Post by klep on Feb 26, 2018 7:56:08 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/26: Bride of Frankenstein
1930s WEEK!
Frankenstein had been a huge hit for Universal Pictures, easily the highest-grossing film of the year and besting the runner up City Lights by twofold. Naturally, in an impulse certainly familiar to film fans of today, they almost immediately set about planning a sequel. And after years of rewrites, Bride of Frankenstein was gifted to the world.
The original Frankenstein was about scientific hubris, but also about the ease with which mankind lashes out at things it does not understand. The Monster (Boris Karloff) is consistently misunderstood and assumed to be evil - rather than grasping that he has no more than a child's understanding of the world around him and an inability to articulate himself.
That idea is carried through into the sequel, but extended to show that he could possibly be much more - and much better - if only someone cared to understand him. In this film he encounters a blind hermit (O.P. Heggie) who befriends him, civilizes him to an extent, and teaches him to speak. The Monster is still much like a child, but now he is able to express himself - his desires and fears.
And what he wants is a wife. Fortunately, one Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) is extorting Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) to do just that. Horrified by the fruits of his labors in the first film, Henry Frankenstein wants nothing more to do with creating life in his laboratory. But Pretorius is able to enlist the impressionable Monster in abducting Henry's fiancée.
Ultimately the experiment is a success, but it doesn't produce the soulmate the Monster was hoping for. The Bride (Elsa Lanchester) is surprisingly only in the film for a few minutes, but her shock and fear at the sight of the Monster makes him realize that he will never truly have peace in this world. He lets his creator go, but ends his own, the Bride's, and that of the man who gave him the false hope that he could have love.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 3/5: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
SLOW-BURN SPY WEEK!
Where else would we go for a le Carré-esque spy story about the soul-crushing nature of spycraft than to le Carré himself? Next week we'll be discussing this spectacular adaptation starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is available on Netflix Instant and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Showtime add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/22: The Shape of Water
Last week's podcast concluded with Guillermo del Toro's beautiful new tale of the love between women and fish-men. We'll have a thread to discuss The Shape of Water on Wednesday. If you're lucky, this Best Picture favorite may be in a theater near you.
1930s WEEK!
Frankenstein had been a huge hit for Universal Pictures, easily the highest-grossing film of the year and besting the runner up City Lights by twofold. Naturally, in an impulse certainly familiar to film fans of today, they almost immediately set about planning a sequel. And after years of rewrites, Bride of Frankenstein was gifted to the world.
The original Frankenstein was about scientific hubris, but also about the ease with which mankind lashes out at things it does not understand. The Monster (Boris Karloff) is consistently misunderstood and assumed to be evil - rather than grasping that he has no more than a child's understanding of the world around him and an inability to articulate himself.
That idea is carried through into the sequel, but extended to show that he could possibly be much more - and much better - if only someone cared to understand him. In this film he encounters a blind hermit (O.P. Heggie) who befriends him, civilizes him to an extent, and teaches him to speak. The Monster is still much like a child, but now he is able to express himself - his desires and fears.
And what he wants is a wife. Fortunately, one Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) is extorting Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) to do just that. Horrified by the fruits of his labors in the first film, Henry Frankenstein wants nothing more to do with creating life in his laboratory. But Pretorius is able to enlist the impressionable Monster in abducting Henry's fiancée.
Ultimately the experiment is a success, but it doesn't produce the soulmate the Monster was hoping for. The Bride (Elsa Lanchester) is surprisingly only in the film for a few minutes, but her shock and fear at the sight of the Monster makes him realize that he will never truly have peace in this world. He lets his creator go, but ends his own, the Bride's, and that of the man who gave him the false hope that he could have love.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 3/5: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
SLOW-BURN SPY WEEK!
Where else would we go for a le Carré-esque spy story about the soul-crushing nature of spycraft than to le Carré himself? Next week we'll be discussing this spectacular adaptation starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is available on Netflix Instant and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Showtime add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/22: The Shape of Water
Last week's podcast concluded with Guillermo del Toro's beautiful new tale of the love between women and fish-men. We'll have a thread to discuss The Shape of Water on Wednesday. If you're lucky, this Best Picture favorite may be in a theater near you.