Bride of Frankenstein
prev.
play.
mark.
next.

:54:38
Here's another Whale trademark: Moving
his camera through the wall of a set.

:54:43
The watchtower set
from the first film is revisited,

:54:45
with a crossbeam
now spanning the staircase -

:54:49
just in case one feels like hanging oneself
from a convenient rafter.

:54:54
The mordant pleasantries
about slimy steps

:54:56
and the charms of the house are ad-libs.
:54:59
The next four minutes are mainly
the contribution of John Balderston.

:55:02
The immediate necessity of a fresh heart
is a full incident retained from his script.

:55:07
Pretorius's line to Henry
about "once upon a time

:55:09
being burnt at the stake as wizards
for the experiment" is rather ingenuous.

:55:13
He fails to consider
that kidnapping, grave-robbing,

:55:16
corpse mutilation and murdering
young girls for their body parts -

:55:20
have I forgotten anything? - Might
merit the gallows, if not the stake.

:55:23
This line was spoken in Balderston's
script by a professor of anatomy,

:55:27
while energising dead frog parts
with a galvanic battery.

:55:31
In his screenplay,
Balderston shamelessly rehashed

:55:34
the medical-school business
of the first film,

:55:36
even to reviving
the deceased hunchback Fritz.

:55:39
Apparently nothing is impossible
when your boss is Dr Frankenstein.

:55:43
Fritz procures a desiccated specimen,
:55:45
enraging Henry, who demands a fresh
one, and offers the 1,000-crown bounty.

:55:49
Fritz obliges - in the Great Depression
people would do anything for money.


prev.
next.