The Mummy/Bride of Frankenstein

After early successes with “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”, Universal immediately put more horror films into production, hoping to capitalize on their previous films’ success and build a stable of profitable franchises. Next up was “The Mummy”, followed shortly by the first sequel of the bunch, “The Bride of Frankenstein”. “The Mummy” is noteworthy because it is not based on an existing novel, such as “Dracula”, “Frankenstein”, or HG Wells’ “The Invisible Man”, which was also in production at the time. Instead, given the public’s fascination with all things ancient Egyptian after the much publicized uncovering of King Tut’s tomb, Universal simply transposed elements of the “Dracula” storyline to 1920’s Egypt, concerning a reincarnated villain in search of his long lost love. Universal, confident now in Boris Karloff as a bankable star, simply advertised “Karloff….THE MUMMY” and the people came. After two big successes, casting him in “The Bride of Frankenstein” was a slam dunk. The studio also wisely brought back director James Whale and true title character Colin Clive to reprise his role as troubled scientist Henry Frankenstein, this time bringing in Elsa Lanchester to play the bride (note, the monster’s bride, not the ‘real’ Frankenstein’s bride). With two smash franchises leading to three prominent roles, Karloff parlayed this into a lengthy career, almost always in horror films, but sometimes branching out (still playing that type though) in other classics such as “Scarface” and “Arsenic and Old Lace” (he did not appear in the film, but played the role of Jonathan Brewster to great acclaim on Broadway and his persona largely influenced Raymond Massey’s screen portrayal). Conversely, Bela Legosi only appeared in the first “Dracula” film and while he too would have a long career, he soon was recognized as a lesser star than Karloff, a fact which brought about severe depression and drug addiction if the allegedly factual Tim Burton film “Ed Wood” is to be believed. Either way, Karloff’s profile continued to rise throughout the 1930’s and Universal, which began the decade seeking an identity with the transition to sound, had one thanks to their horror films.

After directing their smash success “Dracula”, Carl Laemmle must have liked what he saw from the celebrated German cinematographer (having made his reputation shooting Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau films), because he gave him the reins of his next monster franchise, “The Mummy”. Opening with an expedition in the deserts of Egypt around 1920, a group of scientists have just made a startling discovery, unearthing a tomb of a cursed priest and a mystical book buried amongst the sarcophagus. One of the scientists, Dr. Muller, the wizened and eldest of the group (played by Edward Van Sloan, essentially repeating his role from “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”), warns against disturbing the find, while the others disregard him and his antiquated belief in the power of the ancient Egyptian customs. Reading aloud the curse they are warned not to awakens the priest Imhotep from his slumber and instead of a scene crammed with flashy special effects like Stephen Sommers’ remake would have almost 70 years later, Imhotep simply opens his eyes, caked shut with thousands of years of dust and dirt and subtly twitches his fingers. Fully revived, the mere sight of him causes one member of the expedition to lose his mind and the last we see of Imhotep is him wandering deep into the desert. Cut to ten years later and the son of one of the members of the original expedition, Frank Whemple has taken up his father’s work, and is leading one of his own on the outskirts of Cairo. Acting on a tip by the mysterious Ardeth Bay, Imhotep in human form, Whemple unearths an incredible find, the sarcophagus of an Egyptian princess. What Whemple does not know, besides the fact that Ardeth Bay is really a 3000 year old priest sentenced to death for sleeping with the Pharoah’s wife (portrayed in a fascinating flashback done entirely in ‘silent movie’ style, i.e. stark lighting, elaborate makeup, acting and posturing, and a quicker shutter speed to give it the ‘flicker’ effect), is that Ardeth Bay believes a modern woman, Helen Grosvenor, to be his beloved Anck-es-en-Amon, reincarnated. Whemple is of course in love with Helen and struggles to protect her from the mysterious forces compelling her towards the expedition’s artifacts being housed in the Egyptian Museum. After witnessing the effects of Imhotep’s power (driving the native Nubians insane, killing several museum guards and Whemple’s father who get in his way), Whemple and Dr. Muller make the difficult decision of using Helen as bait, allowing her to follow her ancient impulse and go to Imhotep. Following her to the museum, Frank and Dr. Muller burn the room down, trapping Imhotep, at least until the franchise’s sequel, “The Mummy’s Hand”.

Contemporary audiences like to debate the question (more and more topical given the abundance of choices) “what is the best sequel ever made?” While “The Godfather Part II” is often cited as an acceptable response, James Whale definitely topped himself with 1935’s “Bride of Frankenstein”. Given greater freedom, both physically and artistically, “Bride of Frankenstein” expands on all fronts from its predecessor. Lavish sets (the wreckage of the windmill, from the finale of the first film, Dr. Frankenstein’s far more elaborate castle and laboratory, and several forest set pieces), more for the monster to do (he even gets to speak!), and a wonderful new addition to the franchise, Dr. Pretorius. While, for good reason, the Bride is cited as the biggest attraction from this film, Ernest Thesiger’s portrayal of the morbid Dr. Pretorius is what really gives the film its creepier, more effective tone. A sinister scientist who shares Dr. Frankenstein’s desire to create life, but lacking the moral dilemma that stopped Frankenstein from continuing his experiments from the first film, Dr. Pretorius visits Dr. Frankenstein early on and blackmails him into helping him with his experiments by threatening to implicate him in the death and destruction caused by the monster, who has lived from the events of the first film and is again terrorizing the countryside. Pretorius’ plan: give him a companion. Pretorious demonstrates his early experiments in a bizarre scene in which he produces a half dozen or so little people he keeps in glass bottles. This scene is a perfect example of the baroque sense of humor which runs throughout the film, a darker, edgier bent that most early films, comedy or otherwise, did not often employ. After blackmailing Dr. Frankenstein into joining his research, again estranging his beloved Elizabeth, the two ultimately create ‘the Bride’, played by Elsa Lanchester, who also appears as Mary Shelley in a framing prologue, in which Lord Byron and Percy Shelley (no Keats though) compliment her on her horror tale. The Bride is regarded as a Universal monster, even though she only appears on screen for barely 10 minutes and has no lines other than hissing and screeching. The Monster however is given plenty of lines, learning to speak by a blind hermit who befriends him temporarily (a scene spoofed to great effect 40 years later by Mel Brooks in “Young Frankenstein”), and before killing himself, the Bride and Dr. Pretorious, utters one of cinema’s classic lines “We belong dead”, a mournful decree that offers a dramatic climax to the film. While the franchise would spawn three further sequels, this arguably stands as its finest.