October 2, 2016/Bride of Frankenstein

===Transcript===
Intro
Hi, I’m Ben Mankiewicz. Welcome to TCM. Every Sunday night in October, we’re bringing you movies with our Monster of the Month: Frankenstein. Although, as most of you know by now, Frankenstein was the doctor, but it’s become common practice to refer to the monster he creates as Frankenstein. We just aired the definitive Frankenstein film from Universal Pictures in 1931. Up next, we have its sequel, from Universal in 1935, it’s Bride of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley, who wrote the novel Frankenstein, did not write a sequel to her 1818 book. Furthermore, director James Whale had little interest in revisiting the story. However, Universal chief Carl Laemmle kept leaning on Whale for a second Frankenstein film and Whale finally relented, but he did have conditions. He insisted on total creative control. The first step involved collaborating with a couple of Universal screenwriters to figure out a way to bring Frankenstein’s monster back to life. Step two was conceiving of a female mate for him. Jack Pierce returned to work his make-up magic on Boris Karloff one more time, which meant another series of grueling daily sessions in the chair for Karloff. Colin Clive also returned as the doctor. To play the bride, Elsa Lanchester was given a distinctive hairdo featuring an exaggerated Marcel Wave with gray streaks on the side, which when seen, is never forgotten. Elsa Lanchester also did double duty playing Mary Shelley in a prologue to the story. Valerie Hobson joins the cast as Elizabeth, with Ernest Thesiger as Doctor Pretorius, and Una O’Connor as the screaming maid Minnie. Here’s a rare sequel that’s so good, many committed fans maintain it’s actually better than the original. From 1935, here’s Bride of Frankenstein.
Outro
Despite a positive reception for Bride of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff was not pleased with this sequel to Frankenstein. He said it damaged the character of the monster. Karloff didn’t believe in humanizing the creature and he especially didn’t like that the monster learned to talk. But director James Whale had the final say on every matter. Bride of Frankenstein did so well at the box office that Universal decided to make another sequel. And despite his continued misgivings, Boris Karloff agreed to come back and play the monster a third and final time. But director James Whale had had enough, he was replaced by Rowland V. Lee. Coming up next, we’ve got that third Frankenstein movie, which also features Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi.
Category:Movie Capsules