Movie review - "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) ****1/2

One of the first examples of a-sequel-that-was-better-than-the-original. It takes a while to get going, being more tongue in cheek than the 1931 film, despite the fact that Boris Karloff kills two people in the first five minutes (parents of the little girl he killed in the first one, too! And they don't even do anything really making them deserve to die, they're just investigating).

It starts with a humorous sketch of Byron and the Shelleys and there are prominent "gag" characters including Una O'Connor and even Ernest Thesiger, whose Dr Pretorious (along with the Monster) is the one who really propels the action. In this sequel Clive's Frankenstein is like a recovering alcoholic, determined to stay away from bringing the dead to life with the love of a good woman (Valerie Hobson replaces Mae Clarke), but being tempted by Pretorius.

I admit it takes me a while to get into this, with its slightly camp nature to start off with and the monster being chased-captured-escaped-chased stuff getting a bit repetitive. But it gets better and better: the scene with the blind man admittedly lunges ruthlessly for the heart strings but it totally works (even if you can't shake the memory of Gene Hackman in Young Frankenstein) and the last half hour is brilliant, particularly the "raising the monster" scene, with its fabulous sets, thumping of a heart beat, rapid editing, lispy Dwight Frye offering to get a fresh heart for a hundred crowns, titled camera angles, crack of thunder, and Else Lanchester's thrillingly bizarre and strange appearance as the Bride (its a shame she never revived the character).

Although Karloff starts the film in very murderous fashion, you really feel for him even more in this one - the villagers basically crucify him, he only wants a friend and a girlfriend. Thesiger is excellent and scary; its fun to imagine at times what Belga Lugosi would have made of it - perhaps less campy, more imposing a Pretorius. But its an incredibly impressive film and deserves the revival in its reputation that has happened in recent years.