Bride of Frankenstein : Lord Byron

I'm a little surprised no one here has mentioned Gavin Gordon's portrayal of Lord Byron in this film. It's really over the top, with all the rich speech and thickly rolled R's. The guy really chews the scenery.

It's a testament to this movie that this is only about the third thing that made an impression on me in this film. First was the castle and the storm. Dog lovers would also probably notice the greyhounds or salukis or whatever they were, before Lord Byron begins his speech.

When I was a kid I never liked the prologue. I thought it took away from the story by pointing out that someone had written it. But now I like it. Especially since the first few times I saw it I didn't notice that Elsa Lanchester also played the bride at the end (hey, I was just a kid) - which I thought was a great touch.

For all the times I have seen this movie, i just noticed that when Mary pricks her finger and stands, Byron and Shelley come to her and stand exactly as Pretorious and Henry do later.

It's conspicuous that Gavin Gordon's absurdly over-the-top performance is out of kilter with everyone else's, even Ernest Thesiger and Una O'Connor. I wonder why? Was it something Whale specifically wanted for some reason? If it was intended to be a joke about effete English poets, why not Shelley?

I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken.

Elspeth Dudgeon wasn't exactly in sync with her fellow players in the Gypsey camp scene, though I do love the way she said "pass the pepper and salt".

The odd thing to me about the prologue is how Mary was frightened, did not want to think about such things; and in the next moment feels like telling it. "It's a perfect night....."

I guess a woman's prerogative to change her mind :)

Byron WAS a rather narcissistic, indulgent Byronic type of man, don't you know?

Those were Borzois, I'm pretty sure. By 1935 Salukis were sort of established in Britain (by soldiers coming back from wars in the Middle East), but were still very scarce in America. And Borzois were especially common in Hollywood, where stars often tended to have unusual dogs, partly to enrich their lifestyle image.

Gordon's portrayal was truly over the top, but throughout "Bride..." we see some pretty campy overtones, enough to make me suspect that the flamboyantly homosexual James Whale was inserting a lot of tongue-in-cheek "flaming" images as sort of an in-joke for his gay Hollywood buddies -- Thesiger's performance as Pretorius being of course a prime example. Even the choice of Thesiger's little "king" is obviously Henry VIII, which Lanchester's husband (wink, wink) Charles Laughton, portrayed in a film only two years before this one. Laughton was, of course, as gay as could be and Elsa was strictly a "beard" to protect Laughton from muckraking reporters -- a very open secret in Hollywood.

If so, I think it's a great touch that doesn't detract from the film at all -- and probably adds to it. Anyway, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Those were Borzois, I'm pretty sure. By 1935 Salukis were sort of established in Britain (by soldiers coming back from wars in the Middle East), but were still very scarce in America. And Borzois were especially common in Hollywood, where stars often tended to have unusual dogs, partly to enrich their lifestyle image.

Gordon's portrayal was truly over the top, but throughout "Bride..." we see some pretty campy overtones, enough to make me suspect that the flamboyantly homosexual James Whale was inserting a lot of tongue-in-cheek "flaming" images as sort of an in-joke for his gay Hollywood buddies -- Thesiger's performance as Pretorius being of course a prime example. Even the choice of Thesiger's little "king" is obviously Henry VIII, which Lanchester's husband (wink, wink) Charles Laughton, portrayed in a film only two years before this one. Laughton was, of course, as gay as could be and Elsa was strictly a "beard" to protect Laughton from muckraking reporters -- a very open secret in Hollywood.

If so, I think it's a great touch that doesn't detract from the film at all -- and probably adds to it. Anyway, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Gordon's portrayal of Byron was over the top, but Byron was a truly over-the-top character, at least when he was in good spirits. I have read several bios and the portrayal was spot-on. There was one fair to middling biopic on him and the evening depicted in "Bride" has been recreated in several films, nowhere better than in this one. He was moody and could be darkly romantic or exuberant depending on his mood, and the liveliest companion and conversationalist one could ask for. I didn't know him personally.