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Filmmaker Curtis Harrington, a friend and confidant of Whale's, dismissed this as "a younger critic's evaluation. All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something, but artists don't think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind". [64] Specifically in response to the "majesty and power" reading, Harrington stated: "My opinion is that's just pure bullshit. That's a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration". [64] He concludes: "I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor". [64] Whale's companion David Lewis stated flatly that Whale's sexual orientation was "not germane" to his filmmaking: "Jimmy was first and foremost an artist, and his films represent the work of an artist – not a gay artist, but an artist". [59] 1930s Universal's art director Karoly Grosz designed this offbeat 1935 advertisement. Home media [ edit ] Henry visits the lab of his former mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius, where Pretorius shows Henry several homunculi he has created. Pretorius wishes to work with Henry to create a mate for the Monster, with the proposed venture involving Pretorius growing an artificial brain while Henry gathers parts for the mate. a b c d e f g h i j k l MacQueen, Scott (2004). DVD commentary, Bride of Frankenstein Legacy Collection edition (DVD). Universal Studios. a b c Del Valle, David (November 29, 2009). "Curtis Harrington on James Whale". Films in Review. p.3. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011 . Retrieved June 10, 2010.
Squires, John (September 13, 2016). "Walmart Releases Universal Monsters Classics With Glow-In-Dark Covers!". iHorror.com . Retrieved January 23, 2020. Skal, David J. (1993). The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024002-0. Charisma, James (March 15, 2016). "Revenge of the Movie: 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals". Playboy. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016 . Retrieved July 19, 2016.Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein. The bride's conical hairdo, with its white lightning-trace streaks on each side, has become an iconic symbol of both the character and the film. The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made. New York: Warner Books. 1996. pp.99–100. Towlson, Jon (2016). The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films, 1931-1936. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p.117. ISBN 9780786494743 ; Mank, Gregory W. (2014). The Very Witching Time of Night: Dark Alleys of Classic Horror Cinema. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p.143. ISBN 9780786449552 ; "This Day in History: April 19". The Baltimore Sun. March 31, 2017 . Retrieved April 21, 2022 ; " 'Bride of Frankenstein' at Orpheum Tomorrow". The San Francisco Examiner. April 18, 1935. p.12 ; Hanifin, Ada (April 19, 1935). " 'Bride of Frankenstein' Seen at Orpheum Today". The San Francisco Examiner. p.14. Vieira, Mark A. (2003). Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York, Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5. Squires, John (June 27, 2017). "Best Buy Getting Universal Monsters Steelbooks With Stunning Alex Ross Art". Bloody Disgusting . Retrieved January 23, 2020.
Following its release with the Code seal of approval, the film was challenged by the censorship board in the state of Ohio. [31] Censors in England and China objected to the scene in which the Monster gazes longingly upon the body intended for reanimation as the Bride, citing concerns that it looked like necrophilia. [33] Universal voluntarily withdrew the film from Sweden because of the extensive cuts demanded, and Bride was rejected outright by Trinidad, Palestine, and Hungary. Additionally, Japanese censors objected to the scene in which Pretorius chases his miniature Henry VIII with tweezers, asserting that it constituted "making a fool out of a king". [31] Reception [ edit ] Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff, and Ernest Thesiger. In the decades since its release, modern film scholars have noted the possible queer reading of the film. Director James Whale was openly gay, and some of the actors in the cast, including Ernest Thesiger and, according to rumor, Colin Clive, were respectively gay or bisexual. [58] Although James Curtis, Whale's biographer, rejects the notion that Whale would have identified with the Monster from a homosexual perspective, [59] scholars have perceived a gay subtext suffused through the film, especially a camp sensibility, [60] particularly embodied in the character of Pretorius and his relationship with Henry. Graham, Bob (October 9, 1998). " 'Bride' Is as Lovely as Ever". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved January 8, 2008. In 2012, Bride of Frankenstein was released on Blu-ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series. [71] In 2014, Universal released Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection on DVD. [72] This set contains eight films: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. [72] In 2015, the six-film Universal Classic Monsters Collection was released on DVD. [73] In 2016, Bride of Frankenstein received a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring a glow-in-the-dark cover. [74] That same year, the Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu-ray. [75] In September 2017, Bride of Frankenstein received a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook Blu-ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross. [76]Russo, Vito (1987). The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies (revised edition). New York, HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-096132-5. Bride of Frankenstein was subjected to censorship, both during production by the Hays office and following its release by local and national censorship boards. Joseph Breen, lead censor for the Hays office, objected to lines of dialogue in the originally submitted script in which Henry Frankenstein and his work were compared to that of God. He continued to object to such dialogue in revised scripts, [31] and to a planned shot of the Monster rushing through a graveyard to a figure of a crucified Jesus and attempting to rescue the figure from the cross. [32] Breen also objected to the number of murders, both seen and implied by the script and strongly advised Whale to reduce the number. [8] The censors' office, upon reviewing the film in March 1935, required a number of cuts. Whale agreed to delete a sequence in which Dwight Frye's "Nephew Glutz" [8] kills his uncle and blames the Monster, [1] and shots of Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in which Breen felt too much of her breasts were visible. Despite his earlier objection, Breen offered no objection to the cruciform imagery throughout the film – including a scene with the Monster lashed Christ-like to a pole – nor to the presentation of Pretorius as a coded homosexual. [31] Bride of Frankenstein was approved by the Production Code office on April 15. [1]
The preparation to film the sequel began shortly after the premiere of the first film, but script problems delayed the project. Principal photography began in January 1935, with creative personnel from the original returning in front of and behind the camera. Bride of Frankenstein was released to critical and popular acclaim, although it encountered difficulties with some state and national censorship boards. Since its release the film's reputation has grown, and it is now frequently considered one of the greatest sequels ever made; many fans and critics consider it to be an improvement on the original, and it has been hailed as Whale's masterpiece. In 1998, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, having been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Whale met Franz Waxman at a party and asked him to score the picture. Whale told him: "Nothing will be resolved in this picture except the end destruction scene. Would you write an unresolved score for it?" [17] Waxman created three distinctive themes: one for the Monster; one for the Bride; and one for Pretorius. The score closes, at Whale's suggestion, with a powerful dissonant chord, intended to convey the idea that the on-screen explosion was so powerful that the theater where the film was being screened was affected by it. [25] Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducted 22 musicians to record the score in a single nine-hour session. [26] The film premiered on April 19 in San Francisco, California, at the Oprheum Theater. [34] [a] The film went into general release on April 20. [35] [36] Bride of Frankenstein was included in the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set in August 2018. [77] This box set also received a DVD release. [78] See also [ edit ] The Bride of Frankenstein". catalog.afi.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021 . Retrieved December 3, 2021.
a b Jane, Ian (April 22, 2004). "Frankenstein - The Legacy Collection (Frankenstein / Bride of / Son of / Ghost of / House of)". DVD Talk . Retrieved January 23, 2020.
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