TCM's Night at the Movies: Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein

Along time ago in a galaxy far, far way I watched the Universal horror films with my father on sunday afternoons. At that time, while living in Santa Paula and newly transplanted from the midwest,  it was about the only thing we did together that I enjoyed and my love of those movies have never left me. I can remember curling up on the couch as a little five year old and my dad telling me about these movies and how they scared him when he was a boy, only back then, he would say, it was in a theater since there was not much TV in Sioux City, Iowa in the late 40's.

Every sunday afternoon about two or three o'clock my dad and I would get ready to get scared shitless. Well, I would anyway. That's when channel 5 out of Los Angeles would show a different Universal horror classic every sunday. On those precious weekend afternoons I would see Dracula with Bela Lugosi rising from his grave and Boris Karloff as Im-Ho-Tep in The Mummy or Lon Chaney, Jr as The Wolf Man and I would love it. These movies transported me into gothic world of graverobbers, mad scientists, screaming heroines, secret passage ways [ a real favorite ] and misunderstood monsters. Even at the tender age of five my sympathy was always with the so-called monster who really only wants to be loved and understood in a angry and paranoid world. My young mind grasped this immediately, with perhaps no better example than Boris Karloff's Frankenstein monster. Frightening when he first appears on screen, Karloff's portrayal gather's more and more pathos as it goes along, never more so than when he encounters Maria, the little girl playing with her flowers by the side of the lake. The wonder and discovery the monster makes while meeting this small girl is still touching. Shots of Karloff and his reactions, comparing his large hands and features with her small, delicate ones and not quite understanding how one could be so small, along with innocent Maria being the only one not to show any fear or recoiling from his horrid appearance, makes this scene along with the one with the blind man in Bride of Frankenstein, one of feeling and tenderness that doesn't exist in today's " torture porn " world of horror. 

I was reminded of this again while watching the Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein double feature that my son Tyler and I attended this past Wednesday October 24th as part of Turner Classic Movies and Universal Pictures special showing, in honor of Universal Studios 100th anniversary. The prints of these films, considering they were anywhere from 81 to 77 years old, were outstanding. Though probably primitive to modern eyes, these movies are timeless evocations of a gothic, old European view, with a charm and atmosphere that takes the viewer to another place entirely. None of them take place in the states and their actual sense of time is, at best, fuzzy. Even the more "modern" of them such as The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man take place in villages, not big cities. Before the franchise was exhausted in 1948 with the hilarious Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein their were a total of eight films. Besides Frankenstein and  Bride of Frankenstein there was also Son of Frankenstein [1939], the last to feature Karloff as the monster, Ghost of Frankenstein [1942], Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man [1943], House of Dracula [1944]  and House of Frankenstein [1945].  Unfortunately by the time the series had run out poor old Frankie had become something of a parody of himself, with precious little screen time and moving about like a zombie in need of some good eyeglasses. Of all the films I would recommend without hesitation the first three and also Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man which, despite it's somewhat cheesy title, is really a sequel to 1941's The Wolf Man and features a really good Lon Chaney, Jr perf as the hairy one.

A few thoughts on these classic films: The thoughtlessness of the mob, only wanting one thing, to destroy something they cannot understand. The Christ-like figure of the monster. More than any other classic horror figure, Frankenstein's monster represents US, the audience. The abused, downtrodden, helpless figure, the misunderstood minority, weather it be black, latino, asian, fat, gay or what have you, Karloff's portrait of the monster is what makes us come back to these films, again and again. Truly a classic performance and I think, to this day, an underrated one despite it's iconic status.

Also a big round of applause must go to Elsa Lanchester's bride in Bride of Frankenstein from 1935, four years after the original. Everyone recognizes Lanchester at first sight. Although she takes on an antagonistic role, in that she rejects our boy Frankie which leads to the ultimate destruction for all who try so hard to bring her to life and present her to Karloff as his mate [ except for Colin Clive's Henry Frankenstein and his bride, Elizabeth, who survive due to censors demands ], many find her the highlight of the film and she certainly is one of several, along with Dr. Pretorius, his collection of people in the jars and Una O'Connor's Minnie. I find it a somewhat incongruous portrayal and ending, with the bride's total rejection of Karloff, especially coming from director James Whale. As a gay man Whale identified completely with the monster and his outsider point of view, not only because he was gay, but also from the environment in which he grew up, as dirt poor laborers of the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds of Victorian England, which also spawned Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Whale's influence on the first two Frankenstein movie's are huge and should not be overlooked. Although Whale did not want to be typecast as a horror specialist, these two movies plus 1932's The Old Dark House and 1933's The Invisible Man has made his reputation among film and horror buffs.
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The youtube clip above is from Bride of Frankenstein and it's the climax of the picture, the ultimate Adam & Eve moment. The monster craving companionship [" friend?" ] and Lanchester's heartless bride not only screams when he touches her, but practically chokes with laughter at the monster's presuming she could be his mate for life or any time for that matter. For anyone who has loved and lost or been rejected by a person they have pinned all there hope's and dream's of being with and connecting to, the finale of this most touching of "horror" films, is something one cannot easily forget. On that note, I can only add, happy Halloween.