Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s upcoming film The Bride! reimagines the character of Frankenstein’s silent bride from the 1935 movie Bride of Frankenstein, bringing renewed attention to this iconic figure nearly a century after her initial screen appearance. Set in 1930s Chicago, the film explores the consequences of creating the titular character, focusing on the relationship between Frank—Gyllenhaal’s version of Frankenstein’s monster—and the Bride, as their union ignites social upheaval.
The focus on the Bride marks a notable shift from previous films, highlighting a character who traditionally had little agency. Gyllenhaal’s work draws not only from the legacy of 1930s horror cinema but also from her own inspiration after encountering a tattoo of the Bride, which led her to reflect on the character’s marginal presence despite lending her name to the classic film.
The Origins of Frankenstein’s Horror Legacy and Its Sequel
Frankenstein’s monster has been a pervasive figure in popular culture since Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. However, the 1931 film adaptation directed by James Whale solidified the character’s place in the modern horror genre. Whale soon followed up with Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, which introduced the Bride but gave her little narrative voice.
Universal Pictures sought a sequel after the commercial success of Frankenstein, but Whale was initially reluctant to return to the story. As a director, Whale was ready to expand his range beyond war-themed works, having gained recognition for his portrayals of World War I through plays and film. His experiences, including staging shows as a prisoner of war, honed his storytelling skills, which he applied successfully in Hollywood.
James Whale: From War Theater to Horror Film Innovator
James Whale, born in England in 1889, built his early career around visual arts and theater before entering film. After directing the 1930 adaptation of the World War I play Journey’s End, he deliberately shifted to the horror genre. According to biographer James Curtis, Whale wanted to move beyond his Great War specialization. Whale’s theatrical sensibilities brought distinct style and emotional depth to his films, making his Frankenstein a landmark piece in cinema history.
Frankenstein shocked 1930s audiences with its horror scenes, including the creature’s violent actions, which garnered intense public fascination. Curtis noted the public’s morbid curiosity as a key factor in the film’s lasting appeal:
“It’s like how people are attracted to traffic accidents,”
he explained.
“We have a natural compulsion to see and process that kind of subject matter.”
Curtis also emphasized Whale’s artistic ambitions, which stretched beyond the horror trope to include humor and rapid pacing in his works.
Crafting the Sequel: Bride of Frankenstein’s Development and Style
The production of Bride of Frankenstein involved several screenwriters before Whale proceeded with filming. The story centers on Septimus Pretorius, a former mentor to Henry Frankenstein, who schemes alongside the monster to forcibly involve Henry in creating a mate for the creature. The sequel diverges from Mary Shelley’s original novel by expanding the monster’s character and including his acquisition of language and friendship with a blind hermit.
Film scholar Frances Pheasant-Kelly remarked on this deeper character exploration:
“In Bride of Frankenstein, we sympathize with the monster a lot, particularly as it acquires language.”
Whale retained full creative control during production, supervising even details like the Bride’s iconic hairstyle and costume design. Costume head Vera West created the Bride’s minimalist white gown, a stark contrast to her dramatic hairstyle. West’s prolific career included costume design on nearly 400 films, such as Phantom of the Opera (1943) and The Killers (1946), which introduced Ava Gardner. Curtis noted,
“Whale thought he had done all the heavy lifting with the first film and got the concept out of the way. And so he was going to take it now to a different level… He wanted it to be horrifying in places at the same time. He wanted it to be vastly entertaining.”
Queer Subtext and Personal Elements in Bride of Frankenstein
Some academics interpret Bride of Frankenstein as containing subtle queer themes, linking them to Whale’s own identity as one of Hollywood’s first openly gay directors who maintained privacy about his personal life. While Curtis disputes the direct influence of Whale’s sexuality on the film’s subtext, Pheasant-Kelly points out that the character of Pretorius is portrayed with camp mannerisms and described as “a very queer-looking gentleman.” She further notes the symbolic significance of two men collaborating to create life in a laboratory setting.
Actor Ernest Thesiger’s portrayal of Pretorius adds to these interpretations, as Thesiger himself has been identified as openly gay or bisexual. Pheasant-Kelly finds the character’s dramatic death in an explosion telling, suggesting possible commentary on censorship or Whale’s perspective:
“I don’t know whether Whale thought about it in that way to satisfy the censors, but it was interesting.”
Hollywood Censorship and the Impact of the Hays Code
The Bride of Frankenstein was produced during the height of the Hays Code, a set of moral guidelines introduced in 1934 to regulate Hollywood films. Directors had to navigate restrictions on profanity, sexual content, religious references, and violence. Whale’s sequel faced censorship challenges including the removal of references equating Frankenstein’s creation with God’s act of creating life, and the toning down of revealing scenes involving the Bride and Henry’s wife, Elizabeth.
Despite these constraints, Curtis highlights the film’s subtle complexity:
“A lot of things that got done back at that time were by inference, and sophisticated audiences knew what the filmmakers were getting at.”
Whale’s creative approach included a prologue featuring an actress portraying Mary Shelley, who frames the story as a work of imagination.
Pheasant-Kelly explains this tactic:
“The prologue soothes the censors’ nerves because it creates this notion that it was a fantasy… The way that he got around some of the horror was to present it as … something that couldn’t happen.”
Elsa Lanchester, who played both the Bride and Mary Shelley in the 1935 film, described Whale’s reasoning for casting one actress in dual roles:
“James’ feeling was that pretty, sweet people, both men and women, had very wicked insides. Evil thoughts. These thoughts could be of dragons. They could be of monsters. They could be of Frankenstein’s laboratory. So James wanted the same actress for both parts to show that the Bride of Frankenstein did, after all, come out of sweet Mary Shelley’s soul.”
Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! also casts Jessie Buckley to play both the Bride and Mary Shelley, continuing Whale’s symbolic motif while adding deeper voice and agency to the Bride.
The Enduring Influence of Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein was a commercial and critical triumph, earning the equivalent of roughly $37.5 million by 1943 and securing a lasting place in horror history. Though it inspired fewer remakes than its predecessor, the film’s visual elements, including the Bride’s hairstyle and the iconic “mad scientist” imagery, continue to influence cinema and pop culture.
Film scholar Frances Pheasant-Kelly emphasizes the film’s ongoing relevance:
“It’s still a pivotal film, an iconic film, in the history of horror. It always gets mentioned, and there’s so many references to it.”
James Curtis points out that Whale’s empathetic portrayal of the monster created a new template for cinema:
“Any time you see a film with a character that’s a monster, and they’re a well-rounded character, it goes straight back to Frankenstein. That was something that James Whale specifically brought to the table: How do we make the monster a sympathetic figure?”
The climax of Bride of Frankenstein is memorable for its sudden focus on the Bride’s rejection of the monster. Though she speaks no words, her scream and refusal to accept him have made a lasting impression. Gyllenhaal reflected on this moment in an interview:
Bride of Frankenstein is just a Frankenstein sequel, and she literally doesn’t speak. But without words, when she wakes up … she says ‘no’ to him. That’s certainly unusual now, and it must have been unusual then.
This silence inspired Gyllenhaal to center her upcoming film on the Bride herself, giving voice to a previously voiceless figure and expanding the narrative possibilities of this classic horror story.
