I grew up watching monster movies. We had The Creature Double Feature to keep us happy on Saturdays so I’m sure I’ve seen every Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula or Mummy movie that was made in the 30’s, 40’s or 50’s. The only reason I decided to re-visit this one is that my nine year-old niece has been asking to watch it and we had some time (the film is only 75 minutes long).
She loved it…I didn’t hate it. We both agreed it wasn’t scary at all. The reason my niece enjoyed it so much is because she didn’t realize that the Frankenstein Monster was only driven by a desire to be loved and that he didn’t MEAN to scare people. She really loved that about him. She also watched it thinking the doctors were making him a mate because they cared about him and that when she first saw him she’d fall right in love. So the Bride’s reactions at the end surprised her. The other thing that surprised her was how quickly it ended.
The Bride is only in the film for about five minutes (seven tops). This didn’t seem to bother my niece but it kind of bugged me. I wanted to see the Bride of Frankenstein and this was more like Frankenstein’s Quest.
In any event, for 75 minutes a black and white film with a lot of boring dialogue between two old guys with accents kept my nine year-old niece watching (and wanting more)…so Mr. Whale obviously did something right.
Definitely keeping this one in the queue for future Halloweens.