Review Detail

8.2 12 10
FanMix August 14, 2012 2856
(Updated: September 13, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Review by DwightFry78 — May 1, 2010 @ 7:01 pm

Given my moniker, I of course had to check this out! :-P As Bride of Frankenstein is my fave of both movies, I don’t think this new version improves over the originals, but it’s nonetheless a fine alternate take. Things I particularly liked: the new twist on the Maria sequence (exemplifying “less is more” to perfection, in fact I’ve always preferred the old truncated home video version of the sequence than the restored one), the otherwordly brownish tint, the new darker ending which is probably what Whale’s original cut looked like (while it could have been a bit tighter edited, a couple of shots scream for shortening), and particularly ALMOST NO UNA O’CONNOR who very nearly ruined Bride for me, despite preferring it to the original overall. BTW, Una DID totally ruin The Invisible Man for me. Maybe I’ll get to work on that some day.

What I didn’t like as much: It sometimes tends to forget it’s a classic, via some dissolves that scream “digital editing software” thus come across as awkward, and the too modern feel of the new credits (the lettering in green for a B&W movie, but also the overall flow of it), the use of the current Universal logo, Karloff second-billed after Colin Clive (!)… yet keeping the end credits cast list card for Bride instead of creating a new one. Now half of the credited performers are not in the movie, and half of the performers in the movie are not credited. As for the score for the first half, it’s both too recognizable and too modern-sounding. No way it could pass for something released in the 1930s. Also I must say that the blind hermit sequence is a favorite, but for the purposes of this cut it definitely had to go. The new retooling of Pretorius as the responsible for the Monster’s talking ability works fine IMHO.

However, while this comes close to resemble a movie and not two glued together, some problems keep it from succeeding, and I don’t mean the two Elizabeths. I think that the Monster-stalking-Elizabeth scene from the first film should go because it becomes repetitive in relation to the second part, and Dr. Frankenstein’s line “It’s alive! It’s alive!” referred to the Bride should go for the same reason. These things work in separate films, in the same one they become redundant. Also, the windmill sequence needs to be shortened, despite it being so good. As a matter of fact, BECAUSE it is so good. It looks like what it is: a movie climax. It needs to be turned into a middle point.

All in all, a solid, worthwhile fanedit. 7/10 overall.
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