Bride of Frankenstein (I don't get it)

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Ted Newsom		#61	[-]
(07/01/09 1:32 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	OK, I watched this movie last night, or at least until I fell asleep, no reflection on the movie. Gawdalmighty I hate Una O'Connor in this. She is as horrendously annoying and over the top as Marty Feldman in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. And this is supposed to be scary? Never thought about the parallel between Dr. P & Henry vs. John Dee & Edward Kelly; not bad, not bad at all. next time joekarlosi starts ribbing Hammer films about their English accents, let me bring up the ludicrous combination of Irishmen and women, snooty English, midwestern Americans and broad-brogue Scots in this one. Wow. But it's a fairy tale. It's creepy and it's spooky, mysterious and kooky, altogether ooky. Incredibly touching at times. But it never ever scared me.
Rakshasa		#62	[-]
(07/01/09 1:51 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I think the point is that Bride Of Frankenstein is it's own thing and that being "scary" (as in The Wolf Man-chasing-you-through-the-foggy-woods scary) is not really the intention.
paleoguy		#63	[-]
(07/01/09 1:59 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	mormovies wrote: I consider BOF to be Whale's masterwork. No other film of his exhibits the style and scale of BRIDE. BRIDE is like the CITIZEN KANE of horror movies. It takes such a giant cinematic leap both artistically and technically. The original FRANKENSTEIN, as much as I love it, is a crude stage play in comparison. Depending on your idea of 'scary' I would argue any day that BRIDE is 'deeper' and darker, obsessing with sex and death in a way that few other films have ever done, before or since. The scene where Karloff gazes upon a veiled woman's corpse in the subterranean mausoleum, still freaks me out and really made me think about death as a kid! The strange relationship between Henry and Pretorious is so complex and possibly based on the team of alchemists Edward Kelly and John Dee. I could go on... I think Pierce's make up is the best, I think Karloff's performance was truly Oscar worthy, Waxman's music is amazing, etc., etc. Few films, let alone horror films, can boast such superb achievements in every department and aspect of the production. If BRIDE doesn't do it for you, I feel sorry for you. Maybe I'm just not a 'monster kid?' On this board, in general, I find that I love and obsess over the same films as everyone else but almost NEVER for the same reasons! So weird... I agree with every word you wrote.
paleoguy		#64	[-]
(07/01/09 2:06 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	aycorn wrote: Colossus Rex wrote: It's an oddity of the series that in BRIDE, the film in which the Monster is humanized to the greatest degree, he also commits a number of seemingly unmotivated and brutal murders...the little girl in the Communion dress and the married couple who Minnie discovers in separate rooms... This always bothered me, since in FRANKENSTEIN we are made to understand why he kills Fritz and Waldman (basically self defense in each case) and Mara (tragic misunderstanding)... He also attacks at least one of the villagers during the chase in the mountains and of course throws Frankenstein from the mill, but these again are understandable acts. But why he killed those people in BRIDE, I'll never know... This is why I do find the monster scary in BRIDE. He seems less childlike, more cognizant of what he's doing, and angry. He's still innocent in many ways, but he's become tainted by, for lack of a better word, evil. When he encounters Dr. Praetorius, there's a certain sense of "oh boy - this is the last guy he should be hooking up with." This is how I feel, too. Perhaps it's because BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was my first "monster movie" when I was about five or six years old. I do think the Monster is very frightening in a few scenes, but I felt more pity for him than fear. This film was literally a life changing experience, and eventually lead the way to my profession as a writer. I'm certain that I would be a different person if I'd never seen the movie when I did.
professor liebstrum		#65	[-]
(07/01/09 2:28 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It's creepy and it's spooky, mysterious and kooky, altogether ooky. Incredibly touching at times. But it never ever scared me. I don't think I was ever frightened by anything in a Universal film,even when I was nine years old. The first horror I ever saw was House of Dracula and I was thrilled by the Bat into Latos transformation and the Wolfman in the jail scenes, but I wasn't scared. There are pretty creepy scenes in Frankenstein meets the Wolfman and The Mummy's Curse but I think the only golden age film to ever scare me was Island of Lost Souls. I wonder if anyone was really scared when the films first appeared. I love them, the style, the make ups, special effects , acting but were they ever really scary? Or are we so used to stuff,even by the time we're nine that we don't get scared that easily. We are talking about a film where the main character is a reanimated corpse after all. Russ Last Edited By: professor liebstrum 07/01/09 2:32 PM. Edited 1 times.
bobzilla		#66	[-]
(07/01/09 2:50 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Not to derail this thread, but sine the professor brought up Island of Lost Souls , yes, that scared the crap out of me! I'm still creeped out by the Ouran character!
Colossus Rex		#67	[-]
(07/01/09 3:49 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	paleoguy wrote: aycorn wrote: Colossus Rex wrote: It's an oddity of the series that in BRIDE, the film in which the Monster is humanized to the greatest degree, he also commits a number of seemingly unmotivated and brutal murders...the little girl in the Communion dress and the married couple who Minnie discovers in separate rooms... This always bothered me, since in FRANKENSTEIN we are made to understand why he kills Fritz and Waldman (basically self defense in each case) and Mara (tragic misunderstanding)... He also attacks at least one of the villagers during the chase in the mountains and of course throws Frankenstein from the mill, but these again are understandable acts. But why he killed those people in BRIDE, I'll never know... This is why I do find the monster scary in BRIDE. He seems less childlike, more cognizant of what he's doing, and angry. He's still innocent in many ways, but he's become tainted by, for lack of a better word, evil. When he encounters Dr. Praetorius, there's a certain sense of "oh boy - this is the last guy he should be hooking up with." This is how I feel, too. Perhaps it's because BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was my first "monster movie" when I was about five or six years old. I do think the Monster is very frightening in a few scenes, but I felt more pity for him than fear. This film was literally a life changing experience, and eventually lead the way to my profession as a writer. I'm certain that I would be a different person if I'd never seen the movie when I did. It seems to me that Monster's killings are almost always justified in some way or another. That is, he reacts because he's being threatened or is enraged at having been tortured or abused. Or else, he's acting as a sort of "Hand of God" as he is in the climax of Bride (which maybe accounts for the killing of Karl as well.) How or why did he kill that poor little girl and the Neumans? After his experiences with Maria and the shepherdess girl, could he really turn around and cold-bloodedly murder a child? The presence of those bodies seems like a bit of narrative laziness to me.. and leaves a moral hole in the story.
Joe Karlosi		#68	[-]
(07/01/09 4:07 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Ted Newsom wrote: OK, I watched this movie last night, or at least until I fell asleep, no reflection on the movie. Gawdalmighty I hate Una O'Connor in this. She is as horrendously annoying and over the top as Marty Feldman in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. And this is supposed to be scary? No, I'd say the scenes featuring Una O'Connor are supposed to be funny. And I think they are. (I love Una in any of Whale's Universal movies). It's just for comic relief, especially early on with the monster rising out of the old mill. "Pretorious? Ain't no such name!" next time joekarlosi starts ribbing Hammer films about their English accents, let me bring up the ludicrous combination of Irishmen and women, snooty English, midwestern Americans and broad-brogue Scots in this one. Wow. But it's a fairy tale. To be fair, I only resorted to that cheap shot when something about Universal was knocked first (I forget what it was; maybe it was the knocking of THE WOLF MAN, because I think what you're basically referring to, Ted, was when I counteracted by asking why "Spanish" citizens speak with British accents in Hammer's CURSE OF THE WREREWOLF -- and that was a retaliatory observation). It's creepy and it's spooky, mysterious and kooky, altogether ooky. Incredibly touching at times. But it never ever scared me. And which of the Universals do, though? I recall getting sorta scared by FRANKENSTEIN, I guess... when I first saw it at 7 or so. But I don't think the "scare factor" is the appeal of the Universals. CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN never scared me, even when I was a kid (see? there's the Hammer one-for-one again! ) .
paleoguy		#69	[-]
(07/01/09 4:48 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	How or why did he kill that poor little girl and the Neumans? After his experiences with Maria and the shepherdess girl, could he really turn around and cold-bloodedly murder a child? That always bothered me, too. As a kid, I remember thinking that maybe the Monster accidentally trampled the little girl in all his outrage and confusion while he was running amok. Later on, when I read of the murders by Karl that were cut from the film, I convinced myself--for right or wrong--that Karl had also killed the girl. Still, the Monster certainly had a savage temper, and he wasn't above threatening Wolf's little son in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, even after befriending him. And, of course, the Monster brutally, and intentionally, murders Victor Frankenstein's young brother in the novel. This complex unpredictability is one of the reasons that the character is so dangerous and frightening.
Gadfly		#70	[-]
(07/01/09 7:34 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	paleoguy wrote: How or why did he kill that poor little girl and the Neumans? After his experiences with Maria and the shepherdess girl, could he really turn around and cold-bloodedly murder a child? That always bothered me, too. As a kid, I remember thinking that maybe the Monster accidentally trampled the little girl in all his outrage and confusion while he was running amok. Later on, when I read of the murders by Karl that were cut from the film, I convinced myself--for right or wrong--that Karl had also killed the girl. Still, the Monster certainly had a savage temper, and he wasn't above threatening Wolf's little son in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, even after befriending him. And, of course, the Monster brutally, and intentionally, murders Victor Frankenstein's young brother in the novel. This complex unpredictability is one of the reasons that the character is so dangerous and frightening. And of course the Monster tore Krogh's arm off when Krogh was just a boy. But then, that could have been an accident. Maybe the Monster was glad to meet the youngster and just got a little too enthusiastic with the handshake! (Well, it's possible ...) As for the shepherdess, though, considering that all he got for his gallant effort in rescuing her from drowning was a scream in the face and a bullet in the arm, I don't exactly see that as encouraging him to be less violent. (A more likely response would seem to me to be "F* this hero s*! No more Mr. Nice Guy!") You did raise a thought in my mind regarding the shepherdess that wasn't there before, though. Since the Monster wasn't exactly tearing up the countryside with random acts of kindness at the time this scene took place, could his decision to dive in and save the shepherdess from drowning have been at least in part a result of his experiences with Maria -- a sort of attempt to make amends? (I forget the sequence of events -- was this before he supposedly killed Freda? If it was after, it might blow that theory out of the water -- so to speak.) Gadfly P.S. BTW, it's not "shepherdess", it's "flock attendant"
paleoguy		#71	[-]
(07/01/09 8:03 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	could his decision to dive in and save the shepherdess from drowning have been at least in part a result of his experiences with Maria -- a sort of attempt to make amends? Although I have no idea if James Whale actually had that in mind, I think the idea itself is fascinating. I certainly will see something very different in that scene next time I watch it! Martin
bobzilla		#72	[-]
(07/01/09 8:25 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Darn, I'm going to have to watch this again, now aren't I...
Gadfly		#73	[-]
(07/01/09 8:56 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	paleoguy wrote: could his decision to dive in and save the shepherdess from drowning have been at least in part a result of his experiences with Maria -- a sort of attempt to make amends? Although I have no idea if James Whale actually had that in mind, I think the idea itself is fascinating. I certainly will see something very different in that scene next time I watch it! Martin Thank you very much. bobzilla wrote: Darn, I'm going to have to watch this again, now aren't I... Here's a YouTube clip that starts with that particular scene: Gadfly
tonyrivers		#74	[-]
(07/01/09 9:10 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Sorry Joe but Una O'Connor isn't funny in BRIDE..she's over the top and isn't necessary to the movie at all. You could easily edit out her scenes and not miss anything storywise. Besides there is plenty of humor throughout the film anyway. She was toned down somewhat in INVISIBLE MAN so I can just about tolerate her in that film.
bobzilla		#75	[-]
(07/01/09 9:18 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	That actress (aside from being beautiful) looks truly scared in that scene. The way she says, "Don't touch me!", as if something other than murder might be on the monster's mind. He doesn't actually kill her, though, which is what I thought everyone was talking about. He looks like he tries to quiet her screams, and maybe she fainted. When he first sees her, it does look like he almost sees her as someone familiar. He almost rushes toward her as if to say, "Surely, YOU will help me." I think ya got sumthin' there, Gadfly.
blackbiped		#76	[-]
(07/01/09 11:13 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Yet again, I find myself forced to defend Una O'Connor in BOF (I think she's great), and yet again I am forced to repost this picture. Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way. My MySpace page BumsCorner.com
paleoguy		#77	[-]
(07/01/09 11:21 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	For whatever it's worth, I'm an Una fan, too. Martin
Whatsallthis		#78	[-]
(07/01/09 11:50 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	What's not to get?? Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy blows up the building they're in by pulling a conveniently placed "lee-vah". "How can I handcuff a bloomin' shirt??!?"
Cadaverino		#79	[-]
(07/02/09 12:42 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	With all regard for Lynn Redgrave, I would have loved to seen GODS AND MONSTERS with Una O'Connor playing the housemaid.
Ted Newsom	oooh oooh Una	#80	[-]
(07/02/09 4:45 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	She's acceptable in ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN... very fun and restrained in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION... comedic but not grating in ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD... but I think she's nothing but annoying here, about on the level of Leo Gorcey at best, Sammy Petrillo at worst. She was, however, perfectly cast by RKO in 1952:

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Bride of Frankenstein (I don't get it)

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