ALTO SAX CHROMATIC SCALE

The original 1931 Frankenstein made Boris Karloff a monstrous star overnight. Karloff went on to reprise the role in 1935 in The Bride of Frankenstein and bowed out playing the monster in 1939’s The son of Frankenstein. In these monster franchises, it was Bride that surpassed them all.

The Bride of Frankenstein was released to great critical acclaim, surpassing its original both financially and artistically. The film’s reputation has grown and it is hailed as director James Whale’s masterpiece. The move’s enormous popularity is also noted for its subversive material that was smuggled in, eluding the 1935 censors: there are hints of homosexuality, necrophilia and sacrilege.

Of course, Boris Karloff turns in a stellar performance as the friendless monster, which also contributes to the film’s success. With fumbling hands outreached, seeking understanding and friendship, Karloff brought pathos to the part.

“To a new world of gods and monsters!” croons Dr. Praetorious to Dr. Henry Frankenstein after proposing a Faustian partnership to create a mate for the monster. “Alone,” Praetorious says,” you have created a man. Now, together, we shall create his mate.”

The Frankenstein monster had always wanted a friend. In the original movie, he had stumbled upon a little girl who was idly tossing flowers in the lake. In the quest to befriend the girl, he mistakenly tosses her in the lake drowning her. In Bride, the monster is lulled by the sounds of a violin playing ‘Ave Maria’ and encounters an old blind man who is also desperately lonely. The blind man teaches the dumb brute simple English skills, words such as “friend” and “good.” Unhappily, two lost hunters come across the cottage and recognize the monster. Forever the outsider, the monster is driven from his domestic bless by the gun-totting rubes that accidentally burn down the cottage as the hunters lead the hermit to safety.

The monster returns to a life of haunted loneliness until he discovers that Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Praetorious, in their unholy alliance, have created a female mate for the monster. “She’s alive! She’s alive!” Dr. Frankenstein cries. The excited monster sees his mate, and reaches out to her. “Friend?” he asks, perhaps recalling the hermit. The Bride, recoiling in horror, rejects him. “She hates me! Like others,” the monster mutters miserably. The monster rampages and yells out to Dr. Frankenstein and his bride, Elizabeth, who has now rushed to the scene. “Go! You live!” To Pretorious and the jilting bride, he says “You stay. We belong dead.”

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Gollo despues de tocar el Ave Maria. Noten la foto en blanco y negro con el violin a colores

Gollo after playing the Ave Maria. Note the picture in black and white with the violin on full color