Bride of Frankenstein might be my favorite horror movie. It's a film that I can watch repeatedly and always find something new or fun that I hadn't seen before. Its balance of humor and horror is perfect and the visuals fit the movie in such a timeless way that it still holds up nearly a century later. It's a film that everyone who enjoys movies should see at least once in their life.
Elsa Lanchester’s portrayal of The Bride is so iconic that she practically defines the entire movie, despite having relatively little screen time compared to other characters. Her appearance is at the crossroads of glamour and horror, so striking that it became an enduring trope. We also see deeper into Universal's version of the Monster, !!learning that he's a complex figure yearning for acceptance and companionship!!. Boris Karloff had reservations !!about the Monster having speaking parts, but I think the timing of him adopting human speech while recognizing that he doesn't belong is a tremendous emphasis on what it really means to belong!!.
We cannot discuss scene-stealers without mentioning Dr. Pretorius. He's played by Ernest Thesiger and is a marvelously interesting character, perfectly menacing and friendly while very camp. Every moment he's on screen is a joy.
One of the main themes of the movie is loneliness. !!Between the Monster roaming the countryside in search of companionship and Henry Frankenstein and Pretorius creating a companion for the Monster, we see two different approaches to a possible solution. The natural friendship is destroyed by outside forces while the forced companionship between the Monster and the Bride is severed by rejection. It's hard not to notice that one of the few women characters exists in the story as a person destined to be someone's 'mate'. She communicates only in screams and reservations with no opportunity to find herself. Her rejection breaks the Monster's heart but simultaneously asserts herself as one in control of her own destiny!!. If you measure by how many minutes a character appears on screen, the Bride is a minor role, but her impact to the story itself is so massive that it defines the entire show.
It's a timeless movie. The sets are grounded but expressionist with shadows that play into the audience's expectations of a place where secrets dominate. Very little of this movie pins it to a specific decade. While we don't see the dominance of technology that we 21st century people expect, there's nothing that shows us it couldn't happen today.
The soundtrack, visuals, and the performance of the Bride are enough of a reason to see this movie, but there's so much more. Everyone that loves horror should see it, everyone that loves movies should see it, any person who has ever loved a good story should see it. Go seek it out and watch it right now.