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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Friday, November 25, 2016

The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

Starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester
Directed by James Whale
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After the Monster survives his apparent death, an evil scientist blackmails Henry Frankenstein into creating a mate for the creature.

A terrific sequel to Whale's 1931 Frankenstein film that launched Karloff's stellar horror career, the picture features the return of Karloff in his classic role, who speaks as the monster for the first and only time.  Although his performance in this film has been often parodied over the years, it is still a work of quality,  such that the distinguished British gentleman underneath the makeup isn't discernible at all.  Karloff is only one component however of a fine motion picture, which also features Whale's expert direction and the addition of wry touches of humor, something missing from the first film, as well as beautiful photography from John Mescall, and a thrilling score by Franz Waxman.  The screenplay, which according to IMDB several individuals worked on at one time or other, wisely recreates a sequence from Mary Shelley's original novel which was absent from the first film, a touching sequence in which Karloff's monster befriends a blind hermit played by O.P. Heggie.

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