Elsa Lanchester | Hollywood Yesterday

Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein: One of My Favorite Old Hollywood Monsters

October 31, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Elsa Lanchester as The Bride of Frankenstein

As I’ve said before on Hollywood Yesterday, I am one of the only people in the world who doesn’t like The Bride of Frankenstein.

Like… at all.

For one thing, Frankenstein’s monster, himself, simply doesn’t do it for me. I hated the book and wasn’t remotely fond of the first Frankenstein film. However, these aren’t the only reasons I have such contempt for The Bride of Frankenstein. The greatest reason I don’t like it has to do with the lovely monster you see here…. the big lug’s bride.

With the absolutely, devastatingly wonderful Elsa Lanchester in the role, they had the opportunity to make possibly the greatest movie ever made and create one of the greatest stories ever told. Had she been presented early in the movie and had she actually been the star (or at the very least, the co-star) of the movie – it would have been sensational. Even her makeup is extraordinary!

As it is, she is on screen for mere minutes (minutes which are, without a doubt, the best part of the whole movie).

Mind you, these are only my opinions and, yes, I’m very aware that I’m in the minority with this one. Heck, I may even be a minority of one!

It is what it is, though, and I will forever wish this film had been handled differently. This was one of the greatest, most talented actresses of all time and she would have been extraordinary in her own film. I’ll never forget the first time I saw this movie. I kept waiting for the movie’s namesake to show up… I waited, and waited, and waited… then there she was – in spectacular glory! – right before the movie ended.

Years later, I rewatched the movie – thinking that maybe, knowing how little she was in the film, I’d give the rest of it a fair chance.

Nope. Still didn’t like it.

I’ve tried, probably 8 times over the years to see if it, I don’t know, grows on me. Never has. I simply do not like it, I guess. Which is crazy because I am a huge fan of Boris Karloff and I absolutely LOVE Elsa in the role!

Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein

16 Fast Facts About Elsa Lanchester

October 10, 2019 By Joi Leave a Comment

Ironically the wonderful Elsa Lanchester is best-known for a film in which she barely even appeared and a role in which she didn’t even speak. While her name is synonymous with “Bride of Frankenstein,” the actress has had much richer and rewarding roles.

For example, she nearly steals the entire film, The Big Clock (one of the best film noirs ever made in my opinion), right out from under Charles Laughton and Ray Milland. Nearly.

She was an uncommonly talented actress with a special something that set her apart from her contemporaries. Were there other talented actress? Yes. Were there other talented actresses who also happened to be beautiful? Yes… And yet…. Elsa just had something extra.

Every time she was on the screen, she dared viewers to take their eyes off of her. It’s a dare she surely knew we’d never win. If she’s on the screen, you simply cannot look away.

Elsa Lanchester was born on October 28, 1902 in London, England.
She met future husband, the outrageously talented Charles Laughton, while acting in the play “Mr. Prohack” in 1927.
Appeared in 7 (SEVEN!) Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Naughty Marietta (1935), The Razor’s Edge (1946), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Mary Poppins (1964).
In her autobiography (Elsa Lanchester Herself), she states that she and Charles Laughton never had children because he was gay. Maureen O’Hara, a very friend and co-star of Laughton (he was her mentor), denied that this was the reason for the couple’s childlessness. Maureen asserts that Charles Laughton had told her that the reason he and his wife never had children was because of a very private issue with Lanchester (I don’t want to go into the details, out of respect to her.). According to Elsa Lanchester’s biographer, Charles Higham, the reason she did not have children was that neither she or her husband wanted any. Maureen O’Hara also disputes this, stating that Charles Laughton very much wanted children.
(On playing the title part in Bride of Frankenstein) “The most memorable thing I did in that film, I believe, was my screaming. In almost all my movies since, I’ve been called upon to scream. I don’t know if it’s by chance, but I would like to think that I’m not hired for that talent alone.”
As a child, Elsa had a great desire to become a classical dancer. When she was 10 years old, her mother enrolled her at the famed Isadora Duncan’s Bellevue School in Paris.
She founded the Children’s Theater in Soho, London around 1920 and even taught there for several years.
She made her stage debut in 1922 in the West End play Thirty Minutes in a Street.
Her first film appearance was in 1925 in an amateur movie by friend and author Evelyn Waugh called The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama.
Her formal film debut was in the British movie One of the Best (1927).
Charles Laughton appeared with Elsa in three of the four films she made in 1928: Blue Bottles, Day Dreams, and The Tonic. The fourth film was The Constant Nymph.
Elsa and Charles were married in 1929 and remained married until his death in 1962.
She came to Hollywood with Laughton in 1932, but not permanently until 1939. MGM offered her a contract in 1932.
Making the Bride of Frankenstein was no walk in the park – for at least ten days, she was wrapped in yards of bandage and covered in heavy makeup. The iconic hairdo was accomplished by combing it over a wire mesh cage! Her eyes were kept taped wide open for long takes – it had to be agonizing!
She made ten movies with Laughton, the last of which, Witness for the Prosecution (1957) earned her her second supporting actress nomination.
Elsa once said of her film career, “…….large parts in lousy pictures and small parts in big pictures.” That quote troubles me because she, honestly, deserved a filmography she could be 100 percent proud of. She was an extraordinary actress.

Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein: What is it With Me and These Movies?!?

October 17, 2017 By Joi Leave a Comment

I don’t know….. maybe it’s just me. I mean, I’ve read so many nice reviews about Frankenstein (1931) and even more about The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). And yet…

Boris Karloff, as the monster, is a household name among horror movie fans. And yet...

Mary Shelley is one of the most widely-respected authors of all time and is often pointed to as the reason many women authors began writing. And yet….

And yet… here I sit, completely baffled by all of the hoop and most of the la. When I read the book as a teen, I detested it. I honestly found it to be the most boring book I’d ever read. I’d rather it had scared the wits out of me and interrupted my sleep (like Dracula, for example) than to bore me speechless. I lost track of the number of times I closed the book, put it down, and decided I’d just “fake” my book report. My mom told me that I’d feel better about the book report if I actually finished the book.

I don’t want to say she was wrong, so I’ll just say she was not right.

Reading that book was painful but, frankly, watching Frankenstein wasn’t much better. If it weren’t for the fact that the time spent watching the movie was less of an investment than reading the book, it’d have been just as painful. While I LOVE old movies – these two could have turned me off of movies for good.

Okay, okay, that’s an exaggeration but you get the idea.

First the positives about Frankenstein: Boris Karloff was great in the role and Edward Van Sloan was PERFECT as Doctor Waldman. This wonderful actor is perfect in everything and is, as far as I’m concerned, the one good thing about Frankenstein. He was also great in Dracula (1931) as Van Helsing. That movie was better than Dracula and his Van Helsing deserves most of the credit.

Another positive – the movie did a great job when it came to setting the ambiance and overall mood. The sets were outstanding, as was the wardrobe and makeup – especially for the time.

Continued Below…

Boris Karloff

The positives about The Bride of Frankenstein: Again, Boris Karloff is wonderful in the role of the monster. With more true acting to delve into with this second film, he gets to show off his chops. His scenes in a cabin with his newfound “friend” are absolute movie magic. He gives a beautiful performance. Furthermore, Elsa Lanchester is a total scene-stealer both as The Bride of Frankenstein and as Mary Shelley in the opening scene. The fact that she was so mesmerizing is actually one of the things I like least about this movie…. she wasn’t used nearly enough.

Truth is, she was barely on screen at all – which is a shame because she’s really the only thing that could have saved the movie.

As for the original Frankenstein – like the book – it was pretty boring. I watch old movies like it’s my job, so I don’t mind “dated” effects or “less than inspired” camera-work. I don’t mind over-acting, even. In fact, I always say it’s far better than under-acting (the greatest sin of acting). I suspect the cast (with the exception of Van Sloan and Karloff) read the book and were so bored they couldn’t snap out of it. Seriously, the rest of the cast all but naps through their scenes. Not only could the two leads not convince me they were in love, they couldn’t convince me they were the ones who were alive.

I think the biggest problem with The Bride of Frankenstein, however, is the story itself. There were so many moments when I thought, “I’d have done that differently…” or “That wasn’t the way to go with that…” The concept was a great one but, in my opinion, the execution should have been -executed, that is. If you title a movie “The Bride of Frankenstein” she should be a large part of the movie – especially when the actress so much charisma. With a different script, the name Elsa Lanchester would be as famous as the name Boris Karloff.

Do you get the idea I loathe these two movies? I mean, I’m not hiding that fact, am I??

If you’re a fan of one or both of these movies, I honestly apologize. Not for the fact you like them, mind you, but for the fact that I’m coming down so hard on them. As I said at the beginning of this diatribe, it’s probably just me and it isn’t the first time. There have been other stars, movies, and TV shows that others love and I just sort of bite my tongue.

I actually recently re-watched both of these movies on TCM – just to see if I found them more agreeable this time.

Oh, I did NOT. In fact, as soon as Frankenstein went off, I told my cats, “Well, there’s time we’ll never get back.” They weren’t too thrilled with the movie, either. They thought the casting was all wrong and the dialogue excruciatingly painful. I have to agree.