30 Amazing Behind the Scenes Photos From the Making of “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures’ 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale, starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein. The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the bride.

Universal considered making a sequel to Frankenstein as early as its 1931 preview screenings, following which the film’s original ending was changed to allow for Henry Frankenstein’s survival. James Whale initially refused to direct Bride, believing he had “squeezed the idea dry” on the first film. Kurt Neumann was originally scheduled to replace Whale but decided to film The Black Cat instead. Following the success of Whale’s The Invisible Man, producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. realized that Whale was the only possible director for Bride; Whale took advantage of the situation in persuading the studio to let him make One More River. Whale believed the sequel would not top the original, so he decided instead to make it a memorable “hoot.” According to a studio publicist, Whale and Universal’s studio psychiatrist decided “the Monster would have the mental age of a ten-year-old boy and the emotional age of a lad of fifteen.”

Sources report that Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains were considered, with varying degrees of seriousness, for the role of Frankenstein's mentor, Pretorius; others report that the role was created specifically for Ernest Thesiger. Because of Mae Clarke’s ill health, Valerie Hobson replaced her as Henry Frankenstein’s love interest, Elizabeth. Early in production, Whale decided that the same actress cast to play the Bride should also play Mary Shelley in the film’s prologue, to represent how the story — and horror in general — springs from the dark side of the imagination. He considered Brigitte Helm and Phyllis Brooks before deciding on Elsa Lanchester. Lanchester, who had accompanied husband Charles Laughton to Hollywood, had met with only moderate success while Laughton had made a strong impact with several films including The Private Life of Henry VIII (for which he had won an Oscar) and Whale’s own The Old Dark House. Lanchester had returned alone to London when Whale contacted her to offer her the dual role. Lanchester modeled the Bride’s hissing on the hissing of swans. She gave herself a sore throat while filming the hissing sequence, which Whale shot from multiple angles.

Colin Clive and Boris Karloff reprised their roles from Frankenstein as creator and creation, respectively. Hobson recalled Clive’s alcoholism had worsened since filming the original, but Whale did not recast the role because his “hysterical quality” was necessary for the film. Karloff strongly objected to the decision to allow the Monster to speak: “Speech! Stupid! My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm, it was because he was inarticulate – this great, lumbering, inarticulate creature. The moment he spoke you might as well ... play it straight.” This decision also meant that Karloff could not remove his dental plate, so now his cheeks did not have the sunken look of the original film. Whale and the studio psychiatrist selected 44 simple words for the Monster’s vocabulary by looking at test papers of ten-year-olds working at the studio. Dwight Frye returned to play the doctor’s assistant, Karl, having played the hunchback Fritz in the original. Frye also filmed a scene as an unnamed villager and the role of “Nephew Glutz,” a man who murdered his uncle and blamed the death on the Monster. Boris Karloff is credited simply as KARLOFF, which was Universal’s custom during the height of his career. Elsa Lanchester is credited for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, but in a nod to the earlier film, the Monster’s bride is credited only as “?” just as Boris Karloff had been in the opening credits of Frankenstein.

Universal makeup artist Jack Pierce paid special attention to the Monster’s appearance in this film. He altered his 1931 design to display the after-effects of the mill fire, adding scars and shortening the Monster’s hair. Over the course of filming, Pierce modified the Monster’s makeup to indicate that the Monster’s injuries were healing as the film progressed. Pierce co-created the Bride’s makeup with strong input from Whale, especially regarding the Bride’s iconic hair style, based on Nefertiti. Lanchester’s hair was given a Marcel wave over a wire frame to achieve the style. Lanchester disliked working with Pierce, who she said “really did feel that he made these people, like he was a god ... in the morning he’d be dressed in white as if he were in hospital to perform an operation.” To play Mary Shelley, Lanchester wore a white net dress embroidered with sequins of butterflies, stars, and moons, which the actress had heard required 17 women 12 weeks to make. Lanchester said of her bride costume: “I drank as little liquid as possible. It was too much of an ordeal to go to the bathroom––all those bandages––and having to be accompanied by my dresser.”

Kenneth Strickfaden created and maintained the laboratory equipment. Strickfaden recycled a number of the fancifully named machines he had created for the original Frankenstein for use in Bride, including the “Cosmic Ray Diffuser,” and the “Nebularium.” A lightning bolt generated by Strickfaden’s equipment has become a stock scene, appearing in any number of films and television shows. The man behind the film’s special photographic effects was John P. Fulton, head of the special effects department at Universal Studios at the time. Fulton and David S. Horsley created the homunculi over the course of two days by shooting the actors in full-size jars against black velvet and aligning them with the perspective of the on-set jars. The foreground film plate was rotoscoped and matted onto the rear plate. Diminutive actor Billy Barty is briefly visible from the back in the finished film as a homunculus infant in a high chair, but Whale cut the infant's reveal before the film's release.

Shooting began on January 2, 1935, with a projected budget of US$293,750 ($6.53 million as of 2024) – almost exactly the budget of the original – and an estimated 36-day shooting schedule. On the first day, Karloff waded in the water below the destroyed windmill wearing a rubber suit under his costume. Air got into the suit and expanded it like an “obscene water lily.” Later that day, Karloff broke his hip, necessitating a stunt double. Clive had also broken his leg. Shooting was completed on March 7. The film was ten days over schedule because Whale shut down the picture for ten days until Heggie became available to play the Hermit. With a final cost of $397,023 ($11.1 million as of 2024), Bride was more than $100,000 ($2.22 million as of 2024) over budget. As originally filmed, Henry died fleeing the exploding castle. Whale re-shot the ending to allow for their survival, although Clive is still visible on-screen in the collapsing laboratory. Whale completed his final cut, shortening the running time from about 90 to 75 minutes and re-shooting and re-editing the ending, only days before the film’s scheduled premiere date.

Bride of Frankenstein was profitable for Universal, with a 1943 report showing that the film had by then earned approximately $2 million ($35.2 million in 2024 money) for the studio, a profit of about $950,000 ($16.7 million as of 2024). Contemporary reviews were mostly positive, though the film’s reputation has grown over time.