with the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming. (And partial apologies to Netflix for the previous post -- the movie became available for viewing by primetime, so I got to watch it that night after all.) The short running time of both movies allowed me to fit them both in easily, as neither surpasses the 75-minute mark. That was even with having to prepare a beef bourguignon on Tuesday night to cook in the slow cooker all day Wednesday.
Now, you might not automatically consider these two movies to be in battle with each other, since they are sequels and even made by the same man. And in most instances, the second movie after a successful first would be at a big disadvantage in any such duel. Not here, though. I've read that many people consider Bride of Frankenstein the superior work, and indeed, Whale's masterpiece. So, I thought it made a good opportunity to find out.
First I'll say that while most of the iconic scenes I was already aware of are in the first movie, the one that I was waiting for most didn't come until the second. That's the "She's alive! Alive!" quote from Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein (why Henry and not Victor??), which was familiar to me from a childhood favorite, Weird Science, and namely its titular theme song by Oingo Boingo. If I had remembered the gender pronoun there, I wouldn't have been looking for it in the first film, which does have a very similar quote, but one that I could tell was not exactly the same.
Frankenstein the original clearly tells a much more straightforward story, one whose details were familiar to me: The birth of the monster, the monster's fateful interaction with the young girl, etc. I did wonder how, when they found their daughter drowned, her parents somehow knew it was the monster to blame. No one witnessed their interaction; couldn't she have just fallen in? They were the ones who left her unattended. Oh well, not important.
I realized also that a lot of what I "know" about Frankenstein is from Young Frankenstein, which borrows liberally, of course, being a parody of it and all. When the henchman -- he's only called Igor in the Mel Brooks movie, I guess -- has to take the second brain after dropping the first one on the ground, I thought "That's Abby Normal's brain!" Yes, I'm due for another viewing of that movie too.
The 1931 movie I found very satisfying, and quite atmospheric at times -- the opening scene when they rob the grave was almost haunting. Colin Clive is quite the charismatic presence, and I was sorry to hear he died only two years after the sequel, drowning himself in booze I guess.
At the start of Bride of Frankenstein, I was tickled to learn that this was going to be a movie I did not know so much about -- from the opening cast listing, I could see that the movie was going to break the fourth wall in a way by having Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron appearing as characters. I'm not sure if I understand the function of that opening scene other than establishing a tone of humor, a tone that is continued as the story unfolds with Una O'Connor giving a pretty hilarious performance. But I liked that it was unexpected.
Another unexpected element is the appearance of a second mad scientist in the second movie, Doctor Pretorius, as Henry Frankenstein (WHY HENRY AND NOT VICTOR???) gets to play a more traditionally heroic role this time. I thought the movie was going full comedy when it reveals that Doctor Pretorius has created miniature people -- a king, a queen, an archbishop, a mermaid. Other than showcasing some quite good special effects, I'm not sure if I understood the value of this -- not if it's supposed to be a horror movie, anyway. Though I'm starting to think that one of its pioneering elements was as horror comedy.
But what ultimately disappointed me about the movie is that when Elsa Lanchester -- playing a double role with that of Mary Shelley -- finally shows up in the end, with those great jerky head movements and streaks of white in her hair, it's only for ten minutes or so. She shrieks a couple times, the monster (who now can talk) considers her to have rejected him, and he decides to destroy the laboratory and everyone in it, except for Henry and his wife, whom he tells to "Go live!"
I think it may be worth a second watch of Bride of Frankenstein sometime soon when I have a better idea what to have been expecting from it, because for me, for right now, Whale's masterpiece is the original. Though I enjoyed watching them both very much.
Will there be more quarantine battles? I don't know -- could quarantine be ending here in Australia? The prime minister announced that restaurants would be opening soon. Could movie theaters be long after them? (They're saying July, actually. Boo.)
But maybe soon, at least, it won't be possible to call this a "quarantine" anymore. Stay tuned.
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