:15:02
She was very funny. She talked about
the scar under the neck of the bride.
:15:08
She said that Jack Pierce
took the longest time to do this,
:15:11
that he went through this incredible ritual
of applying this scar,
:15:17
that she said hardly shows in the film.
:15:19
She said "I'm sure he could have bought
a scar for ten cents in a joke shop."
:15:23
But he had his own way of doing it,
:15:26
and he lovingly and painstakingly applied
this scar each morning to the bride.
:15:34
The idea of the hiss of the female monster
:15:36
came from she and Charles Laughton
feeding the swans at Regents Park.
:15:41
She said "When swans would come up, if
you went to feed them, that was all right,
:15:47
but if you got too near them or got near
their young, they would hiss."
:15:51
So she thought of this
incredible hiss of the swans
:15:54
and she incorporated it into the character.
:15:57
Frankenstein combined English
and American actors,
:16:00
not always convincingly.
:16:02
Bride of Frankenstein was cast
mainly with British players.
:16:05
Mae Clarke, the original Elizabeth,
:16:07
was replaced by the 17-year-old ingénue
Valerie Hobson.
:16:10
Valerie Hobson gives an amazing
performance, I think, as Elizabeth.
:16:14
Very stylised. She's like
a Christmas angel,
:16:17
the way she appears with the dress
and the flowing hair.
:16:21
I talked to her in 1989 and she had
warm memories of making the film.
:16:26
She said the first time she saw Karloff,
it was an extraordinary experience.
:16:30
There he was in complete
Frankenstein monster make-up,
:16:33
and she said "I just was so amazed.
All of a sudden he opened his mouth
:16:37
and out came this very gentle
British accent with a lisp."
:16:42
She said that he was like
the great clowns who make you cry.
:16:46
He really made you cry.
:16:48
This monster whose heart was just
bleeding to get out of his monstrous self,
:16:52
to find somebody to love,
to find somebody to love him in return.
:16:56
And he pulled it off. Remarkable feat
of acting. She was very impressed by it.