The Bride of Frankenstein
The monster demands a mate!
Country
Production
Genre
Budget
$397 024
Box office
$2 000 000
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Carl Laemmle Jr.
Camera operator
John J. Mescall
Composer
Artist
Audition
Editing
Ted J. Kent
Whole Team (48)
Whole Team (48)
Short description
After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Frankenstein falls under the control of his former mentor, Dr. Pretorius, who insists the now-chastened doctor resume his experiments in creating new life. Meanwhile, the Monster remains on the run from those who wish to destroy him without understanding that his intentions are generally good despite his lack of socialization and self-control.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, there were 21 corpses in the film, but censors reduced the number of dead bodies.
- Boris Karloff lost 20 pounds due to constantly being in makeup and costume.
- Filming of the picture took 46 days.
- In 1998, the film was included in the National Film Registry of the United States as being of significant artistic merit.
- The role of Doctor Pretorius was initially offered to Claude Rains, but he had to decline due to filming commitments on another project.
- For the role of the Bride, James Whale initially wanted to cast Brigitte Helm or Louise Brooks.
- Shortly before filming began, Colin Clive broke his leg after falling from a horse. As a result, many of the scenes featuring Frankenstein were shot in a way that he was either sitting in a chair or lying in bed.
- The working title of the film was “The Return of Frankenstein.”
- The Bride is the only classic ‘monster’ character in the Universal films who doesn't kill anyone.
- It is in this film that the monster speaks for the first time.
- In the film's credits, a question mark appears instead of the name of the actress who played the Bride, with Elsa Lanchester only credited as playing Mary Shelley. This was clearly done in analogy with the first film in the series, where the name of Boris Karloff, who played the creature, was also replaced with a question mark in the opening credits to build suspense.
- While filming the scene where the monster climbs out of the flooded basement of the burnt-down mill, Boris Karloff slipped and broke his leg. During subsequent filming, a metal pin on his shin, which was supposed to weigh down his gait, was bandaged to his broken leg as a splint to fix the fractured bone.
- In the original version of the film, there was a scene where the hunchback Karl (Dwight Frye) kills his helpless relatives and stages the murder to look like the monster's work. This plotline was completely removed after preview screenings.
- In total, scenes with a total length of about 15 minutes were removed from the film. Some of the removed scenes could have significantly affected the perception of the film—for example, one of the lost shots featured a monster-like baby doll holding a child. The censorship removal of scenes of violence led to a serious logical gap—the peasants' hatred of the Monster becomes inexplicable. All the material removed from the director's cut of the film is considered lost.
- Boris Karloff protested that in "Bride of Frankenstein" his character begins to speak (in the first "Frankenstein" the monster could not speak), but Whale didn’t heed his demands. Because the creature had to speak, Karloff had to leave his dental prosthesis in his mouth, which he had removed in the first film, so in "Bride of Frankenstein" the creature’s cheeks appear less sunken.
- The appearance of the little people, the result of Pretorius's experiments, is an obvious reference to the film "The Private Life of Henry VIII." Both films featured Elsa Lanchester.
- Boris Karloff lost 20 pounds due to spending constant time in makeup and costume.
- The role of Dr. Pretorius was first offered to Claude Rains, but he was forced to decline due to filming another movie.
- Shortly before filming began, Colin Clive broke his leg after falling from a horse. As a result, most of the scenes featuring Frankenstein are shot with him either sitting in a chair or lying in bed.
- In the film's credits, a question mark appears instead of the name of the actress playing the Bride, while Elsa Lanchester is listed only as the actress playing Mary Shelley. This was clearly done by analogy with the first film in the series, where Boris Karloff's name as the creator's monster was also replaced by a question mark in the opening credits to build suspense.
- While filming the scene where the monster climbs out of the flooded basement of the burned-down mill, Boris Karloff slipped and also broke his leg. During subsequent filming, a metal rod on his shin, intended to weigh down his gait, was bandaged to his broken leg as a splint to stabilize the fractured bone.
- Boris Karloff protested that his character begins to speak in 'The Bride of Frankenstein' (in the first 'Frankenstein,' the monster was unable to speak), but Whale did not listen to his requests. Because the monster had to speak, Karloff had to keep a dental prosthesis in his mouth, which he had removed for the first film; consequently, the monster's cheeks do not appear as sunken in 'The Bride of Frankenstein'.
- The appearance of the little people, who are the results of Pretorius's experiments, is a clear reference to the film 'The Private Life of Henry VIII.' Both films featured Elsa Lanchester.
- The original version of the film included an episode where the hunchback Karl (Dwight Frye) kills his helpless relatives and frames the monster for the crime. This subplot was completely removed following preview screenings.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
