Bride of Frankenstein (Universal Classics)

The Bride of Frankenstein is the name attributed to the titular character from James Whale's 1935 horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein. Although the title of the film is named for the character, the actual Bride, or mate, does not appear until the last two minutes of the film. The Bride was played by English actress Elsa Lanchester and is loosely based on a concept developed by author Mary Shelley in her 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. In the novel however, Victor Frankenstein begins construction of the Monster's mate, but destroys his work before it can be completed. Elsa Lanchester's version is the first iteration of the character ever to be realized on film.

Biography
Doctor Henry Frankenstein once created a new form of life by stitching together body parts of the recently deceased and bringing it to life by harnessing the power of a lightning storm. This creature has since become known as the Frankenstein Monster. A short while after divorcing himself from his mad experiments, Henry was stricken to discover that his old mentor, Doctor Septimus Pretorius, had taken charge of his creation and was now using him to blackmail Henry into creating a mate for his monster. To insure Frankenstein's compliance, Pretorius had the Monster abduct Henry's wife, Elizabeth.

Henry Frankenstein, Doctor Pretorius and the Monster went to the old windmill laboratory where Henry once again stitched together the body parts of female cadavers. Wrapping his creation head to toe in linen, he infused it with high levels of electricity, bringing life once again to the lifeless. Pretorius was the first to baptise her with the sobriquet, the Bride of Frankenstein. Looking upon the creature who was destined to be her mate, the Bride was instantly repulsed by his appearance and let out a shriek of terror. The Frankenstein Monster, depressed by such rejection, realized that creatures such as they had no place in this world. Solemnly issuing the words, "We belong dead", he pulled a lever that set off an explosion, seemingly destroying both of them. Although the Bride was gone, the Frankenstein Monster would be revived only a few short years later.

Notes & Trivia

 * Actress Elsa Lanchester was not credited for her work as the Bride in the film. In the closing credits, the role of the Bride is left deliberately ambiguous and marked with only a question mark. However, Lanchester was credited for playing the part of author Mary Shelley in the beginning of the film.


 * Doctor Pretorius is the only character in the film to refer to the Monster's Mate as the Bride of Frankenstein.


 * Marvel Comics adapted Mary Shelley's Frankenstein via flashback in the first four issues of The Monster of Frankenstein. The Bride made a brief cameo appearance in issue #2 and was also featured wrapped in bandages on the cover. This issue was also reprinted in Book of the Dead #2 and Essential Monster of Frankenstein, Volume 1.


 * In 1985, Franc Roddam directed The Bride - a quasi-sequel of The Bride of Frankenstein. Actress Jennifer Beals played the role of the Monster's Mate and was given the name Eva. The film presupposes that both the Monster and the Bride survived the explosion that originally claimed them in James Whale's film.


 * In Kenneth Branagh's 1994 version of Frankenstein, the role of the Bride is combined with that of Elizabeth Frankenstein (played by Helena Bonham Carter). In this version however, the Bride, upon seeing what she has become, opts to take her own life by dropping a lantern upon herself and burning to death.


 * Another version of the Bride was featured in Rob Zombie's 2009 animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. In the film, the Bride of Frankenstein is a patron of the Haunted Palace and has a sexual relationship with the Creature from the Black Lagoon.


 * In Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein, Madeline Kahn is seen wearing the distinctive hairstyle of the Bride of Frankenstein.


 * The Bride of Frankenstein was briefly featured in the 1998 slasher/comedy Bride of Chucky and served as an inspiration for both the film and co-star Jennifer Tilly's character, Tiffany. In the film, Tiffany watches the climax from The Bride of Frankenstein and is greatly moved by the scene, feeling that it is a great, if tragic, love story.


 * Another pastiche of the Bride is the character of Lisa from the 1985 John Hughes comedy Weird Science. Teenagers Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnelly (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) create their own woman using incantations, candles, a doll, womens' undergarments and computer equipment. Video and audio clips from The Bride of Frankenstein are incorporated into the film. Colin Clive's infamous line "She's alive!" is mixed into the "Weird Science" theme song by Ira Newborn.