1 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Hey, you welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: Rob Lamb. 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 2: And this is Joe McCormick, and today we're bringing you 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 2: an older episode of Weird House Cinema. This one originally 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 2: published October twentieth, twenty twenty three. This was our Halloween 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 2: season Weird House on the Bride of Frankenstein, directed by 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 2: James Whale. 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is one of the all time greats. So 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: this is definitely one of those episodes where it's going 10 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: to be a lot of us talking about just how 11 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: truly awesome this movie is. And it is truly awesome. 12 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: If you haven't seen it, or you haven't seen it 13 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: in a while, it's the perfect time to watch or 14 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: rewatch Bride of Frankenstein. 15 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 2: The best of the universal monster movies. 16 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: All right, let's dive right in. 17 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 3: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 18 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Weird How Cinema. This is Rob Lamp. 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 2: And I am Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House Cinema, 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 2: in honor of the Halloween season, we are going to 21 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 2: be talking about the nineteen thirty five universal horror classic 22 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 2: Bride of Frankenstein. Directed by James Whale, the first sequel 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,559 Speaker 2: to the original Universal Frankenstein, also directed by Whale, which 24 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 2: was released four years earlier in nineteen thirty one. So 25 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 2: I know we're going to talk a lot more about 26 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 2: the specifics of our appreciation for this movie as we 27 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 2: go along, but I wanted to just start off by saying, 28 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:40,559 Speaker 2: in my opinion, Bride of Frankenstein is about as good 29 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 2: as it gets. It is. I think shocking how great 30 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 2: this movie is, how good it looks, how weird it is, 31 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 2: how beautiful and funny and full of genuine feeling, and 32 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 2: how fresh it feels. Something about it is the exact 33 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 2: opposite of a relic from the past. It feels so 34 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 2: exciting and new. 35 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: I think the word that I would use for Brida Frankenstein, 36 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: without even a hint of irony or parity or humor, 37 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: is it is just truly transcendent. It transcends its genre, 38 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: it transcends its time period. It is just a masterpiece. 39 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: And yeah, I second way you said, if you're the 40 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: type of film viewer who's like, I don't know if 41 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:27,959 Speaker 1: I need or want to see a film from the 42 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, I mean, fair enough, watch what you want 43 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: to watch. But films like this, films like Mad Love, 44 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: which we previously discussed on the show, these really stand out. 45 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 2: And I love the other Universal monster movies, you know. 46 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 2: I love Todd Browning's Dracula, I love Wales First Frank, 47 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 2: I love the Invisible Man, Creature from a Black Lagoon. 48 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 2: I mean, really enjoy all of those core monster frolics. 49 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 2: But even though all of those are excellent, there are 50 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 2: individually things in them that kind of drag Dracula. For example, 51 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 2: I love Todd Browning's Dracula, but it gets markedly less 52 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 2: interesting when Bella Legosi has been off screen for too long. 53 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 2: You know, there are some there's some kind of slow 54 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 2: moving talkie segments with the not terribly interesting human characters, which, 55 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,679 Speaker 2: to be fair, are trying to be faithful to the 56 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 2: plot of the novel, but in some ways I think 57 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: end up kind of holding the movie back from what 58 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 2: it could have been. All of the other Universal Monster 59 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 2: frolics have their their stuffy interludes, but for me, Bride 60 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 2: does not. My opinion is that it is just wall 61 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 2: to wall horror, profound weirdness, hilarity and powerful emotion. So 62 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 2: I think not only is Bride of Frankenstein the best 63 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 2: of all the Universal Monster movies. It's the best by 64 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 2: a mile. It's the best by an astronomical unit. It 65 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 2: leaves these other great movies in the dust. And I 66 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 2: guess we can as we go on, we can talk 67 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 2: about some of the reasons why I feel that way. 68 00:03:58,280 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: It is kind of funny that in leading up to 69 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: this episode, we were talking about maybe doing Son of 70 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: Frankenstein or House of Frankenstein, a couple of the later 71 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: movies in the Universal Frankenstein cycle, and then we were like, well, 72 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: why are we denying ourselves, Like staring at the bar, 73 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: there is the top shelf Frankenstein right there. Let's just 74 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: do that one. 75 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was realizing before we started recording that 76 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 2: one way this movie will fit into the Weird House 77 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 2: Cinema cannon is that we sort of have a show 78 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 2: tradition of covering sequels without covering the original that they're 79 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 2: following up, and we haven't done an episode on the 80 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 2: original Universal Frankenstein, though I think it has come up 81 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 2: a lot when discussing other movies. I think it might 82 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 2: be fruitful to begin today's episode by thinking about Bride 83 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 2: of Frankenstein as a sequel, And what can we learn 84 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 2: about sequels from a sequel that works this well. I 85 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 2: don't know exactly how the percentages break out, but I'd 86 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 2: say at least maybe eighty percent of the time sequels 87 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 2: are uninteresting derivations of the original, just sort of like 88 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 2: trying to make a quick buck off of the success 89 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 2: of the original. But sometimes, as we all know, there 90 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 2: are sequels that are not only as good as the original, 91 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 2: not only worthy of it, lots of people consider them 92 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 2: better than the original. Quick list of commonly cited examples 93 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 2: that I would agree with a Terminator two Star Trek, 94 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,280 Speaker 2: The Wrath of Khan, the Empire strikes Back, multiple mad 95 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 2: Max sequels, I'd say, you know, Road Warrior, Fury Road, 96 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 2: And there are plenty of other examples you can think 97 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 2: of too, in even less well known franchises. 98 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Like I I'll often throw Blade two in there. 99 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: Aliens comes to mind, of course, Return of the Blind 100 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: Dead to feature like a recent horror film that we 101 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: did a rerun off. I throw Chronicles of Ritick in 102 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: there as well. You know, I generally say when a 103 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: sequel works, it either is a second attempt with improved 104 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: skills and or budget at the concepts of the first 105 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: Or is it it's a success full expansion of the 106 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: original concept, you know, not just a sell them another 107 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: scoop of the same ice cream, but give them something 108 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: that is transformative, you know. 109 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 2: I agree, and I think that's exactly what's going on 110 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 2: with Bride Frankenstein. James Whale's original Frankenstein is really good. 111 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 2: It's a solid adaptation of the novel, one of the 112 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 2: best universal monster movies. But Bride of frank is absolutely divine, 113 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,720 Speaker 2: and so I'm wondering what exactly it does that really 114 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:32,119 Speaker 2: has this step up quality going into the second movie 115 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 2: in this series. An interesting thing about Bride of Frankenstein 116 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 2: is that it is both a fulfillment of the promise 117 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 2: of the source material, in this case, Mary Wilston crafts 118 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 2: Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus, and it forges 119 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 2: a new path. So in the sense that it's a 120 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 2: fulfillment of the source material, Bride of Frankenstein includes scenes 121 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 2: and themes from Shelley's nun that were left out of 122 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 2: the first movie, and also when it chooses to include 123 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 2: totally new things from out of left field, they are 124 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 2: great inclusions. So to start with like things that it 125 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 2: brings in from the novel, I think they're typically things 126 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 2: that deepen our emotional understanding of the creature. So one 127 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 2: example is that in Bride of frank the monster can talk. 128 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 2: The monster in the novel, of course, is amazingly articulate. 129 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 2: In the first movie, by contrast, it's a silent performance. 130 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 2: And I've seen film critics and historians make the interesting 131 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 2: observation that Frankenstein was one of the first mega hits 132 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 2: of the early sound film era, and yet its principal 133 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 2: performance from Boris Karloff was a mostly silent one. 134 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, In this we do see some interesting growth 135 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: in the monster. He's acquiring language, he's learning to express 136 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: himself better, and it makes Karlov's performance all the more enthralling. 137 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: There's this crackling, confused, traumatized and yet still hopeful energy 138 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: in the heart of the creature, just straining to reach 139 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: out and touch the world. Sadly, he lacks many of 140 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: the tools he needs, and he finds himself continually on 141 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: the other end of human violence and human manipulation. Like 142 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: you said, it's not on the same level of the 143 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: articulate monster we see in the novel who Is I 144 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: think it can is often interpreted as being almost kind 145 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: of like a fallen angel, you know, that's the kind 146 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: of energy he brings, so, you know, not quite the 147 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: same energy, but it moves a little closer to that 148 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: concept and does its own thing with it. 149 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 2: Yeah. The articulacy of the creature in the novel, I 150 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 2: think is often and this is actually in the novel itself, 151 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 2: is compared to Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost. Yeah, Karloff 152 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 2: in Bride is not like that. He's mostly speaking in 153 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 2: like short clipped statements. And apparently Karlov was wary of 154 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 2: the idea of having the monster speak in Bride. He 155 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,839 Speaker 2: wasn't sure that was a good idea, but I think 156 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 2: it was the right move. Even though he's not giving 157 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 2: these these long moving speeches like he does in the book, 158 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 2: he has these heartbreakingly terse memorable lines, you know, like 159 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 2: love dead, hate living. Another thing from the novel that's 160 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 2: brought into to deepen the story here is the scene 161 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 2: where the monster makes friends with a blind man living 162 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 2: in a cabin. That is, it's not exactly the same, 163 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 2: but it's based on a section of the novel where 164 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 2: the creature observes people living in a remote cottage and 165 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 2: learns language from them, but is ultimately driven away when 166 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 2: sighted people finally catch a glimpse of him and react 167 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 2: with horror to his appearance. The scene in the book 168 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 2: where he realizes he is hated because he is ugly 169 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 2: is one of the saddest in the book, and they 170 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 2: explore those themes very well, and Bride I Think another 171 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 2: one the creature's desire for an undead mate. This is 172 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 2: also from the book, but left out of the first movie. 173 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 2: For the most part. In the novel, after the creature 174 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 2: realizes that living humans will all hate him and reject him, 175 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 2: he thinks his only hope of finding love and companionship 176 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 2: is for his creator to make another like him, so 177 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,559 Speaker 2: he threatens Victor Frankenstein. He threatens his loved ones to 178 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 2: coerce him to make the creature an undead bride. But 179 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 2: then in the book, Victor I Think abandons the project 180 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 2: before it's completed, and he has a kind of stroke 181 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 2: of conscience and he says, no, I can't do this, 182 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 2: and then in a rage, the creature punishes him by 183 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 2: killing his fiance. 184 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: And it's in retrospect looking back on this, it's so 185 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: great that they came back and took this part of 186 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: the book and did something with it, because I remember 187 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: this being like one of the most impactful sections of 188 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: the novel, a novel that is full of fantastic ideas 189 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: and scenes. But yeah, this section of the book where 190 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: the doctor is forced to go back and do this 191 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: mad thing one more time and attempt to create a 192 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: mate for this monster just so it will leave him 193 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: and his loved ones alone, and then decides that for 194 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: the greater good he cannot go through. 195 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 2: In it, I agree exactly. So I think the movie 196 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 2: is really working because it pulls in all of these 197 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 2: great resonant elements from the original source material that you 198 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 2: know didn't fit into the first the plot of the 199 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 2: first film. But on the other hand, there is all 200 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 2: kinds of other stuff that is added purely from the 201 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 2: original genius of the filmmakers, and I think you could 202 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 2: you could bring up a lot of things here. One 203 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 2: I wanted to mention is comedy. I have not read 204 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 2: Frankenstein in a bit, but I don't recall it really 205 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,319 Speaker 2: having much humor in it at all. I think it's 206 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 2: a very serious book, and while Bride of Frankenstein deals 207 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,600 Speaker 2: with serious themes and has many serious moments, it is 208 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 2: also overflowing with irony and goofiness. Sometimes it's surprisingly goofy 209 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 2: wail understood horror storytelling according I think to the Granginioal 210 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 2: tradition of hot and cold showers, where tales of the 211 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 2: macabre would be alternately play back and forth with comedy 212 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 2: performances and good storytellers in the space. I think understand 213 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 2: that comedy is a wonderful release mechanism for the building 214 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 2: tension of the story. There's something that really works when 215 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:38,720 Speaker 2: you alternate mounting tension and horror with comedy. So and 216 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 2: beyond that, there are also characters in this movie that 217 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 2: operate on the knife edge between horror and comedy at 218 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 2: all times. I think the prime example being probably my 219 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 2: favorite character from this movie, doctor Septimus Pretorius, a character 220 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 2: who is not in the novel, invented purely for Bride 221 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,079 Speaker 2: of Frankkenstein. And that brings us to the other thing 222 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 2: I'd mentioned about this movie, a sort of original genius 223 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 2: zany characters. I love the novel Frankenstein, but it does 224 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 2: not have an ensemble of memorable characters with interesting quirks 225 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 2: and personalities. I think the genius of the novel is 226 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 2: in its scenario and themes, and in the development of 227 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 2: the main character of the creature right of. Frank, on 228 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 2: the other hand, convinced this whole ensemble of delightfully jagged 229 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 2: weirdos to give the story flavor. There's a kind of 230 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 2: Cohen Brothers quality to all of the secondary players here. 231 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 2: And I think the greatest example of this is the 232 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 2: villain of the movie, doctor Septimus Pretorius, played by Ernest Thesiger, 233 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 2: a flamboyantly bizarre professor, a scientist matter than any mad 234 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 2: scientist you've ever seen before. I think basically every single 235 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 2: moment Thesager is on screen is just gold. He has 236 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 2: turned up to eleven from his very first line, and 237 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,199 Speaker 2: he does not he does not stop. 238 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: I agree, that's it's just amazing in this And. 239 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 2: While doctor Pretorius is the greatest, there's room for all 240 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 2: kinds of just you know, goobers and creeps and buffoons 241 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 2: and weird personalities to weave in and out of the 242 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 2: story here. Yeah. 243 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think the other amazing thing about this 244 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: is Okay, so the idea of horror in comedy working 245 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: together that that's nothing new, But everything just works so 246 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: smoothly in this film it can almost feel like a 247 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: surreal experience, especially given how jarring, sometimes intentionally the transaction 248 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: transition in and out of horror in comedy may be 249 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: in other works. There's just just in general, there's absolutely 250 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: nothing rough around the edges with this movie. You know, 251 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: there's there's much to be said again, how fresh and 252 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: exciting this nineteen thirty five film feels in terms of 253 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: its themes and performances, But even its effects are just 254 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: staggeringly effective. The monster's basic makeup does is of course iconic, 255 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: and you might expect that since it's iconic and you've 256 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: seen it replicated often poorly, you know, on various other 257 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: forms so many times, that it would lose some of 258 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: its punch, but it really doesn't. It just looks incredible 259 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: in every shot. 260 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 2: I totally agree. Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying, Like, 261 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 2: you know what the Carlos Frankenstein makeup looks like. You've 262 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 2: seen it a million times, so how could it still 263 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 2: be scary and shocking? But in my opinion, when you 264 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 2: watch the movie, it is like seeing it actually come 265 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 2: to life in motion situated within the context of the plot. 266 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how many times you've seen this pulled 267 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 2: out of context on posters and stills and all that, 268 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 2: it's still super creepy. It looks amazing, Yeah. 269 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: At every shot. On top of that, everything, every shot 270 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: is perfectly composed. The dialogue is all tight and interesting, 271 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: and other effects are amazing as well. There's a scene 272 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: late in the movie in which a model mountain tower 273 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: collapses in on itself. We've seen similar effects that rained 274 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: from terrible to great but clearly an effect in so 275 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: many pictures, but this one just looks and feels real 276 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: in a way that's truly admirable. Oh yeah, So, Joe, 277 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,239 Speaker 1: what's your elevator pitch for Bride of Frankenstein? 278 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 2: You know it's difficult, so maybe it'd be something like 279 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 2: after Frankenstein, you thought you knew what it meant for 280 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 2: death to reign over life and for science to go mad, 281 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 2: But we have such sites to show you yet. 282 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that sums it up well. And of course, 283 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: to steal a line from the movie itself, have to 284 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: quote doctor Pretorius about a new world of gods and monsters. 285 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: I mean That's just one of the great lines of 286 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: the film and kind of sums up the spirit and 287 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: energy of the sequel. 288 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 2: Here in the scene, that line is offered as a toast, 289 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 2: and it is so good. But it's especially good knowing 290 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 2: the line which comes right before it, which is where 291 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 2: doctor Pretorius claims that Jin is his only weakness, and 292 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 2: he is clearly not correct in saying that. 293 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: There's another point in the film where he says something 294 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: else is his only weakness. Yeah, you're just so many 295 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: wonderful little quirks that that they're able to fit into 296 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: the dialogue here. All right, Well, let's go ahead and 297 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:24,719 Speaker 1: listen to some trailer audio. 298 00:17:25,880 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 4: Oh yeah, all right. 299 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: Well, if you rightfully wish to go and watch Bride 300 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: of Frankenstein on your own before you continue with this episode, 301 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 1: well you're in luck because this is a Universal Monsters movie. 302 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: I mean, this is the shining gem of the Universal 303 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: Monsters franchise. So this one is widely available in all formats, 304 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: and I think it's streaming on Peacock right now, if 305 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: that is available to you. But any way you do it, 306 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: do see this movie in the best quality you can grab. 307 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,480 Speaker 2: Yes, I would say the same thing This is one 308 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,880 Speaker 2: where it really pays off to get the highest definition, 309 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 2: best visual quality you can because this is a great 310 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 2: looking movie and you want to get at every bit 311 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 2: of it. 312 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: All. Right now, getting into the connections here the people 313 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 1: that made this movie, we want to stress here that again, 314 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: this was a big sequel. This was a sequel to 315 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: a highly successful movie in which director James Whale got 316 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: to assemble a massively talented cast and crew. So we 317 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: are not going to be able to do justice to 318 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: everyone that was involved in bringing this film to life. 319 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, there are a ton of people involved in this 320 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 2: movie that each have fascinating biographies, But because there are 321 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 2: so many of them, I think we're gonna have to 322 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 2: give fairly short statements on most of them. Just know 323 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 2: that there's a lot of people here that we will 324 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,160 Speaker 2: get to kind of briefly, but they're each worth looking up. 325 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, and we may come back to many of 326 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: these people in the future. They're, like we were saying, 327 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: a lot of these folks are individuals who have they 328 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: came up in a smaller picture or a lesser picture. 329 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,520 Speaker 1: We might spend a lot of time talking about who 330 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,200 Speaker 1: they were and what their careers consisted of all right. Well, 331 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,920 Speaker 1: starting at the top, of course, with the director. It's 332 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: James Whale, who lived eighteen eighty nine through nineteen fifty seven, 333 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: English director of film and the British stage, as well 334 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: as an occasional actor himself. He primarily came over to 335 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,680 Speaker 1: the Hollywood system because with the transition to talkies, they 336 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: wanted to invest in directors who were great with dialogue, 337 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: and he had that reputation already. He's best remembered for 338 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: his horror projects, namely the two Frankenstein films. Nineteen thirty 339 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: three is The Invisible Man in nineteen thirty two's The 340 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: Old Dark House. His first film, nineteen thirties Journey's End, 341 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: was a war drama starring Colin Clive, and even after Frankenstein, 342 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: he continued to make non horror dramas such as nineteen 343 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: thirty threes by Candlelight, and even musicals like nineteen thirty 344 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: six's Showboat and late in his career the nineteen forty 345 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: adventure film Green Hell, which does have a terrific cast. 346 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 2: Like many of the directors we talked about who were 347 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 2: making great horror films in the early days of sound cinema, 348 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 2: I don't know if it would be right to say 349 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 2: that like horror was a passion of James Whale. I 350 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,920 Speaker 2: think he probably wanted to focus more on dramas and such, 351 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 2: but you know, he did the work that he got 352 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 2: and he made great, great horror movies. 353 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 4: Yeah. 354 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's time and time again. It's the case with 355 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,479 Speaker 1: these directors, like they wanted to go up the ladder 356 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 1: towards bigger a list type pictures, prestige pictures that had 357 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: the cast, but also didn't deal with these lesser genres 358 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: of horror and sci fi. And that was just part 359 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,920 Speaker 1: of the cinema world of the time, that was the industry. 360 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: And it's just kind of ironic that nowadays so many 361 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 1: of these individuals are best remembered, if not remembered, exclusively 362 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: for their genre entries. 363 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 2: This seems to be a situation where the original Frankenstein 364 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,639 Speaker 2: was a huge hit. It made incredible money for Universal, 365 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,439 Speaker 2: and that earned James Whale the right to make the 366 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 2: sequel on his own terms. Essentially, however, he wanted very 367 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 2: minimal studio interference, so Bride Frankenstein is the result of 368 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 2: Whale getting more or less total creative freedom and almost 369 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 2: all the resources and support he needed. 370 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: That's right, IM to understand. He had a lot of 371 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: say over the script, presented a lot of ideas for 372 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: the script. So yes, this is a film that more 373 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: accurately gives us James Whale's vision of Frankenstein. Now, I 374 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: should also note that James Whale was an openly gay 375 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 1: man during a time during which this was rare, So 376 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: his personal life has long been an area of interest 377 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: to both biographers and also just film theorists and people 378 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: analyzing his films and discussing the themes explored in them. 379 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: It's especially the case with Bride. 380 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, I've read differing takes over the extent to which 381 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 2: Bride of Frankenstein should be interpreted as intentionally having gay 382 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,679 Speaker 2: themes in it. Some film historians read a lot of 383 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 2: gay themes and to Bride. Others have said, I think 384 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,919 Speaker 2: based on some comments about people who from people who 385 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 2: knew James Whale said that they didn't think he was 386 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 2: intending to put anything like that into the film. But 387 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 2: based on the sources available to us, I guess it's 388 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 2: impossible to know for sure, but whether it should be 389 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 2: interpreted as part of Wales's intention or not. Definitely, this 390 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,679 Speaker 2: film has been a rich subject for a lot of 391 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 2: gay film historians. 392 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:29,439 Speaker 1: Absolutely now. The source material, of course, is Mary Shelley's novel. 393 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 1: Mary Shelley lived seventeen ninety seven through eighteen fifty one 394 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: English writer responsible for a good seven novels and multiple 395 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 1: short stories, but her first novel, eighteen eighteens Frankenstein or 396 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: The Modern Prometheus, was the one that made her a legend. 397 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 1: To this day, it stands as a powerful, entertaining and 398 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: richly rewarding novel, highly influential over science fiction. She was 399 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: the wife of English poet Percy Shelley, with whom she 400 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: also worked. They, along with a friend and poet Lord Byron, 401 00:23:58,480 --> 00:23:59,959 Speaker 1: are depicted in this movie. 402 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 2: I was watching a making of documentary and people were 403 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 2: talking about how apparently Whale insisted on having this framing 404 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 2: narrative in the film, because the movie doesn't start in 405 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 2: the narrative itself. It starts with us seeing Lord Byron, 406 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,719 Speaker 2: Percy and Mary Wilson Craft Shelley sitting around a roaring 407 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 2: fire and talking about the idea of the novel Frankenstein. 408 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 2: Apparently Whale thought that this framing was crucial and he 409 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 2: insisted that it be in And I think it does 410 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 2: some interesting things. Maybe we can talk about that when 411 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 2: we get to the plot section. 412 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I do think it's essential. It's hard to 413 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: imagine this movie without it. But more about that when 414 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: we get into the plot, all right. In terms of 415 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: the people involved with writing the screenplay and developing the story, 416 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,439 Speaker 1: they're a number of uncredited writing credits that pop up 417 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 1: for this film on the Internet movie database. We can't 418 00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: go through all of them, so I'm just going to 419 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: focus on the two names that are credited in the 420 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,879 Speaker 1: actual credits on the film. Adapted by and screenplay credit 421 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: goes to William Hurlbut, who lived eighteen seventy eight through 422 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, American writer and screenwriter, certainly best remembered 423 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: for this film, but he has forty credits on IMDb, 424 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: going back to nineteen fifteen and then stretching up till 425 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: the mid fifties. Other notable credits include nineteen thirties The 426 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: Cat Creeps, The Will of the Dead Man, and nineteen 427 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: thirty four's Imitation of Life. He also did additional dialogue 428 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,879 Speaker 1: on Robert Flore's Daughter of Hong Kong, starring the legendary 429 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,719 Speaker 1: anime Wo And then we have An adapted by credit 430 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: for John L. Balderston, who lived eighteen eighty nine through 431 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, American playwrights, screenwriter, and journalist with a 432 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 1: nak var horror and fantasy. His work includes nineteen thirties 433 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,159 Speaker 1: Dracula adapted from his own play, nineteen thirty two is 434 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: the Mummy, the nineteen thirty three time travel movie Berkeley Square, 435 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five's Mad Love, and nineteen forties The Mummy's Hand. 436 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: He was one of the Love Yeah, it's quite a pedigree. 437 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: He was also one of the writers on nineteen forty 438 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: four's gas Light, from which we get the term gas lighting. 439 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 1: All right, now getting into the cast clearly right at 440 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: the top, we have the Monster. The monster is played, 441 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: according to the opening credits, by Carloff. 442 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 2: First name, Yeah. 443 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, I love this. This is of course, we're, of course, 444 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: of course talking about Boris Karloff. This is the stage 445 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,640 Speaker 1: name of British actor William Henry Pratt, who lived eighteen 446 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: eighty seven through nineteen sixty nine. He's gone up on 447 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: the show a couple of times already. His credits go 448 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 1: back to nineteen nineteen, and he already had a long 449 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,440 Speaker 1: filmography by the time with nineteen thirty one It's Frankenstein, 450 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,600 Speaker 1: in which he of course plays the monster. Afterwards, some 451 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 1: of his big horror roles included nineteen thirty two is 452 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,680 Speaker 1: the Mummy and the Old Dark House, nineteen thirty three 453 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: Is the Ghoul, nineteen thirty four's The Black Cat. After Bride, 454 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: he remained very active, playing the monster one more time 455 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty nine, Son of Frankenstein, but he remained 456 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: a superstar of He appeared in nineteen forty four's House 457 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: of Frankenstein, though not as the monster, and of course 458 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: he remained active throughout the rest of his life. All right, 459 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: So that is the monster, But of course we need 460 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,920 Speaker 1: a true Frankenstein, and Frankenstein is, of course in this 461 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: movie Henry Frankenstein, the Creator, played once more by Colin Clive, 462 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,320 Speaker 1: who lived nineteen hundred through nineteen thirty seven. Just a 463 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: tremendous but of course troubled and short lived British actor 464 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,680 Speaker 1: who we previously discussed on our early Weird House Cinema 465 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,680 Speaker 1: episode about nineteen thirty five's Mad Love, in which he 466 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: played Stephen Orlock. He's wonderful in that as well. 467 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, he is and he. I think Colin Clive went 468 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 2: back to having worked with James Whale from the stage, 469 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 2: like that they had worked together before the transition to 470 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:47,919 Speaker 2: film here. 471 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, a lot. There are a number of players 472 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: in this that had personal connections to Wale. Whale had 473 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: worked with them before, he knew their talent, and they 474 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: were hand picked. Colin Clive is, I've never seen him 475 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 1: outside of a genre movie. I've only seen him in 476 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:08,160 Speaker 1: these horror films, but he is always just this live 477 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 1: wire of anxiety and terror. He's perfect for a horror movie. 478 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 2: Of course. 479 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,360 Speaker 1: In this he's reprising his role fro nineteen thirty one's Frankenstein. 480 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: That was only his third emotion picture. The two Frankenstein films, 481 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: along with Mad Love, constitute his only horror pictures. The 482 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: rest of his nineteen credits, including the title role in 483 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,320 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty three's Christopher Strong, are all more mainstream. 484 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I also only know him for his 485 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 2: horror roles. But I recall in Mad Love he is 486 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,120 Speaker 2: he gives a performance of such anxiety. I think the 487 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 2: way I put it then was that it feels like 488 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 2: he is undergoing vision. 489 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: Yes, in a way, you compare the two Roles. He's 490 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: actually more chill in this movie. Despite being an individual 491 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: who's gone through a horrifying and near death experience and 492 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: get and then is sucked back into that same world 493 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: once more, he still feels a little bit more chill. 494 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: I guess at least he can throw himself into his 495 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: work in a way that Stephen Orlock was no longer 496 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: able to do. All right. He has a love interest 497 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: in this though, and that is Elizabeth, played by Valerie Hobson, 498 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: who of nineteen seventeen through nineteen ninety eight Irish born 499 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: English actor. She takes over the role here from May Clark, 500 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: who played Henry's love interest Elizabeth in the previous film. 501 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: After this, she appeared in nineteen thirty five's were Wolf 502 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,440 Speaker 1: of London and various other films through about nineteen fifty four. 503 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 2: So the character here is Elizabeth, that is Henry Frankenstein's fiance, 504 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 2: and I think she is supposed to represent goodness and virtue, 505 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 2: you know. So there are like there's this forking path 506 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 2: in the story where Henry could just choose a good life. 507 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 2: He could just you know, have a life of love 508 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 2: and family and pursuing regular noble career. Pursuits and all that. 509 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 2: But no, you know, she's that option. Instead, he's going 510 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 2: to go with dangerous knowledge. 511 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: Yes, of course he ends up having to choose that direction, 512 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: in part because he was manipulated, in part because she 513 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: has taken hostage. 514 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 2: In the book. 515 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: Of course, this is all part of the manipulations of 516 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: the monster. But the monster as presented in that first film, 517 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: the first Frankenstein film, is of course not a master manipulator. 518 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,479 Speaker 1: Like he doesn't even speak. It's a huge step up 519 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: in this movie for him to be able to speak, 520 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: and you can see where it would have been unrealistic 521 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: for suddenly Frankenstein's Monster to be able to lay out 522 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: some sort of a vast scheme. So you need a 523 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: different sort of enemy, a different sort of villain, and 524 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,640 Speaker 1: that is, of course doctor Pretorius played by Ernest Messiger. 525 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 2: The way to fight evil is with a different kind 526 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 2: of evil. To vote Chronicles of Britag. 527 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: I guess so yeah. Messenger lived eighteen seventy nine through 528 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:51,959 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one an English actor of stage and screen, 529 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: best remembered for this brilliant and flamboyant performance as the 530 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 1: maddest of mad scientists and mad Science Enablers. His other 531 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: credits include thirty two is the Old Dark House, thirty 532 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: threes The Ghoul, and nineteen fifty threes The Robe, in 533 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: which he plays Emperor Tiberius. It's my understanding he was 534 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: not the like original studio pick for this role, but 535 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: after whoever they wanted for it was not available or 536 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: it didn't work out, Like this was clearly Whyale's pick. 537 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: Whyal you know, had a history with this actor. He 538 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 1: really looked up to his his abilities and his talent, 539 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: and so this was like the obvious choice for this role. 540 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: And clearly it's impossible to imagine anyone else breathing life 541 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: into this character the way Thatsagre does. 542 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 2: Unreal, just brilliant, absurd, hilarious, sneering evil. I love Messager here. 543 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 2: Doctor Pretorius is a great character, and I yeah, I 544 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 2: could not imagine this going to a different actor. This 545 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 2: is like he is perfect all right. 546 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: Up next, we have Elsa Lanchester playing really the title 547 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: character of the film, even though the title character, the Bride, 548 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: is just credited with question marks in the opening scroll, 549 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: you know, because it's going to be a surprise, I guess. 550 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: But she it's a dual role because She also in 551 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: the early part of the film plays Mary Shelley, so 552 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:25,720 Speaker 1: she plays both female creator and feminine creation, and these 553 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: two performances kind of bookend the rest of the picture. 554 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 2: I think the choice to have the same actress in 555 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 2: both those roles is significant. Though I don't know exactly 556 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 2: what it means, it feels right, Yeah. 557 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: I think that's one of the beauties about the show's 558 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 1: treatment of some of its more serious subject matter is 559 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: that it's kind of amorphous in a way, like you 560 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: can feel the connections, but the filmmakers don't like just 561 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: hammer it home in all cases. So there's plenty of 562 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,960 Speaker 1: room for interpretation. Endless room for interpretation. 563 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 2: Really, right, but we should not hold back in thing. 564 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 2: Elsa Lanchester is great. She doesn't have actually a ton 565 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 2: of screen time, but the few minutes she is on 566 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 2: the screen, Wow, does she make an impression. Yeah. 567 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: I mean she's fun in the intro and then as 568 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: the Monster's mate she's accredited or the bride she has. 569 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: She has a wonderful and very different energy. It's almost 570 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 1: kind of an Avian energy. It's also also kind of 571 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: like a hyper focus like, while Frankenstein's Monster has more 572 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 1: of a like a lantern level of understand of analysis 573 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: of the world, and also kind of like a lantern 574 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,400 Speaker 1: level anxiety and trauma about it. Hers is more laser focused. 575 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: She has that like flashlight intensity. 576 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:43,520 Speaker 2: Yes, she has I see what you mean when you 577 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 2: say Avian. She has a jerky, almost bird like movements 578 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 2: of the head and the eyes. Once she's brought to 579 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 2: life as the reanimated Bride, is kind of like quick, 580 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 2: jerky adjustments of her attention around the room, and she 581 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 2: it seems like she doesn't like she's seeing. 582 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: No, and there's not a lot to like, but we'll 583 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: get to that after a bit. Elsa Lanchester Live nineteen 584 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: oh two through nineteen eighty six, English actor of film, 585 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: stage and TV. This is probably her most iconic role. 586 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: I mean it's just a very iconic role. Everybody knows 587 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: this look. Everybody knows that hair, right, I mean, the 588 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,919 Speaker 1: whole costume is wonderful. As this we'll get into. She'd 589 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,480 Speaker 1: already been acting for film for ten years by the 590 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 1: time of Bride, and continue to act through nineteen eighty. 591 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: Her later screen credits include forty three's Lassie Come Home, 592 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: forty six's The Spiral Staircase, forty nine is the Secret 593 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,719 Speaker 1: Garden nineteen sixty four, is Mary Poppins that darn cat 594 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 1: in sixty five Other films of another There's fifty eight's 595 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 1: Bell Book and Candle, seventy three's Terror in the Wax Museum, 596 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 1: seventy six is murdered by death in nineteen eighties die Laughing. 597 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:52,840 Speaker 1: She also appeared on such TV shows as The Magical 598 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 1: World of Disney and Night Gallery. I don't know why 599 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: I stressed it like that Night Gallery, not Night Gallery. 600 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: That's strange. Up next, we have to mention the character Minnie. 601 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: Minnie is another just this is just a ridiculously fun 602 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: character role, blatantly there for comic relief. And you know 603 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,880 Speaker 1: the thing about comic relief characters in older pictures, they 604 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,080 Speaker 1: don't always stand the test of time. Sometimes they don't 605 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:20,560 Speaker 1: even stand the test of time, like ten years later, 606 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: much less with an eighty eight year old picture. But 607 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: Minnie is wonderful. This scared, nosy but also bloodthirsty old 608 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: maid u still delivers, still absolutely delivers. 609 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,760 Speaker 2: I love the way that she is terrified of the monster, 610 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 2: but she also somehow seems to be following the monster 611 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 2: everywhere it goes. There's one part where the creature is 612 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:45,800 Speaker 2: captured by the authorities and put in like a dungeon, 613 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 2: and Minnie is there looking down through the bars and 614 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 2: she's like, Ooh, wouldn't he ugly, you know, I'd hate 615 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:53,920 Speaker 2: to wake up and find him hiding underneath my bed 616 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,000 Speaker 2: at night. But she says it in a way that 617 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 2: suggests she would like to find that. 618 00:35:58,920 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 4: Yeah. 619 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,840 Speaker 1: She she seems kind of like what would later be 620 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: known as or maybe was known in the time period. 621 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:05,960 Speaker 1: I forget the time frame on this is a hat 622 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,239 Speaker 1: ten mary. I think it's the term. This would be 623 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,040 Speaker 1: an older woman at a pro wrestling show who would 624 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 1: try and poke the heels on their way to the 625 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:19,359 Speaker 1: ring with their hat pins. So there's kind of yeah, 626 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: blood the fuity to her afraid of the monster, but 627 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:25,440 Speaker 1: also really wants to be there when the monster is tormented. 628 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 2: But also this is a very broad comic performance, I 629 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,719 Speaker 2: would say, almost cartoonish, but it works perfectly. 630 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, And the actor here is Una O'Connor, who lived 631 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty through nineteen fifty nine. She was only in 632 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:40,839 Speaker 1: her mid fifties. Here she's played up as this old woman, 633 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,680 Speaker 1: but she was not an old woman by any stretch 634 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:46,880 Speaker 1: at this point. A tremendous Irish character actor with extensive 635 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: stage experience often cast in this sort of role. Though, 636 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:52,800 Speaker 1: like I mean, and clearly why not, She's got it 637 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 1: nailed perfectly. Other films include The Invisible Man from thirty three, 638 00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:58,919 Speaker 1: The Informer from thirty five, and The Adventures of Robin 639 00:36:58,960 --> 00:36:59,799 Speaker 1: Hood from thirty eight. 640 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,359 Speaker 2: Oh Man. Next, just to make sure we don't leave 641 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 2: him out, we should mention Dwight Frye, who has a 642 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 2: small role in this film as Carl, who is essentially 643 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 2: the new Egor, even though actually Egor wouldn't come until later, 644 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,919 Speaker 2: is the new Fritz, and he's played by the same 645 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 2: actor who played Fritz in the original Frankenstein. So. Dwight 646 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 2: Frye lived eighteen ninety nine to nineteen forty three. He 647 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 2: was Wrinfield in Todd Browning Stracula. He apparently at first 648 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 2: had a more substantial part in the movie, but it 649 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 2: was allegedly cut down by censors. 650 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's apparently like fifteen minutes or so that the 651 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: sensors cut out of this film just because they really 652 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:42,320 Speaker 1: wanted to play it safe. A lot of it was 653 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: stuff that they thought might come off as blasphemous talking 654 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: you know, getting into the whole thesis of creating live. 655 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 1: I think some of it too, was Mary Shelley's dress. 656 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,279 Speaker 1: They thought some angles on it were maybe a little 657 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: too risky for the time period, that sort of thing. 658 00:37:55,680 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 1: And some sort of subplot here with Carl and and 659 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:04,879 Speaker 1: whatever he's up to outside of his grave robbing side gig. 660 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 2: I think he was supposed to murder the mustache guy. 661 00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:10,239 Speaker 1: Oh, the burgermaster. 662 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 4: Yeah. 663 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, so you mentioned that he's the egor of the film. 664 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,319 Speaker 1: He was very much the egor of the film. But yeah, 665 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,080 Speaker 1: the timeline of this is interesting because we were chatting 666 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 1: about this off of Mike earlier. There is no egor 667 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,960 Speaker 1: in the novel Frankenstein. There is no egor in the 668 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,280 Speaker 1: first Frankenstein movie. Instead, you have, like you said, Fritz 669 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,719 Speaker 1: played by Dwight Frye, and then they bring him back 670 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,200 Speaker 1: to play Carl, which is essentially the same sort of character. 671 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: And then it's not till nineteen thirty nine, Son of 672 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:42,520 Speaker 1: Frankenstein that we get Igor Igor, we get this role 673 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:47,520 Speaker 1: that is played by Bella Lagosi. But in retrospect, it's 674 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: like that that's what we think of as this position, 675 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: this sort of like deranged henchman to Doctor Frankenstein. We 676 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:56,759 Speaker 1: think of it as the Egor role. 677 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 2: I also think it's interesting that the actual character named 678 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 2: Egor was played by Bella Lagosi, So you would think 679 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,480 Speaker 2: you would really remember that casting, you would associate Bella 680 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,080 Speaker 2: with the character. But I very much think of Dwight 681 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 2: Fry when I think of Igor. 682 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he's good in this role. He's got some 683 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,120 Speaker 1: good Hinchman energy. He'd go on to have small roles 684 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,320 Speaker 1: in other Frankenstein films, various other pictures. He also pops 685 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: up in nineteen thirty one's The Maltese Falcon. All right, 686 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,160 Speaker 1: real quick. The Burgo Master, who we mentioned is very fun, 687 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:29,840 Speaker 1: a very very fun mustachio of performance. This character is 688 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: played by the actor E. E. Clive, who lived eighteen 689 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:34,760 Speaker 1: eighty three through nineteen forty. He was also in thirty 690 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: three's The Invisible Man. Another one I'm going to point 691 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: out real quick in passing. Again, we don't have time 692 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: to go into all of these characters. Opi Hedge plays 693 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: the Blind Hermit, an Australian born actor. This is one 694 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: of his final roles. He lived eighteen seventy seven through 695 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:49,319 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six. 696 00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:52,840 Speaker 2: Oh he brings a lot of humanity to the story 697 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 2: he does. 698 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,439 Speaker 1: It is a really it's a shame not to spend 699 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:56,759 Speaker 1: more time on him, because it is. He gets a 700 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: lot of screen time, brings humanity to the role and 701 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,759 Speaker 1: brings humanity out of the monster. But let us not 702 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,239 Speaker 1: forget Lord Byron. He's fairly in the film, just in 703 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 1: that opening bit that I believe was rather cut down. 704 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: But Gavin Gordon plays Lord Byron. He lived nineteen oh 705 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:16,919 Speaker 1: one through nineteen eighty three. He was a Mississippi born 706 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,640 Speaker 1: American actor whose credits include nineteen thirty three's Mystery of 707 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,800 Speaker 1: the Wax Museum, fifty four's White Christmas, fifty six is 708 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,280 Speaker 1: the Ten Commandments, the Eldest film from fifty eight Keen Creole, 709 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,160 Speaker 1: and also the nineteen fifty nine movie The Bat opposite 710 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:30,880 Speaker 1: Vincent Price. 711 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,480 Speaker 2: I love him in this role, but I have no 712 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 2: idea what he's trying to do with this accent. It 713 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 2: is so over. 714 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a wonderful campy way to start off 715 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: this film. It kind of sets the tone. Once you've 716 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 1: seen Gavin Gordon's Lord Byron, I mean, where can you go? 717 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:50,840 Speaker 1: You know you're already in the clouds it's. 718 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 2: Like part really like rolling the rs on the Irish accent, 719 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:59,800 Speaker 2: but then also part English accent, part Southern accent. It 720 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:02,200 Speaker 2: is is it's something, it's something else. 721 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 1: Yes, now, a very small role, but one is a 722 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 1: lot of fun for film film fans and you know, 723 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: and horror fans certainly. There's a scene, of course, where 724 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: we're talking about the We have the hermit who's blind. 725 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,560 Speaker 1: He forges this relationship with the monster, but then sighted 726 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,279 Speaker 1: people show up and ruin it. The two sided people 727 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,879 Speaker 1: that show up are a couple of lost hunters, one 728 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: of whom is played by John Carodine. Oh yeah, who's 729 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:29,799 Speaker 1: literally in everything, it seems. 730 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,439 Speaker 2: In every movie ever made. So of course he would 731 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:35,120 Speaker 2: be in this one too. But yeah, you wouldn't have known. 732 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's an uncredited role, but it's also unmistakable 733 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,440 Speaker 1: because he does have some lines. And also, I mean 734 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:44,279 Speaker 1: it's just clearly John Carrodine, you know he has he 735 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:46,719 Speaker 1: has that lean and hungry look even though he's very 736 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,000 Speaker 1: young here he lived nineteen oh six through nineteen eighty eight. 737 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: We've we've discussed him on the show before. Very long career, 738 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,520 Speaker 1: all manner of films he was in, he had. He 739 00:41:57,560 --> 00:41:59,840 Speaker 1: had already had uncredited roles in thirty three Is in 740 00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:03,279 Speaker 1: the Visible Man and thirty four's The Black Cat. He'd 741 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:05,560 Speaker 1: go on to be a horror staple and would play 742 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,799 Speaker 1: Dracula in nineteen forty four's House of Frankenstein. 743 00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:11,880 Speaker 2: I don't really know exactly why he should be lost. 744 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,600 Speaker 2: Wouldn't he just know to get on the night train 745 00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:17,360 Speaker 2: to Mundo fie. 746 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:20,839 Speaker 1: I you'd think you would, You'd think you would. All right, 747 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:25,040 Speaker 1: just a few quick behind the scenes references. They're just 748 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 1: because I'm not going to go into them in depth, 749 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:28,799 Speaker 1: but just got to mention them, just because they're part 750 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:32,880 Speaker 1: of the alchemy here. Franz Waxman did the score. He 751 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: lived nineteen oh six through nineteen sixty seven. Two time 752 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,600 Speaker 1: Oscar winner for nineteen fifty one Sunset Boulevard in fifty 753 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:40,600 Speaker 1: two Is A Place in the Sun. He also scored 754 00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: nineteen forties Rebecca in nineteen forty one Suspicion It is. 755 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,800 Speaker 1: It is a very classic Hollywood score, but it is 756 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:50,480 Speaker 1: also a very good score. A lot has been written 757 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 1: about this. It's not necessarily the kind of music I 758 00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: listened to an isolation or anything, but it is. 759 00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:56,960 Speaker 2: It is not a. 760 00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,200 Speaker 1: This is no sloppy score here. This is one of 761 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:01,520 Speaker 1: those scores where there's a lot of thought that goes 762 00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:05,160 Speaker 1: into what different musical themes match up with the characters 763 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:05,759 Speaker 1: and so forth. 764 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,800 Speaker 2: Agreed. Now, this is also an amazing looking film and 765 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,200 Speaker 2: one with a superb makeup effects, so I think we 766 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,440 Speaker 2: should call out those credits. That's right. 767 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:20,160 Speaker 1: On the makeup front, we have Jack p. Pierce credited 768 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,919 Speaker 1: for the monster makeup. He lived eighteen eighty nine through 769 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. He also did the makeup on nineteen 770 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,400 Speaker 1: forty one's The Wolfman And Yeah, the cinematographer on this 771 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:31,759 Speaker 1: was John J. Mescal who lived eighteen ninety nine through 772 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,200 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two, also known for thirty four as the 773 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:34,759 Speaker 1: Black Cat. 774 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,360 Speaker 2: I've watched some interviews with people talking about what it 775 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,520 Speaker 2: was like to work with Jack Pierce supplying makeup. There's 776 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:48,360 Speaker 2: a story of Elsa Lanchester talking about the painstaking, delicate 777 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:53,120 Speaker 2: procedure that he would use to apply the makeup for 778 00:43:53,239 --> 00:43:57,600 Speaker 2: the scar running underneath the bride's jaw, which she was like, 779 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,800 Speaker 2: ultimately was only on screen for about a second that 780 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:03,840 Speaker 2: you could actually see, but that you know, he really 781 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:08,480 Speaker 2: was taking a kind of religious care to make it perfect. 782 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean in that level of craftsmanship just matches 783 00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: up with everything else we see on the film. All right, well, 784 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,320 Speaker 1: shall we get into the plot of this baby a 785 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 1: bit more? 786 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,680 Speaker 2: Okay, Well, we start on a dark and stormy night. 787 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:33,279 Speaker 2: We see a retigenous castle perched up on a rocky 788 00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,000 Speaker 2: mountaintop in the dark, with light pouring out from one 789 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:41,000 Speaker 2: of the windows and thundercracks, rain battering the stonework towers. 790 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:45,719 Speaker 2: It's perfect Gothic setting. And inside the castle we get 791 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,200 Speaker 2: some poets. There are three writers sitting around a roaring fireplace. 792 00:44:49,560 --> 00:44:52,120 Speaker 2: There's also a quick shot of a lady who looks 793 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:55,719 Speaker 2: almost like she's being pulled by it, like sled dogs indoors. 794 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 2: I think she's actually just walking dogs on a leash, 795 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:00,839 Speaker 2: and she has a you know, one of those large 796 00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:03,520 Speaker 2: wide skirts, so you don't see her legs moving much. 797 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 2: But yeah, she's like walking dogs indoors. For some reason, 798 00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 2: she's quickly out of frame. And then we get to 799 00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:14,600 Speaker 2: this prologue, this framing idea, with the characters of Percy Biss, 800 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:18,279 Speaker 2: Shelley Lord Byron, and Mary Wolstoncraft. Shelley, who again is 801 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,279 Speaker 2: the author of the novel Frankenstein. Oh and by the way, 802 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,600 Speaker 2: if you don't know the backstory Frankenstein, the novel began 803 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,840 Speaker 2: as a spooky story that Mary Shelley dreamed up for 804 00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,880 Speaker 2: a sort of contest. I think when these three and 805 00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:34,399 Speaker 2: at least one other writers, you know, some group of them, 806 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:38,399 Speaker 2: were staying at a mansion near Lake Geneva one year. Yeah. 807 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:41,160 Speaker 1: This would go on to be sort of the germ 808 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,800 Speaker 1: for the nineteen eighty six film Gothic, in which Gabriel 809 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 1: Byrne plays Byron, Julian Sands plays Shelley, and Natasha Richardson 810 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,279 Speaker 1: plays Mary as a kin Russell film. 811 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,480 Speaker 2: By the way, Oh really, I haven't seen that one. 812 00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:55,520 Speaker 1: It's been a while. I don't remember much about it. 813 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 2: Is there somebody playing John Pauladorian? 814 00:45:57,760 --> 00:45:57,800 Speaker 3: Know? 815 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,160 Speaker 2: That was the at least one other there was John Paulodori, 816 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:05,239 Speaker 2: who ended up turning a story from this summer get 817 00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:08,719 Speaker 2: together into a novel or novella called The Vampire. 818 00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,920 Speaker 1: Yes, and he is played by the always excellent Timothy Spall. 819 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,560 Speaker 2: Oh. Okay, now, as we mentioned, the guy playing Lord 820 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:21,400 Speaker 2: Byron really gets into his part. In fact, I decided 821 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,680 Speaker 2: to type out his opening monologue here because he's he's 822 00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:27,080 Speaker 2: looking out the window at the storm, and he says, 823 00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:31,319 Speaker 2: how beautifully dramatic, the crudest, savage exhibition of nature at 824 00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:35,240 Speaker 2: her worst without and we three, we elegant three within. 825 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:38,840 Speaker 2: I should like to think that an irated Jehovah was 826 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:42,480 Speaker 2: pointing those arrows of lightning directly at my head, the 827 00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:48,360 Speaker 2: unbowed head of George Gordon, Lord Byron, England's greatest sinner. 828 00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:52,360 Speaker 2: But then he says, but I cannot flatter myself to 829 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,840 Speaker 2: that extent. Possibly those thunders are for our dear Shelley, 830 00:46:56,000 --> 00:47:00,600 Speaker 2: referring to Percy Heaven's applause for England's greatest poet. But 831 00:47:00,719 --> 00:47:04,839 Speaker 2: then Percy says, well, what about my Mary? And Byron says, oh, 832 00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:08,480 Speaker 2: she is an angel? And Mary looks up from her 833 00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:13,319 Speaker 2: embroidery with this flashing smile and says, you think so ooh, 834 00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:15,680 Speaker 2: And I love that because her smile is a little 835 00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:16,440 Speaker 2: bit creepy. 836 00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:19,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because as they're about to allude to here, 837 00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:22,759 Speaker 1: you know, they're talking about how great they are, these 838 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:26,399 Speaker 1: two male poets. But they have to acknowledge that Mary, 839 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:28,319 Speaker 1: even though they're kind of treating her like this very 840 00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:33,840 Speaker 1: fragile thing that she has already created something that is 841 00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:37,719 Speaker 1: terrifying to everyone there, and then they're already at least 842 00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:39,800 Speaker 1: a bit in awe of her creative powers. 843 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 2: That's right. I've read that at some point James Whale 844 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:47,000 Speaker 2: said to someone that with this opening scene and in 845 00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:50,360 Speaker 2: the movie in general, he wanted to emphasize that quote, 846 00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:54,759 Speaker 2: pretty people can harbor the most twisted imaginations. So we 847 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:59,719 Speaker 2: have Byron here chattering somewhat condescendingly about how, oh Mary 848 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:03,520 Speaker 2: you are, this delicate, beautiful, angelic creature, and yet she 849 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:08,080 Speaker 2: has written a story so dreadful it curdled my blood. Meanwhile, 850 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 2: she's just blasting out this creepy smile with gleaming eyes 851 00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:15,640 Speaker 2: and giggling, and she says, why shouldn't I write monsters? 852 00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:19,120 Speaker 2: And there's something in this that suggests, buddy, you ain't 853 00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:20,040 Speaker 2: seen nothing yet. 854 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,359 Speaker 1: They're also kind of toying with the prestige of Lord 855 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:28,600 Speaker 1: Byron and Percy Shelley here, his famous and influential writers, 856 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:31,800 Speaker 1: while of course Mary's work I think ultimately casts a 857 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,839 Speaker 1: far greater shadow over the following centuries, you know, far 858 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,480 Speaker 1: greater than both of them combined. I don't know, my 859 00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:40,200 Speaker 1: fellow English majors may respectfully disagree on the matter. 860 00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:43,200 Speaker 2: Oh no, I would totally agree, and I think it'd 861 00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:45,400 Speaker 2: be kind of hard to argue with that. So not 862 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:49,600 Speaker 2: to knock either Percy Shelley or Lord Byron. I enjoy 863 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,000 Speaker 2: them both. I think they're both necessary reading if you 864 00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:55,719 Speaker 2: want to understand the Romantic movement in English literature, and 865 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,879 Speaker 2: that each wrote some poetry that's still wonderful to read today, 866 00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:03,720 Speaker 2: I think especially. But it could be argued that Mary 867 00:49:04,239 --> 00:49:07,759 Speaker 2: essentially is the founder of modern science fiction, and I 868 00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:11,359 Speaker 2: think that's like hugely more significant in the long run, 869 00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:16,560 Speaker 2: and especially in the way that she established themes like 870 00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:21,560 Speaker 2: the themes of Frankenstein are themes that are still explored 871 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,239 Speaker 2: in science fiction and science fiction horror to this day, 872 00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:29,160 Speaker 2: especially ideas about the dark side of the power unleashed 873 00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:33,880 Speaker 2: by advances in science and technology. You know, Frankenstein. It 874 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:37,880 Speaker 2: was a story about how not all increase of human 875 00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:42,560 Speaker 2: power is good, and sometimes in blithely plowing ahead with 876 00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:46,680 Speaker 2: newly acquired scientific and technological powers, if you don't think 877 00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:49,840 Speaker 2: through the consequences, you make monsters, or you make a 878 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:52,840 Speaker 2: monster out of yourself. It's one of the most enduring 879 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:56,640 Speaker 2: themes of modern storytelling and it still finds new ways 880 00:49:56,719 --> 00:50:02,880 Speaker 2: of being entertaining, frightening, and socially insightful. You'll encounter hundreds 881 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,720 Speaker 2: of novels and movies and all kinds of interesting stories 882 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:09,160 Speaker 2: coming out this year that are still hashing through themes 883 00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:11,239 Speaker 2: that Mary Shelley raised in Frankenstein. 884 00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:14,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and each time it's retold, you can do 885 00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:18,640 Speaker 1: it in a way that reflects modern anxieties and modern s. 886 00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:20,880 Speaker 1: It's abilities all right. But the other part of this 887 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:24,960 Speaker 1: whole intro is that basically we get a previously on Frankenstein. 888 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:28,000 Speaker 2: Yes, I love that. So the framing narrative with Mary 889 00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:31,640 Speaker 2: Shelley serves as a way to remind us what happened 890 00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:34,840 Speaker 2: in the previous movie. It's sort of narrated by Byron's 891 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:38,200 Speaker 2: like he's basically like a kid explaining the plot of 892 00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:41,200 Speaker 2: his favorite movie, except he's explaining the plot of the 893 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:44,920 Speaker 2: movie Frankenstein to the author of Frankenstein. 894 00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:48,759 Speaker 1: Perfect though, it's perfect for what they're putting together here. Yes, 895 00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:51,799 Speaker 1: this was before man'splaining was the thing. I mean, well, 896 00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:53,840 Speaker 1: obviously it was a thing already, but before it was 897 00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:55,640 Speaker 1: a term. It's what we have here. 898 00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,799 Speaker 2: So the broad strokes go like this Frankenstein. The man 899 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,320 Speaker 2: Henry in the movie, even though he's named Victor in 900 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:05,680 Speaker 2: the book, creates a monster out of corpses. He uses 901 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,480 Speaker 2: science to bring this dead man to life. There is 902 00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:13,160 Speaker 2: an unfortunate series of events. The monster escapes the laboratory 903 00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:16,280 Speaker 2: and roams the country. He is at first a gentle 904 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:20,200 Speaker 2: and childlike, but he accidentally kills a young girl without 905 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:24,040 Speaker 2: realizing what he is doing, and this raises an angry mob, 906 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:27,239 Speaker 2: which pursues the creature. The creature flees to a windmill 907 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:31,319 Speaker 2: with the unconscious Henry, carrying Henry with him, and then 908 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:34,040 Speaker 2: the creature is seemingly killed in the blaze after the 909 00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,760 Speaker 2: angry mob sets the windmill on fire. So like Byron 910 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:40,880 Speaker 2: goes back through all that, and then Elsa Ancester is like, 911 00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:43,280 Speaker 2: oh for real, though that's not the end of the story. 912 00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:47,080 Speaker 2: Would you like to know what happened next? And yes, yes, Elsa, 913 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:47,479 Speaker 2: we would. 914 00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:50,400 Speaker 1: And so it's time to Halloween too. This baby right 915 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:52,640 Speaker 1: to just go pick up right where the last one 916 00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:55,080 Speaker 1: left off and start the new journey. 917 00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:58,040 Speaker 2: I love that no time passes in between. Yeah, it's 918 00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:00,640 Speaker 2: just right there. The mill is still burning. So the 919 00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:04,040 Speaker 2: action begins with the mill burning down, presumably having killed 920 00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:08,160 Speaker 2: the monster. Henry Frankenstein lies unconscious at the foot of 921 00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:11,120 Speaker 2: the Flaming Tower, having been thrown nearly to his death 922 00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:15,480 Speaker 2: by his own creation. Henry's friends and servants load him 923 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:18,480 Speaker 2: into a wagon to be taken back to his family estate. 924 00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:20,919 Speaker 2: I think they believe he is dead at this point, 925 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 2: but he's not. Meanwhile, the angry villagers cheer and they 926 00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:28,080 Speaker 2: shake their torches and pitchforks at the demise of the 927 00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,320 Speaker 2: hated Boris Karloff, and we get zoom ins on several 928 00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:34,720 Speaker 2: characters in the crowd. Here. There is, as we mentioned earlier, 929 00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:39,120 Speaker 2: Henry's talkative housekeeper Mini, wearing this what would you call 930 00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:41,480 Speaker 2: this piece of headwear that she has on? 931 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:44,920 Speaker 1: I don't know. I was trying to figure it out. 932 00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,600 Speaker 1: Is it like some sort of a cultural thing that 933 00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:50,480 Speaker 1: I'm supposed to pick up on or it's something historic? 934 00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:54,320 Speaker 1: But yeah, it threw me for a curve trying to 935 00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:56,480 Speaker 1: figure out, like what it's supposed to tell us the 936 00:52:56,560 --> 00:52:58,160 Speaker 1: viewer about her role. 937 00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:00,400 Speaker 2: I do not know what it is that makes her 938 00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:03,880 Speaker 2: head look like a venus fly trap. H She is 939 00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:07,360 Speaker 2: discussing how happy she is to know the monster is 940 00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:11,440 Speaker 2: roasting in the inferno there as she also explains with 941 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:15,160 Speaker 2: apparent glee, how the insides of a body are the 942 00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:18,080 Speaker 2: last part to burn in a fire. That's just science. 943 00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:22,280 Speaker 2: There's also this old, blustery guy with a big mustache, 944 00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:25,680 Speaker 2: the Burgomaster. He's wandering around telling everyone that it's time 945 00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:28,279 Speaker 2: for them to go to bed now, and I'll just 946 00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:30,879 Speaker 2: love for this guy to do a buddy cop team 947 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,279 Speaker 2: up with Christopher Lee from the Devil rides out and 948 00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,160 Speaker 2: they can tell everyone to go to bed. He's like, 949 00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:40,399 Speaker 2: go home, go to bed also. Though, then amidst these 950 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:44,279 Speaker 2: funny characters, we have tragic characters, the parents of the 951 00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:47,360 Speaker 2: girl who was killed accidentally by the monster in the 952 00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:52,960 Speaker 2: previous movie. As the crowd gets bored wanders away from 953 00:53:53,080 --> 00:53:57,320 Speaker 2: the wreckage of the mill, the girl's father, Hans, decides 954 00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:01,000 Speaker 2: that he will not be satisfied until he's the creature's 955 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:04,920 Speaker 2: charred bones, so he starts picking his way down. He 956 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:08,359 Speaker 2: climbs into the rubble, but then slips and tumbles down 957 00:54:08,520 --> 00:54:11,000 Speaker 2: into the cellar of the burning mill, which is now 958 00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:16,400 Speaker 2: flooded with water and oh, in a beautifully unsettling series 959 00:54:16,440 --> 00:54:20,160 Speaker 2: of shots, we see in the dark with water falling 960 00:54:20,239 --> 00:54:23,840 Speaker 2: all around. A pale hand reach out across the stone 961 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:26,920 Speaker 2: work of the wall, and then from behind a corner 962 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:31,480 Speaker 2: emerges carl Off. The creature is burned but still alive, 963 00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,200 Speaker 2: and then the light of the fire reflects off of 964 00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:39,680 Speaker 2: the flowing water and projects shimmering patterns on the monster's face. 965 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:44,000 Speaker 2: All over this great makeup and the creature you can 966 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:47,360 Speaker 2: see it. He no longer has the innocent and childlike 967 00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:50,080 Speaker 2: nature that he had in the movie before. Now the 968 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:53,680 Speaker 2: creature just immediately descends on Hans and murders him. He 969 00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:56,160 Speaker 2: pushes his head under the waters of the flood. He's 970 00:54:56,560 --> 00:54:59,799 Speaker 2: full of rage. And then Hans's wife comes to help her, 971 00:55:00,640 --> 00:55:02,960 Speaker 2: but the hand that reaches up from the cellar is 972 00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:06,160 Speaker 2: not the hand she expects. It's the monster coming out, 973 00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:09,239 Speaker 2: and the monster throws her down to her death in 974 00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:10,120 Speaker 2: the rubble below. 975 00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:12,880 Speaker 1: This is a great way to re establish the monster, 976 00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:15,800 Speaker 1: because again we all know what everyone going into this 977 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:19,000 Speaker 1: film knew what the monster would look like. Retroactively watching 978 00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:22,120 Speaker 1: this film, you know, decades later, we know what the 979 00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,640 Speaker 1: monster looks like. But the monster is so perfectly reintroduced 980 00:55:26,680 --> 00:55:32,480 Speaker 1: here in this dark, shadowy, submerged world, and then proceeds 981 00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:36,080 Speaker 1: to just brutally murder these two sympathetic characters, Like when 982 00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:41,520 Speaker 1: he throws the old woman back down, like it was 983 00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:43,320 Speaker 1: obviously one of these you know stunts where they have 984 00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:46,120 Speaker 1: a dummy that is standing in for the body of 985 00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:48,920 Speaker 1: the woman, but she like lands head first on the 986 00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:53,040 Speaker 1: water wheel and the mill and then tumbles down. It's brutal. 987 00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:57,040 Speaker 2: I totally agree. And I've always found something so profoundly 988 00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:00,320 Speaker 2: dark about this opening. The set design is a about 989 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:04,120 Speaker 2: as dank and heavy as one could possibly achieve. Like 990 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:08,440 Speaker 2: we begin in this flooded basement underneath the ruins of 991 00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,200 Speaker 2: a burning building. It is as close as it could 992 00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:15,800 Speaker 2: be to meeting the creature again in hell. And the 993 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:19,480 Speaker 2: creature was supposed to be the ugliest thing imaginable before, 994 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:23,360 Speaker 2: a monster just scrabbled together out of dead flesh. And 995 00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:27,440 Speaker 2: now somehow he is even worse. His hair is singed 996 00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,480 Speaker 2: off by the fire, his skin has been melted and 997 00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:33,680 Speaker 2: torn open, He's got all these scars. He murders the 998 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:36,800 Speaker 2: grieving parents of the child that he never meant to 999 00:56:36,880 --> 00:56:39,680 Speaker 2: harm in the first place, and then he staggers out 1000 00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:42,759 Speaker 2: under a sky that is so gray and dismal it's 1001 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:45,560 Speaker 2: like the sun has never existed. This is such a 1002 00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:50,120 Speaker 2: strong opening, absolutely, but then in a reversal that will 1003 00:56:50,520 --> 00:56:53,279 Speaker 2: presage that the tone of the film going forward, and 1004 00:56:53,400 --> 00:56:56,359 Speaker 2: a lot of whales other works as well. It goes 1005 00:56:56,440 --> 00:57:00,200 Speaker 2: straight from the sorest gloom ever committed to film to 1006 00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:03,680 Speaker 2: a comedy bit. So, the monster staggers up to Minnie, 1007 00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:07,400 Speaker 2: who is still wandering around on the hillside, apparently looking 1008 00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:10,160 Speaker 2: for somebody whose business she can get up into, and 1009 00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:14,120 Speaker 2: she sees the monster and she starts making Looney Tunes 1010 00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:17,280 Speaker 2: noises for what feels like a solid minute before running away. 1011 00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:22,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, it does just goes so Looney Tunes. It's wonderful. 1012 00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:27,120 Speaker 1: And yet again everything feels balanced, it doesn't feel jarring somehow, 1013 00:57:28,040 --> 00:57:30,000 Speaker 1: And part of that may be that we started out 1014 00:57:30,240 --> 00:57:33,240 Speaker 1: so campy, we started out so broad, and we're already 1015 00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:36,960 Speaker 1: weaving in and out smoothly between the comedy and the horror. 1016 00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:40,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you said the word camp. I think that's important. 1017 00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:43,720 Speaker 2: A lot of critics and film historians have pointed to 1018 00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:48,520 Speaker 2: the importance of the camp sensibility within the rich Tonal 1019 00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:52,760 Speaker 2: architecture of Bride Frankenstein. Camp is core to what this 1020 00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:58,600 Speaker 2: movie is. I think, especially once Ernest Thesiger arrives and 1021 00:57:59,080 --> 00:58:02,400 Speaker 2: in the role of doctor Preetorious. But anyway, so to 1022 00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,560 Speaker 2: come back to the plot, Henry Frankenstein is carried unconscious 1023 00:58:05,720 --> 00:58:08,680 Speaker 2: and apparently dead back to his family estate, where he 1024 00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:13,680 Speaker 2: is greeted by his good hearted fiance Elizabeth. And I 1025 00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,160 Speaker 2: should add also that this is true for pretty much 1026 00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:19,000 Speaker 2: the whole movie. But the sets here are tremendous. The 1027 00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:22,800 Speaker 2: Frankenstein home is full of arches and firelight and all 1028 00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:27,160 Speaker 2: kinds of gothic flare. It's photographed beautifully, so you can 1029 00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:30,640 Speaker 2: just see in every moment that Universal like really opened 1030 00:58:30,720 --> 00:58:32,919 Speaker 2: up the purse to allow Whale to make the best 1031 00:58:32,960 --> 00:58:34,280 Speaker 2: movie he could. Yeah. 1032 00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:36,920 Speaker 1: Absolutely, just beautiful, beautiful sets. 1033 00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:40,040 Speaker 2: Somewhere in the sequence, Many comes back and reports that 1034 00:58:40,160 --> 00:58:42,720 Speaker 2: the monster is still alive, that she saw him, and 1035 00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:44,840 Speaker 2: of course she is ignored. I think it's the head 1036 00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:47,600 Speaker 2: butler who tells her to shut up and then says, 1037 00:58:47,680 --> 00:58:52,120 Speaker 2: we don't believe in ghosts around here. So they initially 1038 00:58:52,200 --> 00:58:55,320 Speaker 2: think that Henry is dead, but then he moves suddenly 1039 00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:58,560 Speaker 2: in the presence of Elizabeth, and so she's like, oh, 1040 00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:01,280 Speaker 2: he's still alive, and she nursed Henry back to health. 1041 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:04,920 Speaker 2: All the casting is good, but I wanted to call 1042 00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:08,840 Speaker 2: out the casting of Elizabeth as also quite good. You know, 1043 00:59:09,680 --> 00:59:12,520 Speaker 2: it's a it's a little bit more thankless of a 1044 00:59:12,600 --> 00:59:14,360 Speaker 2: role than a lot of the other roles in the film, 1045 00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:17,200 Speaker 2: where actors really get to ham it up. Elizabeth doesn't 1046 00:59:17,280 --> 00:59:19,960 Speaker 2: quite get to do that. But I think Hobson is 1047 00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:24,040 Speaker 2: selected because she comes off as a beacon of undiluted 1048 00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:27,080 Speaker 2: love and kindness in the middle of this wretched setting. 1049 00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:30,520 Speaker 2: I mentioned this earlier, but I think she represents the 1050 00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:34,840 Speaker 2: other life, the life of virtue and bliss that Henry 1051 00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:37,960 Speaker 2: could have had if he had just been content rather 1052 00:59:38,120 --> 00:59:41,600 Speaker 2: than questing into these domains of unknown knowledge and power. 1053 00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:44,680 Speaker 2: Like Elizabeth is as good as gold, and they could 1054 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:47,360 Speaker 2: have been happy and had that golden life together. But 1055 00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:51,200 Speaker 2: he wanted more. He had that faustian temptation. He wanted, 1056 00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:53,760 Speaker 2: He wanted more than it is healthy for a person 1057 00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:54,240 Speaker 2: to want. 1058 00:59:54,960 --> 00:59:56,800 Speaker 1: She's like the girlfriend on the second season of The 1059 00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:00,520 Speaker 1: Bear For you TV viewers, I don't know the Bear well, 1060 01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:03,440 Speaker 1: same role, like saying you don't maybe you could. We 1061 01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:04,960 Speaker 1: could have a life together and you don't have to 1062 01:00:05,160 --> 01:00:07,960 Speaker 1: go through this painful experience of opening this restaurant or 1063 01:00:08,040 --> 01:00:10,760 Speaker 1: reopening it, which is kind of the same thing. It's like, 1064 01:00:11,240 --> 01:00:15,320 Speaker 1: we have a reopening of a destructive project in this 1065 01:00:16,360 --> 01:00:20,240 Speaker 1: in this personally destructive project in this film, just like 1066 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:20,840 Speaker 1: in that show. 1067 01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:24,400 Speaker 2: And we yeah, and we see some remorse. Like while recovering, 1068 01:00:24,640 --> 01:00:27,800 Speaker 2: Henry wonders if he is being punished for his experiments 1069 01:00:27,880 --> 01:00:31,240 Speaker 2: in creating the monster. He says, perhaps death is sacred 1070 01:00:31,320 --> 01:00:34,680 Speaker 2: and I've profaned it. But his remorse is only half 1071 01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:37,800 Speaker 2: the picture. It's kind of fleeting because he also still thinks, 1072 01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:42,160 Speaker 2: you know, in piecing together a superhuman strangling machine out 1073 01:00:42,200 --> 01:00:45,000 Speaker 2: of the mangled odds and ends of dead bodies, I 1074 01:00:45,080 --> 01:00:48,320 Speaker 2: might have really been onto something. He says, quote, I 1075 01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:51,400 Speaker 2: dreamed of giving to the world the secret that God 1076 01:00:51,560 --> 01:00:55,040 Speaker 2: is so jealous of, the formula for life. So Henry 1077 01:00:55,120 --> 01:00:57,600 Speaker 2: has not completely abandoned his ambitions. 1078 01:00:58,640 --> 01:01:02,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's at least there's some embers still hot in there. 1079 01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:06,720 Speaker 1: Of course, it's left for us to wonder, well, does 1080 01:01:06,800 --> 01:01:10,000 Speaker 1: he actually have the wherewithal to do this again? Is 1081 01:01:10,040 --> 01:01:13,400 Speaker 1: he just sort of idly dreaming? And maybe that's the case. 1082 01:01:13,440 --> 01:01:17,320 Speaker 1: Maybe he wouldn't have the courage and the strength to 1083 01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:20,960 Speaker 1: go through with that nightmare again. As long as nobody 1084 01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:24,400 Speaker 1: comes along and encourages him to pick it up again. 1085 01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:28,760 Speaker 2: Right, that's right, And here things really start cooking. Into 1086 01:01:28,840 --> 01:01:32,480 Speaker 2: the picture comes Doctor Septimus Pretorious. What can we say 1087 01:01:32,760 --> 01:01:37,440 Speaker 2: of Doctor Septimus Pretorious, The look, the attitude, the scowl, 1088 01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:42,240 Speaker 2: he's so ernest Messager is this tall, gaunt man with 1089 01:01:43,040 --> 01:01:47,120 Speaker 2: light colored, frizzy, curly hair, and he he puts on 1090 01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:52,560 Speaker 2: this amazing scowl, this resting stink face that throughout pretty 1091 01:01:52,600 --> 01:01:57,560 Speaker 2: much the whole movie. And from his very first line, 1092 01:01:57,680 --> 01:01:59,840 Speaker 2: he is committed to being a lot. 1093 01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:01,920 Speaker 1: Yes he is. 1094 01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:03,320 Speaker 2: He is a lot. 1095 01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:08,720 Speaker 1: He is so much the I mean the most, the 1096 01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:11,720 Speaker 1: most entertaining character in this film. Among so many other 1097 01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:14,040 Speaker 1: entertaining characters, he has to stand out as one of 1098 01:02:14,120 --> 01:02:17,840 Speaker 1: the most the most entertaining characters in just cinema in general. Like, 1099 01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:21,800 Speaker 1: it's everything we see from him is golden here, it's 1100 01:02:22,000 --> 01:02:24,280 Speaker 1: it's it's almost a shame that we don't get to 1101 01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:28,880 Speaker 1: experience this same actor in this same role in other pictures. 1102 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:31,160 Speaker 1: But and again that's kind of what makes it special. 1103 01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:33,720 Speaker 2: That's right. So he arrives at the door of the 1104 01:02:33,760 --> 01:02:37,440 Speaker 2: Frankenstein estate. He says he must see Henry tonight. On 1105 01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:41,120 Speaker 2: a secret matter of grave importance, and I guess it's 1106 01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:44,840 Speaker 2: many who lets him in, Like, okay, grave importance. So 1107 01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:49,040 Speaker 2: we learned. Doctor Pretorius is a professor, a former mentor 1108 01:02:49,160 --> 01:02:53,280 Speaker 2: of Henry's, but has recently been ejected from the academy 1109 01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:56,600 Speaker 2: for reasons that are only vaguely alluded to with summaries, 1110 01:02:56,680 --> 01:03:03,040 Speaker 2: such as for knowing too much. But once doctor Pretorius 1111 01:03:03,120 --> 01:03:06,400 Speaker 2: has gotten Elizabeth out of Henry's bedroom, he goes to 1112 01:03:06,480 --> 01:03:10,520 Speaker 2: Henry's bedside and says that he knows of Henry's experiments, 1113 01:03:10,560 --> 01:03:13,120 Speaker 2: he knows about the monster, and he says, we've got 1114 01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:17,000 Speaker 2: to work together. He wants their experimentation to go on, 1115 01:03:17,640 --> 01:03:21,080 Speaker 2: no longer as master and pupil, but as fellow scientists. 1116 01:03:21,240 --> 01:03:25,400 Speaker 2: In fact, he says, in Henry's absence, he has continued 1117 01:03:25,480 --> 01:03:29,600 Speaker 2: his own forbidden studies in secret and managed to create 1118 01:03:29,760 --> 01:03:33,360 Speaker 2: life of a sort on his own. So Henry initially 1119 01:03:33,440 --> 01:03:37,000 Speaker 2: tries to resist doctor Pretorius's recruitment. He's like, no, no, 1120 01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:39,920 Speaker 2: I have to get married to Elizabeth. But when he 1121 01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:43,320 Speaker 2: hears that his former teacher has also found the formula 1122 01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:47,040 Speaker 2: for life, he says he must see what he has accomplished. 1123 01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:51,520 Speaker 1: And you know you might expect that doctor Pretorius has 1124 01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:54,880 Speaker 1: created something more or less like the monster, but maybe 1125 01:03:54,960 --> 01:03:58,720 Speaker 1: not as good, you know, like it's it's it's less 1126 01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:03,520 Speaker 1: powerful thing imperfect about it. And I think this is 1127 01:04:03,600 --> 01:04:06,480 Speaker 1: a this is a this would be a good guess, 1128 01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:10,160 Speaker 1: but this film is not going to align with the 1129 01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:14,520 Speaker 1: easy guesswork you might have in Blaze here like this, Well, 1130 01:04:14,640 --> 01:04:17,240 Speaker 1: what he has been working on is tremendous. 1131 01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:19,720 Speaker 2: That's right. So they go back to Pretorius's lab to 1132 01:04:19,760 --> 01:04:21,680 Speaker 2: see what he has done, and here we come to 1133 01:04:21,840 --> 01:04:26,480 Speaker 2: the famous homuncular scene. First at his lab, Pretorious, this 1134 01:04:26,560 --> 01:04:28,600 Speaker 2: is the part where he offers a toast to a 1135 01:04:28,680 --> 01:04:31,520 Speaker 2: new world of gods and monsters, and then he gets 1136 01:04:31,560 --> 01:04:35,160 Speaker 2: out this huge black box to show Henry what's inside, 1137 01:04:35,360 --> 01:04:37,960 Speaker 2: talking the whole time about how enthralling it is to 1138 01:04:38,120 --> 01:04:41,680 Speaker 2: create life. He says, my experiments went in a different 1139 01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:46,480 Speaker 2: direction than yours, But science, like love, is always full 1140 01:04:46,520 --> 01:04:50,760 Speaker 2: of surprises. Why does he say that? Like love? There 1141 01:04:50,840 --> 01:04:56,080 Speaker 2: seems to be something really inherently sensual about doctor Pretorius's 1142 01:04:56,240 --> 01:04:57,360 Speaker 2: idea of science. 1143 01:04:57,920 --> 01:05:00,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it is all consuming, that's for sure. 1144 01:05:01,120 --> 01:05:06,880 Speaker 2: So he unveiled Pretorious unveils these glass jars with tiny 1145 01:05:07,200 --> 01:05:11,080 Speaker 2: living people inside them, and I should just say that 1146 01:05:11,200 --> 01:05:16,120 Speaker 2: the effects here are spectacular. He has created homunculi, and 1147 01:05:16,280 --> 01:05:19,440 Speaker 2: he explains that he first created a woman who was 1148 01:05:19,480 --> 01:05:21,680 Speaker 2: so lovely that he had to make her a queen. 1149 01:05:21,920 --> 01:05:25,040 Speaker 2: So she's here in this regal gown on a throne. 1150 01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,320 Speaker 2: And he says next, since he had a queen, he 1151 01:05:27,440 --> 01:05:29,680 Speaker 2: had to make a king, and the king is apparently 1152 01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:32,560 Speaker 2: obsessed with getting out of his jar and getting to 1153 01:05:32,800 --> 01:05:35,840 Speaker 2: the queen. Then he says he made another tiny man 1154 01:05:36,080 --> 01:05:39,360 Speaker 2: quote who looked so disapprovingly at the other two that 1155 01:05:39,480 --> 01:05:44,800 Speaker 2: they made him an archbishop. Now I guess this somehow 1156 01:05:44,880 --> 01:05:47,480 Speaker 2: got past the Hayes Code prohibition and gets making fun 1157 01:05:47,560 --> 01:05:50,240 Speaker 2: of the clergy or I don't know, to be fair, 1158 01:05:50,280 --> 01:05:53,080 Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly how the Hayes Code affected this movie, 1159 01:05:53,160 --> 01:05:55,040 Speaker 2: but this was left in for some reason. 1160 01:05:55,680 --> 01:05:58,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's like, likewise, there are some other 1161 01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:00,440 Speaker 1: lines we've already touched on that feel like if you 1162 01:06:00,520 --> 01:06:03,680 Speaker 1: were gonna be picky about blasphemous statements, it might have 1163 01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:04,640 Speaker 1: been picked on. 1164 01:06:04,760 --> 01:06:05,160 Speaker 2: But I don't know. 1165 01:06:05,240 --> 01:06:08,360 Speaker 1: It's like, I'm not sure offhand what they cut compared 1166 01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:10,960 Speaker 1: to what they kept, And maybe they let this slide too, 1167 01:06:11,040 --> 01:06:13,480 Speaker 1: because it's like, it's not as much about the clergy 1168 01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:16,800 Speaker 1: being dumb as it is about like, just look how 1169 01:06:17,000 --> 01:06:20,240 Speaker 1: awful this king is. He's like, this clergy member is 1170 01:06:20,320 --> 01:06:23,160 Speaker 1: just done with them. But to be clear, these are 1171 01:06:23,320 --> 01:06:26,720 Speaker 1: little people wearing full costumes. They're like a miniature king 1172 01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:32,240 Speaker 1: and queen, a miniature archbishop or whatever it's it is. 1173 01:06:32,440 --> 01:06:34,840 Speaker 1: This is so comedically weird. 1174 01:06:35,280 --> 01:06:38,040 Speaker 2: Yes. Oh and the fourth homunculus, by the way, is 1175 01:06:38,200 --> 01:06:42,440 Speaker 2: a devil. It's the devil. Messenger says, there's a resemblance 1176 01:06:42,520 --> 01:06:46,880 Speaker 2: to me, don't you think. And Doctor Pretorius then muses 1177 01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:49,880 Speaker 2: that wouldn't life be simpler if we were all devils? 1178 01:06:50,000 --> 01:06:52,800 Speaker 2: No nonsense about angels and being good. 1179 01:06:53,800 --> 01:06:55,720 Speaker 1: He's really laying it out out there. He's like, look, 1180 01:06:55,960 --> 01:06:58,600 Speaker 1: there's no good, there's no bad. There's just the work 1181 01:06:58,720 --> 01:07:01,280 Speaker 1: at hand. And we've got a team up again, because 1182 01:07:01,680 --> 01:07:04,800 Speaker 1: I've got my ideas, you've got your ideas. Together, we 1183 01:07:04,920 --> 01:07:06,880 Speaker 1: can really make the perfect being. 1184 01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:09,600 Speaker 2: Oh. Also he made a ballerina and a mermaid. 1185 01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:13,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd forgotten that there were so many additional creature 1186 01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:16,959 Speaker 1: being some unculi that he had made. Because this scene 1187 01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:20,080 Speaker 1: goes on a while and a lot of effort went 1188 01:07:20,160 --> 01:07:24,680 Speaker 1: into into making each of these Homunculi tubes. It's very impressive. 1189 01:07:25,280 --> 01:07:28,520 Speaker 2: So Henry is appalled by this. I'm not quite sure 1190 01:07:28,600 --> 01:07:32,120 Speaker 2: exactly why Henry is so appalled by the Homunculi compared 1191 01:07:32,200 --> 01:07:35,480 Speaker 2: to the monster he made. But he says, this isn't science, 1192 01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:39,040 Speaker 2: it's more like black magic. And doctor Pretorius says, you 1193 01:07:39,200 --> 01:07:43,480 Speaker 2: think I'm mad. Perhaps I am, but listen to Henry Frankenstein. 1194 01:07:43,920 --> 01:07:48,480 Speaker 2: While you were digging in your graves piecing together dead tissues, I, 1195 01:07:48,800 --> 01:07:52,080 Speaker 2: my dear pupil, went for my materials to the source 1196 01:07:52,200 --> 01:07:56,920 Speaker 2: of life. I grew my creatures like cultures, grew them 1197 01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:01,640 Speaker 2: as nature does from seed. Yeah, and I think that 1198 01:08:01,920 --> 01:08:04,880 Speaker 2: means exactly what it sounds like. I think Pretorius here 1199 01:08:05,000 --> 01:08:10,520 Speaker 2: is operating on the basis of the ideology of spermist preformationism. 1200 01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:11,760 Speaker 3: Yeah. 1201 01:08:11,800 --> 01:08:14,240 Speaker 1: I believe we discussed in some past episodes of Stuff. 1202 01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:18,360 Speaker 2: To Blow your Mind, the idea that, like the human body, 1203 01:08:18,840 --> 01:08:21,479 Speaker 2: it's sort of an alternative to cell theory, is that, 1204 01:08:21,640 --> 01:08:24,439 Speaker 2: like the human body is fully formed, just very tiny 1205 01:08:25,040 --> 01:08:27,800 Speaker 2: in the sex cells, and the spermists thought that they 1206 01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:30,720 Speaker 2: were that the human bodies were in the sperm, not 1207 01:08:30,880 --> 01:08:31,479 Speaker 2: in the eggs. 1208 01:08:31,960 --> 01:08:32,200 Speaker 4: Yeah. 1209 01:08:32,920 --> 01:08:35,800 Speaker 1: So, I mean already they're laying out a really cool 1210 01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:39,439 Speaker 1: idea and one that the film will will fulfill. The 1211 01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:43,320 Speaker 1: idea that on one hand, doctor Pretorius is all about 1212 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:48,280 Speaker 1: growing new life, Frankenstein is about assembling new life and 1213 01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:51,479 Speaker 1: instilling energy in it. And if you bring these two 1214 01:08:51,560 --> 01:08:54,720 Speaker 1: disciplines together, well then there's no there's no limit to 1215 01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:55,800 Speaker 1: what you can create. 1216 01:08:55,920 --> 01:08:58,800 Speaker 2: That's right. Soretorius beckons Henry to join him. He says, 1217 01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:01,439 Speaker 2: together they can discover all all the secrets of creating life. 1218 01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:04,720 Speaker 2: He says, leave your Charnel house and follow the lead 1219 01:09:04,800 --> 01:09:09,120 Speaker 2: of nature or of God if you like your Bible stories. 1220 01:09:12,040 --> 01:09:15,320 Speaker 2: So doctor Pretorius wants to not only create life from 1221 01:09:15,400 --> 01:09:18,680 Speaker 2: non life, but together with Henry, he thinks that they 1222 01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:22,920 Speaker 2: can make two living beings that can join in sexual 1223 01:09:23,160 --> 01:09:27,120 Speaker 2: union and reproduce with one another, giving rise to a 1224 01:09:27,240 --> 01:09:31,640 Speaker 2: whole new line of created creatures. Henry is horrified. He 1225 01:09:31,720 --> 01:09:35,160 Speaker 2: claims he won't do it, but Pretorius is mighty persuasive. 1226 01:09:36,040 --> 01:09:38,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't even really have to get heavy handed 1227 01:09:38,080 --> 01:09:40,519 Speaker 1: at this point. He's just like like, do it, do it, 1228 01:09:40,600 --> 01:09:42,040 Speaker 1: You're doing it. Come on, you're doing it. 1229 01:09:42,040 --> 01:09:53,760 Speaker 2: And he's like, okay, now meanwhile, so we leave that 1230 01:09:53,960 --> 01:09:56,600 Speaker 2: scene for a while and we revisit the creature. So 1231 01:09:56,720 --> 01:09:59,559 Speaker 2: the creature, having escaped to the burning mill, wanders through 1232 01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:04,080 Speaker 2: a forest, which is an absolutely gorgeous bucolic indoor forest set, 1233 01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:06,960 Speaker 2: you know, I love those. It's got a canopy of 1234 01:10:07,160 --> 01:10:11,000 Speaker 2: slanted pine trees and a rushing waterfall, and the creature 1235 01:10:11,120 --> 01:10:14,400 Speaker 2: drinks from a stream, but he sees his face reflected 1236 01:10:14,479 --> 01:10:17,320 Speaker 2: in the water and then strikes out at it in anger. 1237 01:10:17,479 --> 01:10:18,799 Speaker 2: He hates his own image. 1238 01:10:19,360 --> 01:10:21,760 Speaker 1: And again, I just want to drive home that while 1239 01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:25,880 Speaker 1: there's so much about Carlos Frankenstein's Monster that has become 1240 01:10:25,920 --> 01:10:28,720 Speaker 1: a stereotype of the horror genre, that has become kind 1241 01:10:28,760 --> 01:10:32,880 Speaker 1: of cliche, when you see the actual performance, there is 1242 01:10:32,960 --> 01:10:34,320 Speaker 1: so much more nuance to it. 1243 01:10:34,479 --> 01:10:34,640 Speaker 3: You know. 1244 01:10:35,080 --> 01:10:36,479 Speaker 1: It's easy to think of it as just you know, 1245 01:10:36,640 --> 01:10:39,800 Speaker 1: like firebag, you know, and sort of think of the 1246 01:10:40,040 --> 01:10:42,720 Speaker 1: like the Phil Hartman Saturday Night Live version of the thing, 1247 01:10:43,320 --> 01:10:46,479 Speaker 1: But yeah, there's just so many additional levels to it, 1248 01:10:47,200 --> 01:10:50,840 Speaker 1: Like there is this real authentic feeling of this being 1249 01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:54,920 Speaker 1: that cannot communicate properly about the world around him, but 1250 01:10:55,160 --> 01:10:58,840 Speaker 1: has like intense emotions and trauma and even a little 1251 01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:01,479 Speaker 1: bit of hope still remain about how he connects to 1252 01:11:01,560 --> 01:11:01,800 Speaker 1: it all. 1253 01:11:02,240 --> 01:11:05,920 Speaker 2: I totally agree that the Frankenstein creature is so much 1254 01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:09,480 Speaker 2: more complex than the impression you would get from the parodies. 1255 01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:13,040 Speaker 2: And as I said earlier, that does go straight back 1256 01:11:13,080 --> 01:11:16,240 Speaker 2: to the novel. The creature is an extremely complex and 1257 01:11:16,320 --> 01:11:19,560 Speaker 2: thoughtful and emotional being in the novel. So in the 1258 01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:22,479 Speaker 2: scene there's a shepherdess leading some lambs through the forest. 1259 01:11:22,600 --> 01:11:25,519 Speaker 2: The shepherdess sees the creature and she screams in terror 1260 01:11:25,640 --> 01:11:28,280 Speaker 2: and falls into the water, and the creature actually goes 1261 01:11:28,360 --> 01:11:31,760 Speaker 2: and saves her from drowning. And you know, I think 1262 01:11:31,880 --> 01:11:34,519 Speaker 2: something interesting is going on here where Just in the 1263 01:11:34,640 --> 01:11:38,479 Speaker 2: scene before, a character fell into the water with the creature, 1264 01:11:38,560 --> 01:11:42,320 Speaker 2: and the creature drowned that character on purpose. He was 1265 01:11:42,439 --> 01:11:45,559 Speaker 2: so filled with rage. Here somebody falls into the water 1266 01:11:45,640 --> 01:11:49,040 Speaker 2: and he tries to save their life. So I think 1267 01:11:49,120 --> 01:11:52,719 Speaker 2: this is also supposed to communicate something about the creature 1268 01:11:52,960 --> 01:11:58,479 Speaker 2: just being so filled with churning emotions and contradictions. It 1269 01:11:58,600 --> 01:12:01,920 Speaker 2: doesn't know what it is. The creature doesn't know if 1270 01:12:02,439 --> 01:12:05,240 Speaker 2: he is if he is good or evil, and doesn't 1271 01:12:05,320 --> 01:12:10,200 Speaker 2: know which path to embrace. He's just sort of flying 1272 01:12:10,320 --> 01:12:13,759 Speaker 2: back and forth from one to the other. Yeah, but anyway, 1273 01:12:13,880 --> 01:12:16,120 Speaker 2: so the woman falls in the water. He saves her, 1274 01:12:16,479 --> 01:12:19,479 Speaker 2: but then she is of course terrified of him. She 1275 01:12:19,560 --> 01:12:22,400 Speaker 2: starts to scream, and the creature is frightened by this. 1276 01:12:23,160 --> 01:12:25,920 Speaker 2: He tries to stop her screaming by covering her mouth, 1277 01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:28,759 Speaker 2: which just makes it worse. And then men with guns 1278 01:12:28,840 --> 01:12:31,080 Speaker 2: come and start shooting at the creature. They wound him, 1279 01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:34,760 Speaker 2: but he escapes into the wild and the townspeople raise 1280 01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:37,720 Speaker 2: a mob to chase the monster once again. This is 1281 01:12:37,760 --> 01:12:41,320 Speaker 2: another chased by the crowd scene. And one thing I 1282 01:12:41,360 --> 01:12:45,879 Speaker 2: wanted to point out is how the forest set changes 1283 01:12:46,080 --> 01:12:48,479 Speaker 2: from the previous scene to this one. So when the 1284 01:12:48,560 --> 01:12:53,080 Speaker 2: monster is wandering alone before the mob attacks him, before 1285 01:12:53,520 --> 01:12:57,000 Speaker 2: he has been seen and hated again by humanity, the 1286 01:12:57,120 --> 01:13:00,120 Speaker 2: forest is lush and lovely and alive, and now that 1287 01:13:00,200 --> 01:13:03,479 Speaker 2: he is again being hunted and despised, the trees are 1288 01:13:03,520 --> 01:13:07,000 Speaker 2: all these straight, bare trunks without leaves or branches, and 1289 01:13:07,280 --> 01:13:10,120 Speaker 2: it's set against a dark sky and these crooked rocks. 1290 01:13:10,720 --> 01:13:13,800 Speaker 2: And I think the film uses set and setting to 1291 01:13:14,280 --> 01:13:15,960 Speaker 2: infuse the scenes with emotion. 1292 01:13:16,760 --> 01:13:18,800 Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned this because this is something that 1293 01:13:18,880 --> 01:13:20,880 Speaker 1: I don't think I actually I didn't think about it 1294 01:13:20,960 --> 01:13:22,720 Speaker 1: as I was watching. I was so caught up in 1295 01:13:22,760 --> 01:13:25,240 Speaker 1: the action of it all. But I think you're absolutely right. 1296 01:13:25,400 --> 01:13:29,639 Speaker 1: Like they're they're manipulating their their tightly controlled set world 1297 01:13:29,720 --> 01:13:33,280 Speaker 1: here to uh to imbue the scene with just the 1298 01:13:33,439 --> 01:13:36,000 Speaker 1: right amount of just the right emotion and just the 1299 01:13:36,120 --> 01:13:37,040 Speaker 1: right energy. 1300 01:13:37,600 --> 01:13:39,600 Speaker 2: So this all has a momentum of its own that 1301 01:13:39,720 --> 01:13:43,840 Speaker 2: the creature is caught by the mob, bound up like 1302 01:13:43,960 --> 01:13:47,120 Speaker 2: tied to a pole, taken to town, thrown into a dungeon, 1303 01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:50,160 Speaker 2: chained up to this heavy wooden chair that looks like 1304 01:13:50,240 --> 01:13:53,000 Speaker 2: some kind of torture device. All throughout the creature is 1305 01:13:53,080 --> 01:13:56,200 Speaker 2: groaning in pain and misery. This is the scene where 1306 01:13:56,240 --> 01:13:58,360 Speaker 2: Many is looking down the window at the dungeon and 1307 01:13:58,600 --> 01:14:02,280 Speaker 2: is like, ooh ooh, she's just getting too excited about this. 1308 01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:06,840 Speaker 2: But of course, first chance he gets Karloff, snaps the chains, 1309 01:14:06,920 --> 01:14:10,759 Speaker 2: breaks out of prison, kicks down the heavy wooden doors. Meanwhile, 1310 01:14:11,120 --> 01:14:15,880 Speaker 2: that mustachioed character, the Burgomaster from the guy from earlier 1311 01:14:15,920 --> 01:14:18,200 Speaker 2: who was telling everybody to go to bed, there's a 1312 01:14:18,280 --> 01:14:20,400 Speaker 2: really funny part where he's trying to clear the crowd. 1313 01:14:20,479 --> 01:14:23,400 Speaker 2: He's saying, nothing to worry about just an escaped lunatic, 1314 01:14:23,600 --> 01:14:27,080 Speaker 2: quite harmless, while the monster is kicking down the door 1315 01:14:27,160 --> 01:14:28,680 Speaker 2: of the prison in the background. 1316 01:14:29,400 --> 01:14:33,120 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, this is great because, yeah, this part is funny, 1317 01:14:33,120 --> 01:14:35,960 Speaker 1: and yet at the same time, the daytime rampage is 1318 01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:39,040 Speaker 1: still terrifying, and I think it's more terrifying because it 1319 01:14:39,120 --> 01:14:39,799 Speaker 1: is in the daylight. 1320 01:14:40,160 --> 01:14:43,559 Speaker 2: I agree. So there's this rampage. The monster harms people 1321 01:14:43,640 --> 01:14:46,040 Speaker 2: in the process of escaping the town, but eventually gets 1322 01:14:46,080 --> 01:14:50,640 Speaker 2: out into the woods. And so eventually this leads up 1323 01:14:50,680 --> 01:14:54,320 Speaker 2: to the part where the monster is drawn to the cabin. 1324 01:14:54,439 --> 01:14:56,880 Speaker 2: The cabin in the woods where the old hermit lives. 1325 01:14:56,920 --> 01:14:59,519 Speaker 2: He's drawn by the sound of music. So this old 1326 01:14:59,600 --> 01:15:02,559 Speaker 2: blind man lives alone in a cottage and he's playing 1327 01:15:02,680 --> 01:15:06,719 Speaker 2: ave Maria on the violin. The creature likes the music, 1328 01:15:06,840 --> 01:15:08,559 Speaker 2: and so he comes to the door of the cabin, 1329 01:15:09,040 --> 01:15:12,840 Speaker 2: and unlike everyone else who fears and rejects the monster, 1330 01:15:13,120 --> 01:15:16,400 Speaker 2: the blind man welcomes the creature into his house. He 1331 01:15:16,520 --> 01:15:21,400 Speaker 2: offers him hospitality, and he offers him friendship, gives the 1332 01:15:21,479 --> 01:15:24,160 Speaker 2: creature food, he cares for his wounds, and he shows 1333 01:15:24,240 --> 01:15:27,479 Speaker 2: him kindness. When the creature is unable to speak, the 1334 01:15:27,520 --> 01:15:30,599 Speaker 2: old man says, perhaps you are afflicted too. I cannot 1335 01:15:30,680 --> 01:15:33,719 Speaker 2: see and you cannot speak. But he says, I've prayed 1336 01:15:33,800 --> 01:15:36,639 Speaker 2: many times for God to send me a friend. God 1337 01:15:36,680 --> 01:15:39,000 Speaker 2: has taken pity on my loneliness, and we can be 1338 01:15:39,080 --> 01:15:41,760 Speaker 2: friends to each other. And so this turns into a 1339 01:15:41,880 --> 01:15:46,360 Speaker 2: really beautiful short story in the middle of the movie. Here, 1340 01:15:46,479 --> 01:15:50,040 Speaker 2: you know, the blind man does not even understand how 1341 01:15:50,320 --> 01:15:54,280 Speaker 2: uncommon the friendship he's offering is to the person he's 1342 01:15:54,320 --> 01:15:58,240 Speaker 2: offering it to, and so the creature seems he accepts 1343 01:15:58,280 --> 01:16:00,479 Speaker 2: the hospitality, and the creature goes on to live with 1344 01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:04,840 Speaker 2: this blind man for some unspecified length of time, during 1345 01:16:04,920 --> 01:16:09,360 Speaker 2: which he learns to speak. The old man teaches him words, 1346 01:16:09,840 --> 01:16:12,800 Speaker 2: teaches him about bread, wine, and cigars, and oh boy, 1347 01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:15,200 Speaker 2: when you know what he's learning about cigars, at first 1348 01:16:15,360 --> 01:16:18,240 Speaker 2: fire bad. So the creature doesn't like that, but he 1349 01:16:18,600 --> 01:16:21,160 Speaker 2: figures out pretty soon that he likes smoking cigars. 1350 01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:26,280 Speaker 1: Yes, these things are hilarious, but also very poignant as well. 1351 01:16:26,560 --> 01:16:30,760 Speaker 1: He's because the monster is learning to enjoy life for 1352 01:16:30,920 --> 01:16:33,720 Speaker 1: the first time, and the blind man is sharing the 1353 01:16:33,880 --> 01:16:35,120 Speaker 1: enjoyments of life with him. 1354 01:16:35,560 --> 01:16:39,040 Speaker 2: After gaining a vocabulary, the creature learns to express his 1355 01:16:39,160 --> 01:16:43,800 Speaker 2: feelings in words, and he says things like alone, bad, friend, good. 1356 01:16:45,600 --> 01:16:48,880 Speaker 2: But this happy interlude is broken when two hunters, including 1357 01:16:48,960 --> 01:16:51,840 Speaker 2: John Kerroty and come to the cabin asking for directions, 1358 01:16:52,080 --> 01:16:55,240 Speaker 2: and uh oh, they see the monster, you know exactly what. 1359 01:16:55,439 --> 01:16:59,800 Speaker 2: A fight breaks out, the cabin catches fire, and everyone 1360 01:17:00,080 --> 01:17:04,599 Speaker 2: runs off in their separate directions. So the creature's chance 1361 01:17:04,680 --> 01:17:07,479 Speaker 2: here and having a good life is thwarted. And the 1362 01:17:07,560 --> 01:17:11,479 Speaker 2: creature wanders at night through a desolate cemetery in a rage. 1363 01:17:12,160 --> 01:17:15,280 Speaker 2: And this graveyard set is fantastic. It's like the graveyard 1364 01:17:15,280 --> 01:17:18,040 Speaker 2: at the end of the world. High contrasts, dead trees 1365 01:17:18,120 --> 01:17:22,719 Speaker 2: reaching like ghostly fingers. There's mist rising from the consecrated earth. 1366 01:17:23,520 --> 01:17:25,720 Speaker 2: And then in his anger and despair, the creature is 1367 01:17:25,840 --> 01:17:29,760 Speaker 2: literally toppling monuments and grave markers. He hates every work 1368 01:17:29,800 --> 01:17:33,360 Speaker 2: of man, but he decides to hide out. The creature 1369 01:17:33,479 --> 01:17:36,120 Speaker 2: tries to hide from the angry mob by climbing down 1370 01:17:36,200 --> 01:17:39,800 Speaker 2: into a subterranean crypt. And what's this. Down in the 1371 01:17:39,840 --> 01:17:43,920 Speaker 2: crypt he sees three figures coming carrying lanterns, descending into 1372 01:17:43,960 --> 01:17:46,920 Speaker 2: the catacomb, and one of them is our old friend, 1373 01:17:47,000 --> 01:17:48,400 Speaker 2: doctor Septimus Pretorious. 1374 01:17:49,640 --> 01:17:53,759 Speaker 1: Yes, now, before even encountering him. Though this is already 1375 01:17:53,840 --> 01:17:57,600 Speaker 1: so perfect because the monster earlier in the film emerges 1376 01:17:57,680 --> 01:18:01,760 Speaker 1: from the underworld, has all these encounters, seems to find 1377 01:18:01,800 --> 01:18:04,000 Speaker 1: a new a new way to look at life, and 1378 01:18:04,120 --> 01:18:06,480 Speaker 1: now he is forced to descend back into the underworld. 1379 01:18:06,560 --> 01:18:09,360 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's like all his attempts have failed. 1380 01:18:09,720 --> 01:18:12,360 Speaker 1: But sometimes in the underworld you do run into the 1381 01:18:12,479 --> 01:18:17,760 Speaker 1: devil and enter yet doctor Pretorius and his guns. 1382 01:18:17,920 --> 01:18:21,439 Speaker 2: Two Oh my god, she's accompanied by these two cursed 1383 01:18:21,640 --> 01:18:25,080 Speaker 2: waxen goons, one of them played by Dwight Fry. The 1384 01:18:25,200 --> 01:18:28,080 Speaker 2: characters are named Karl and Ludwig. They're here to do 1385 01:18:28,200 --> 01:18:32,240 Speaker 2: the heavy lifting for this midnight grave robbing mission. They're 1386 01:18:32,240 --> 01:18:34,719 Speaker 2: supposed to be criminals of some sort of Pretorious threatens 1387 01:18:34,760 --> 01:18:37,080 Speaker 2: to send them back to the gallows where they belong 1388 01:18:37,200 --> 01:18:40,080 Speaker 2: if they don't get on with the body removal, so 1389 01:18:40,200 --> 01:18:43,040 Speaker 2: they select a grave. They steal the woman's body from 1390 01:18:43,120 --> 01:18:46,559 Speaker 2: the grave. Looking on, Pretorius says, I hope her bones 1391 01:18:46,640 --> 01:18:50,200 Speaker 2: are firm, but eventually so they get the body. The 1392 01:18:50,280 --> 01:18:53,400 Speaker 2: grave robbers leave, but Pretorius stays and then this is 1393 01:18:53,479 --> 01:18:56,560 Speaker 2: probably my favorite scene in the movie, where he Pretorious 1394 01:18:56,680 --> 01:18:59,439 Speaker 2: is just like I rather like this place I shall 1395 01:18:59,479 --> 01:19:01,640 Speaker 2: stay here for a bit, and just has himself a 1396 01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:06,920 Speaker 2: cackling picnic in the middle of the catacomb, wine cheese, skeletons. 1397 01:19:07,280 --> 01:19:09,840 Speaker 2: He won't stop laughing. He's having a great time. 1398 01:19:10,640 --> 01:19:14,080 Speaker 1: I think he has her bones, that the woman's bones 1399 01:19:14,120 --> 01:19:17,000 Speaker 1: like piled up there in the middle of his little 1400 01:19:17,040 --> 01:19:17,439 Speaker 1: pic neck. 1401 01:19:17,560 --> 01:19:19,040 Speaker 2: Right, Oh, is that what it is? Okay? 1402 01:19:19,040 --> 01:19:21,880 Speaker 1: If not her bones, someone else's bones. Either way, it's 1403 01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:26,599 Speaker 1: a gothic delight. I should I should also point out 1404 01:19:26,720 --> 01:19:29,280 Speaker 1: like he's already like he's shown that he's such a 1405 01:19:29,800 --> 01:19:31,600 Speaker 1: you can't trust anything, he says, because this whole thing 1406 01:19:31,640 --> 01:19:34,240 Speaker 1: to Frankenstein was like, we're done with with dead bodies, 1407 01:19:34,280 --> 01:19:37,519 Speaker 1: old boy. Yes, the next thing we see from him 1408 01:19:37,880 --> 01:19:40,280 Speaker 1: is he's down there grave robbin with a couple of goods. 1409 01:19:40,360 --> 01:19:42,680 Speaker 2: That's right, Okay, I think you're right. Actually, I was 1410 01:19:42,720 --> 01:19:45,960 Speaker 2: thinking about the that the goons still took the body 1411 01:19:46,040 --> 01:19:48,439 Speaker 2: with them, but I think they got these bones out 1412 01:19:48,640 --> 01:19:50,840 Speaker 2: and he's like just hanging out with the bones. I 1413 01:19:50,920 --> 01:19:51,519 Speaker 2: think that's right. 1414 01:19:52,040 --> 01:19:55,080 Speaker 1: But yes, tremendous saint just cackling in the crypt. 1415 01:19:55,640 --> 01:19:58,320 Speaker 2: But the monster comes out of hiding and meets doctor Pretorius. 1416 01:19:58,400 --> 01:20:01,120 Speaker 2: Pretorius says oh, I thought I was a And then 1417 01:20:01,200 --> 01:20:04,120 Speaker 2: he shares his food, wine, and cigars. But the creature 1418 01:20:04,280 --> 01:20:06,720 Speaker 2: much like the old man did in the Cottage in 1419 01:20:06,760 --> 01:20:11,439 Speaker 2: the Woods, except whereas that was wholesome and friendly, there's 1420 01:20:11,479 --> 01:20:15,000 Speaker 2: a different subtext here. Instead, it feels more like he's 1421 01:20:15,040 --> 01:20:19,000 Speaker 2: being enticed into a deal with the devil here. Yes, yes, 1422 01:20:19,800 --> 01:20:21,720 Speaker 2: So they sort of get to know each other, and 1423 01:20:21,880 --> 01:20:26,360 Speaker 2: then Pretorius explains his plans to the monster. He says 1424 01:20:26,439 --> 01:20:29,719 Speaker 2: that he promises that he will make the monster a friend, 1425 01:20:30,080 --> 01:20:33,680 Speaker 2: a woman like him to be his wife. So this 1426 01:20:33,840 --> 01:20:36,479 Speaker 2: takes us into the last act of the movie. Henry 1427 01:20:36,520 --> 01:20:39,400 Speaker 2: and Elizabeth are married again by the time we meet them, 1428 01:20:39,720 --> 01:20:41,880 Speaker 2: and I'm going to skip more lightly over the plot now, 1429 01:20:42,000 --> 01:20:46,280 Speaker 2: but basically, Pretorius comes to Henry and Elizabeth's home and 1430 01:20:46,400 --> 01:20:49,840 Speaker 2: he confronts Henry for help about making the bride. He's like, 1431 01:20:49,880 --> 01:20:52,360 Speaker 2: I've got to make this undead woman. You're gonna help me. 1432 01:20:52,760 --> 01:20:55,760 Speaker 2: Henry tries to refuse, but he's got an ace up 1433 01:20:55,800 --> 01:20:59,679 Speaker 2: his sleeve. He has the monster kidnap Elizabeth as a hostage. 1434 01:21:00,000 --> 01:21:02,439 Speaker 2: Henry will have no choice but to help him do 1435 01:21:02,640 --> 01:21:07,200 Speaker 2: unholy science. That's right, that's right. So together they work 1436 01:21:07,280 --> 01:21:10,639 Speaker 2: on bringing this dead woman to life, and there's one 1437 01:21:10,760 --> 01:21:14,040 Speaker 2: hilarious part where they're trying to get a heart that 1438 01:21:14,200 --> 01:21:17,360 Speaker 2: will be appropriate, and the heart they have doesn't work. 1439 01:21:17,760 --> 01:21:20,280 Speaker 2: Henry says he needs a better one. So Pretorius calls 1440 01:21:20,360 --> 01:21:23,720 Speaker 2: up Carl, that's Dwight Fry, and he's like, Carl, go 1441 01:21:23,880 --> 01:21:28,720 Speaker 2: to the accident hospital. We need a fresh heart from 1442 01:21:28,760 --> 01:21:32,719 Speaker 2: a young woman. And you know where this is going, yeah, exactly. 1443 01:21:32,840 --> 01:21:36,080 Speaker 2: So Carl just like goes and murders someone and then 1444 01:21:36,400 --> 01:21:38,559 Speaker 2: he shows up with a heart and Henry's like, wow, 1445 01:21:38,680 --> 01:21:42,280 Speaker 2: this is a really fresh heart. Good job, and Carl's 1446 01:21:42,439 --> 01:21:50,880 Speaker 2: like it was a police case. But anyway, So they 1447 01:21:50,960 --> 01:21:53,160 Speaker 2: do all their unholy science and the bride is brought 1448 01:21:53,240 --> 01:21:55,960 Speaker 2: to life during an electrical storm, wrapped up like a 1449 01:21:56,080 --> 01:21:59,519 Speaker 2: mummy in these bandages, and eventually the bandages are peeled 1450 01:21:59,560 --> 01:22:02,800 Speaker 2: back and the reveal this is the bride of Frankenstein. 1451 01:22:03,080 --> 01:22:06,600 Speaker 2: It's Elsa Lanchester. Uh what what would you say to 1452 01:22:06,680 --> 01:22:07,400 Speaker 2: describe her here? 1453 01:22:07,520 --> 01:22:10,720 Speaker 1: Rob oh Well, I already mentioned the Avian energy, and 1454 01:22:11,000 --> 01:22:15,479 Speaker 1: certainly everybody knows the look, the hair, but god like, 1455 01:22:16,280 --> 01:22:18,840 Speaker 1: initially she's still wrapped in bandages. You don't know what 1456 01:22:18,920 --> 01:22:21,040 Speaker 1: you're gonna see. You know, there's there elements of a 1457 01:22:21,160 --> 01:22:24,599 Speaker 1: mummy to the way she's wrapped up, and then when 1458 01:22:24,640 --> 01:22:26,800 Speaker 1: we start taking them off, yeah, you begin to see 1459 01:22:26,840 --> 01:22:29,800 Speaker 1: that she is this one they've they've really managed to 1460 01:22:29,920 --> 01:22:33,439 Speaker 1: look for the bride. That is this uncanny place between 1461 01:22:33,600 --> 01:22:37,320 Speaker 1: otherworldly beauty and and and and really the grave. 1462 01:22:37,960 --> 01:22:41,800 Speaker 2: That's right, and tragically so they so the monster comes 1463 01:22:41,840 --> 01:22:44,880 Speaker 2: out after his bride has been created, and the monster 1464 01:22:45,160 --> 01:22:50,720 Speaker 2: hopefully approaches her, saying friend, friend. But here's where the 1465 01:22:50,800 --> 01:22:54,920 Speaker 2: real tragedy comes in. Even she from beyond the grave 1466 01:22:55,360 --> 01:22:59,679 Speaker 2: rejects Karlof rejects the monster. She she screams, she finds 1467 01:22:59,720 --> 01:23:01,320 Speaker 2: him to terrifying and ugly. 1468 01:23:01,880 --> 01:23:04,360 Speaker 1: And she kind of does this hiss thing eventually too. 1469 01:23:04,600 --> 01:23:07,000 Speaker 1: Maybe that's towards the end, but I really like that 1470 01:23:07,160 --> 01:23:09,680 Speaker 1: moment as well because it also sort of served to 1471 01:23:10,160 --> 01:23:13,240 Speaker 1: underline the fact that like she is, she is monster 1472 01:23:13,320 --> 01:23:16,679 Speaker 1: as well, like she's not I mean, in the same 1473 01:23:16,720 --> 01:23:20,320 Speaker 1: way that that Karlov's monster is also a victim. Yes, 1474 01:23:20,439 --> 01:23:21,960 Speaker 1: she is also a victim. She did not ask to 1475 01:23:22,000 --> 01:23:25,040 Speaker 1: be brought into this world, but she is also not 1476 01:23:25,560 --> 01:23:28,120 Speaker 1: human in the same way that the monster. 1477 01:23:27,960 --> 01:23:31,360 Speaker 2: Is not human. That's right. She immediately seems to recognize 1478 01:23:31,520 --> 01:23:35,920 Speaker 2: the wrongness of her own existence, like you know, love dead, 1479 01:23:36,040 --> 01:23:40,480 Speaker 2: hate living, and she hisses, and that that hiss signals 1480 01:23:40,520 --> 01:23:44,280 Speaker 2: almost that like she doesn't want to exist. The hiss 1481 01:23:44,320 --> 01:23:48,599 Speaker 2: apparently was Elsa Lanchester's idea, and she got the idea 1482 01:23:48,720 --> 01:23:52,560 Speaker 2: from observing geese. You know, geese hiss. Yeah, so she 1483 01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:55,120 Speaker 2: was trying to do like a goose's threatening hiss. 1484 01:23:56,000 --> 01:23:57,799 Speaker 1: Oh, very good, excellent addition. 1485 01:23:58,360 --> 01:24:01,000 Speaker 2: So in the very end, the cree sure just defeated 1486 01:24:01,200 --> 01:24:06,759 Speaker 2: by uh by this rejection. He allows Henry and Elizabeth 1487 01:24:06,840 --> 01:24:09,519 Speaker 2: to escape the castle. He tells them to live. But 1488 01:24:09,680 --> 01:24:13,679 Speaker 2: as for himself, the bride and doctor Pretorius, he says, 1489 01:24:13,960 --> 01:24:18,240 Speaker 2: we belong dead and flips this lever that had been established. 1490 01:24:18,280 --> 01:24:21,120 Speaker 2: Would would reduce the h I think Pretorius said it 1491 01:24:21,120 --> 01:24:24,320 Speaker 2: would reduce their castle to atoms. It doesn't quite do that, 1492 01:24:24,640 --> 01:24:26,799 Speaker 2: but it does cause a great destruction. 1493 01:24:27,600 --> 01:24:30,439 Speaker 1: Yes, again, this is the beautiful discruction scene that I 1494 01:24:30,520 --> 01:24:32,960 Speaker 1: was talking about at the top of the episode. Just oh, 1495 01:24:33,040 --> 01:24:36,240 Speaker 1: it's so beautiful everything I mean in the film, certainly, 1496 01:24:36,320 --> 01:24:38,920 Speaker 1: but this this last stretch, this last third of the picture, 1497 01:24:39,200 --> 01:24:43,960 Speaker 1: I mean, the the laboratory looks amazing, the lightning effects, 1498 01:24:44,040 --> 01:24:48,280 Speaker 1: the kites they send up, the the the resurrection or 1499 01:24:48,520 --> 01:24:52,839 Speaker 1: or or energizing of the bride is so wonderful. Everything 1500 01:24:53,000 --> 01:24:53,880 Speaker 1: is just pitch perfect. 1501 01:24:54,400 --> 01:24:57,760 Speaker 2: I totally agree. And I guess that's got to be 1502 01:24:57,800 --> 01:25:00,320 Speaker 2: the end, right, that's Bride of Frankenstein. I will just 1503 01:25:00,320 --> 01:25:03,040 Speaker 2: say again, I love this movie. I think it's like 1504 01:25:03,360 --> 01:25:07,480 Speaker 2: top tier weird horror, just unbeatable. 1505 01:25:08,160 --> 01:25:12,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, and solid ending too. We cut to the Frankenstein's 1506 01:25:13,400 --> 01:25:17,600 Speaker 1: not the monsters, Henry and Elizabeth, you know, reunited and 1507 01:25:17,680 --> 01:25:19,400 Speaker 1: it's a nice little moment. Kind of serves as a 1508 01:25:19,479 --> 01:25:22,479 Speaker 1: nice cap, but it doesn't feel kind of like unearned 1509 01:25:22,520 --> 01:25:24,960 Speaker 1: and tact on like the happy moment at the end 1510 01:25:25,040 --> 01:25:28,600 Speaker 1: of the first Frankenstein film, Like this one feels like it. 1511 01:25:28,880 --> 01:25:31,240 Speaker 1: It honestly got to that feel good moment at the 1512 01:25:31,360 --> 01:25:32,519 Speaker 1: end where everything's put right. 1513 01:25:33,880 --> 01:25:34,040 Speaker 4: Yeah. 1514 01:25:34,160 --> 01:25:36,680 Speaker 1: Like Joe said, it's a beautiful movie. Go see it 1515 01:25:36,720 --> 01:25:38,799 Speaker 1: if you haven't seen it, And if you've seen it before, 1516 01:25:39,000 --> 01:25:41,519 Speaker 1: even a few times, go watch it again because you 1517 01:25:41,560 --> 01:25:44,080 Speaker 1: know you love it. Just a reminder out there that 1518 01:25:44,640 --> 01:25:47,280 Speaker 1: Stuffed to Blow your Mind is primarily a science podcast 1519 01:25:47,360 --> 01:25:51,120 Speaker 1: with core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Fridays 1520 01:25:51,320 --> 01:25:53,400 Speaker 1: we set aside most serious concerns to just talk about 1521 01:25:53,439 --> 01:25:56,640 Speaker 1: a weird movie here on Weird House Cinema. If you 1522 01:25:56,760 --> 01:25:58,760 Speaker 1: want to see a list of all the movies we've 1523 01:25:58,840 --> 01:26:02,640 Speaker 1: covered over the years here, you can go to U. 1524 01:26:03,040 --> 01:26:04,680 Speaker 1: We can go to letterbox dot com. It's l E 1525 01:26:04,760 --> 01:26:06,559 Speaker 1: T T E R B O x D dot com. 1526 01:26:07,240 --> 01:26:11,880 Speaker 1: That's a site where people create accounts and review movies 1527 01:26:11,960 --> 01:26:14,160 Speaker 1: and make lists of movies. Well, we have a username 1528 01:26:14,200 --> 01:26:16,400 Speaker 1: on there, it's weird House, and you can see a 1529 01:26:16,520 --> 01:26:19,240 Speaker 1: wonderful visual list of all the movies we've covered thus far, 1530 01:26:19,360 --> 01:26:22,120 Speaker 1: and sometimes a peek ahead at what's coming up next. 1531 01:26:22,439 --> 01:26:24,720 Speaker 1: I also blog about these films at some mutomusic dot 1532 01:26:24,800 --> 01:26:26,439 Speaker 1: com Huge Things. 1533 01:26:26,479 --> 01:26:30,320 Speaker 2: As always to our excellent audio producer Jjposway. If you 1534 01:26:30,320 --> 01:26:32,240 Speaker 2: would like to get in touch with us with feedback 1535 01:26:32,320 --> 01:26:34,760 Speaker 2: on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic 1536 01:26:34,840 --> 01:26:36,720 Speaker 2: for the future, or just to say hello, you can 1537 01:26:36,840 --> 01:26:39,760 Speaker 2: email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind 1538 01:26:39,920 --> 01:26:40,360 Speaker 2: dot com. 1539 01:26:47,200 --> 01:26:50,120 Speaker 3: Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1540 01:26:50,240 --> 01:26:53,000 Speaker 3: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1541 01:26:53,160 --> 01:26:55,920 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,