:18:05
Una O'Connor, who was in The Invisible
Man, was another Whale favourite
:18:08
and a perfect choice for Frankenstein's
twittering housekeeper, Minnie.
:18:12
Although Frankenstein's assistant,
played by Dwight Frye,
:18:15
met a nasty end in the first film,
:18:17
James Whale combined
several small parts
:18:20
to give the actor
a memorable assignment.
:18:22
Fritz von Frankenstein of course had been
killed by the monster in Frankenstein.
:18:27
Jimmy Whale - I say Jimmy Whale
because that's what my father called him -
:18:33
liked my dad's work.
:18:35
What we need is a female victim
of sudden death. Can you do it?
:18:39
If you promise me a thousand crowns.
:18:42
It will be well worth it,
and the baron will pay.
:18:46
I'll try.
:18:48
Bride of Frankenstein is visually
the best Universal horror classic,
:18:51
thanks to art director Charles Hall
and cinematographer John Mescall.
:18:55
Expressionistic tricks,
totally artificial lighting,
:19:00
these great painted skyscapes,
:19:02
and the way the tombs
are all at weird angles.
:19:06
Magnificent stuff like that.
:19:08
One of the things that intrigues me about
Whale's career, his work in general,
:19:13
is the background...
the backgrounds that he had.
:19:17
That is, as a theatre actor
and theatre director,
:19:21
but as a set designer in theatre,
as well as a painter and so forth.
:19:25
One wonders to what extent he might
have had input into the visual appearance,
:19:32
the look of the sets of his films,
:19:35
in a way that most directors at that time
would not be likely to do.
:19:40
Elsa Lanchester said, when she was not
actually needed on the set at one point,
:19:44
he took her to the studio
and showed off the forest set.
:19:50
He was proud of his achievement here.
:19:54
I said "Was this his design?"
:19:56
This telephone-pole forest,
:19:58
where the tree trunks are just trunks
and it's just bare and stark,