The Bride of Frankenstein is my favorite of all the classic Universal monster movies and for such the best looking one. The story is told by Mary Shelley to her friends one stormy night. We open where the first film left off except Frankenstein isn't dead and neither is the monster, Frankenstein gets married. The monster is hunted its pretty normal monster movie stuff. Then a new doctor convinces Frankenstein to build a mate for the monster.
The movie feels like a German expressionist picture meaning the sets reflect the character's state of mind and the movie uses the "dutch shot". Probably the best example of the changing set is a scene where the monster is in a beautiful forest full of life, and then people chase him. The forest isn't green anymore its leafless and all the animals are dead. The forest may still have been full of life but the monster isn't. The dutch shot is a cool effect if done right and this movie nails it. The shot is basically just tilting the camera a little bit so it looks like a diagonal line.
The movie is surprisingly human this may be because the monster can talk now, or maybe its the subtle acting he has. This movie was years ahead of its time for many reasons including the human monster, the style it was filmed in, and the homosexual undertones. Although this movie isn't blatantly trying to prove a point on the matter of homosexually you can see from this movie which side he takes. In fact after watching this film (its on Netflix) watch Gods and Monsters which is a harrowing film about the making of The Bride of Frankenstein.
This film is one that has aged well and feels better now than it must have then. Do yourself a favour and stop whatever your doing and watch this one. This is the first movie this week that I felt truly moved me I think I'll watch it twice.
Ebert's score 4 stars
Tyler's score 4 stars
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