:21:00
It's very much like
Rembrandt's painting style,
:21:02
where there is light that is directional
and gives contours and definition.
:21:15
The crowning touch in
Bride of Frankenstein
:21:17
was the inspired musical score
by Franz Waxman.
:21:20
You've got a first-rate cast
in an extremely well-written script
:21:25
with a tremendous musical score.
:21:27
One of the most important Hollywood
scores of the mid-'30s by Franz Waxman.
:21:31
For the opening sequence of Byron and
Shelley on a stormy evening at the villa,
:21:36
Waxman wrote a very charming
period-style minuet,
:21:40
which speaks of the life of ease
and delicacy that we see depicted.
:21:44
As the flashback story is told by Byron...
"A winter setting in the churchyard..."
:21:49
...he evolves into a huge fugue
:21:52
to illustrate the horrors and terrors
of the original story,
:21:56
before returning back to the minuet
:21:59
that sets us pretty much
with period parlour music.
:22:02
There is an awful lot of commentary
through the music.
:22:06
Sometimes impish, sometimes
emotionally reinforcing,
:22:11
but, like so much that's
in this film, heightened.
:22:14
The basic structure of Waxman's score
is Wagnerian.
:22:17
He uses motives for each of
the major characters or sequences.
:22:21
These are thematic building blocks
:22:23
which can introduce or herald
each character's entrance
:22:26
or imply their presence off-camera
when they aren't present.
:22:30
Almost operatically, isn't it?
:22:32
The leitmotif approach,
:22:35
where you have a particular phrase
or melody associated with a person,
:22:39
one character or a different character.
:22:41
The monster has a four-note motive which
seems to be patterned upon his growl.
:22:50
It's almost as if Waxman had observed
the performance and deduced that from it.
:22:55
The bride herself has a very exotic
high-flown three-note melody.