silver nitrate notes

Bride of Frankenstein and John J. Mescall's Crown

12 mar 2015

James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is, on most lists, the better of the two Whale Frankenstein pictures. Whale himself is reputed to have agreed. The cinematographer this time was John J. Mescall (1899-1962), not Edeson, who had moved on to other Universal projects. What Mescall and Whale did with the sequel is push the visual register into territory that was, even by Universal's standards, more theatrical than the original.

The plot picks up immediately after the events of the first film. The Monster, who did not actually die in the windmill fire, makes his way into the surrounding countryside. Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger), an unhinged scientist who has been growing miniature humans in jars, persuades a kidnapped Henry Frankenstein to assist him in creating a mate for the Monster.

What Mescall does in the climactic creation sequence is a technical achievement that exceeds anything in the original. The laboratory has been rebuilt as a multilevel set with vast Tesla coils, ascending platforms, and a transparent ceiling through which the lightning that animates the Bride descends. Mescall lights the sequence almost entirely from above and below, with the practical lightning effects providing additional intermittent illumination. The camera moves through the laboratory in long tracking shots that follow the surgical preparations. The whole sequence is operatic. It is also, for 1935, technically advanced beyond its budget.

The Bride herself, played by Elsa Lanchester, appears in the film for less than five minutes of screen time. Mescall photographs her primarily in close-ups against a black background, with key light from below, to emphasise the white skunk-stripe in her hair and the sutures across her face. The image of her, though brief, has become iconic in a way few single shots in 1930s cinema have. It is a face on a bandaged torso, lit from below, with no expression beyond shock and recognition. Lanchester does not speak. She hisses.

Whale used Karloff's Monster to do something Universal had not let him do in the original: speak. The Monster's halting English ("friend... good") was Karloff's idea. Whale agreed to it against Karloff's later regrets. The speech changes the character.

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sources
[1] Curtis, James. James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters. Faber, 1998.
[2] Mank, Gregory William. It's Alive!. Barnes, 1981.
[3] Skal, David J. The Monster Show. Norton, 1993.
[4] Mescall, John J. Interview in American Cinematographer, May 1935.