Dr. Pretorius

Neil Gaiman On Bride Of Frankenstein | BFI

"The first Gothic that I fell in love 

with was Bride of Frankenstein --

I probably would have been about 12, stayed 

up for it and it was one of those late night 

Saturday Horror things, where they 

showed both -- you got Frankenstein 

and Bride of Frankenstein, 

and Frankenstein was a 

huge disappointment to me; 

What been expecting.... I don't 

know what I'd expected, 

but somehow what I 

wanted was was much more —

What I got -- Bride of Frankenstein 

on the other hand was delirious 

Um, it had this very very strange plot 

that I didn't understand as a boy, in which, 

you know a lab has burned down already; 

you have this mysterious Dr. Pretorius --

 

I was never quite sure what 

he was doing with 

little homunculus -- 

these tiny little people 

and he was making them and then, 

he's working with Frankenstein to build 

A Bride for The Monster 

and then it turns up, and it's Elsa 

Lanchester and it's my favourite --

what is it, two, three minutes 

at most of film ever, is between 

Karloff and Elsa Lanchester 

coming to Life seeing bars 

Calif friend screaming, 

him hitting The 'We 

Belong DEAD!'-switch 

and and everything that's... 

I just think that's perfect um ---

I had no idea what it was about -- quite 

what had happened and I felt afterwards 

like I'd watched something faintly dreamlike.

The peculiar thing about Bride of Frankenstein 

was it stayed one of my favorite films um 

I have seen it every few years, um -- whenever I could, 

in whatever way I could, and I even showed it to my daughter when she was about 11 or 12 and really into movies and watching her peculiar disappointment and it realizing that if I'd shown her at that age you know Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman nice big amiable film with proper villains and things she would have loved it instead it was this film that is all atmosphere and all strange slightly camp oddness and again this this a plot that is almost impossible to describe because it doesn't quite make sense enough to be describable it's like a dream on waking you accept it moment by moment as you go and then Bride of Frankenstein is done that we belong dead switch has been pulled and and it's all over and you go what what was that what was that one minute where there's there's the beautiful young Elsa Lanchester actually getting to act playing Mary Shelley sing oh yes there's more and the next you're into this strange hyperbolic hyper-real dream world and it's I think it's magic you

The Bad Shepherd

Ygor: 

No. He Cannot be Destroyed. 

Cannot Die. 

Your Father made him 

Live for always. 

Now he is sick. 

Make him well, Frankenstein!

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

I don't know whether I...

Ygor: 

Your Father made him! 

And Heinrich Frankenstein 

was Your Father too.

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

Do You mean to imply, 

then, that, uh... 

That is My Brother?

 Ygor: 

But His Mother 

was Lightning.

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

Oh, Electricity. We'll see.

Rabbi :

If you had come out of Egypt, 

you would have been 

Destroyed in The Desert 

with all those who worshipped 

The Golden Calf!

Danny, Champion of 

The World (Aged 11) :

Then Let Him 

Destroy Me Now —

Go ahead. Kill Me. 

Here I am. Do it. 

Rabbi :

Danny. Glad you came back. 

I wanted to take up 

that discussion 

We were having. 

Danny, Champion 

of The World :

I can't right now. 

About Abraham and Isaac. 

You remember what you said…? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been Thinking maybe 

You were right about that. 

You remember what you said? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been Thinking, maybe 

You were right about that. 

Died... and then reborn 

in The World to Come. 

You remember what you said…? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been Thinking, maybe 

You were right about that. 

Died... and then reborn 

in The World to Come. 

Danny, •STOP•. —

Where Do You Think 

You're going…? 

Don't You Know?

There's nothing 

Up There. 

"...Your Only Son 

whom you love, 

Isaac, and go unto 

The Land of Moriah 

and offer him there as 

A Sacrifice on A Mountain 

that I will show You." 

So... "I will show You." 

It was A Test 

of Abraham's Faith, 

of his Devotion to God. 

Danny, Champion 

of The World :

It's not about 

Abraham's Faith. 

It's about God's Power. 

Abstraction. 

They're obsessed 

with Abstraction. 

"Kill Your Only Son, 

Because I'm Everything 

and You're Nothing." 

"You're nothing."

 Jews. Judaism. 

They're still just Jews. 

Differences exist, 

of course. All right? 

But they're irrelevant, 

'cause For A Jew, 

His Jewishness 

Dominates everything. 

And even the ones 

who renounce it, and 

Who Hate its Strength 

and want to cut it out 

of Their Hearts...

War Stories

Doc. Hollywood :

Good. Let's see what we've got. 

You're a lucky man, Mr. Whale. 

Whatever damage was done by your stroke, 

it left your motor abilities relatively unimpaired. 

James Whale :

Yes, Dr. Payne, but what about 

from the neck upwards? 

What's the story there? 

Doc. Hollywood :

That's what I'm trying to explain. 

The central nervous system 

selects items from a constant 

storm of sensations —

Whatever was killed in your stroke seems 

to have short-circuited this mechanism. 

James Whale :

So you're saying there's 

An Electrical Storm going on 

inside My Head. 

Doc. Hollywood :

Well, that's as good a way 

as any to describe it.

I've seen far worse cases. 

James Whale :

What about all The Rest? 

The killing headaches. 

The phantom smells. 

My inability to close my eyes,

without thinking of a hundred 

things simultaneously. 

Doc. Hollywood :

I've never encountered the 

olfactory hallucinations before, 

but I'm sure they're related. 

James Whale :

So, what do I do? 

Doc. Hollywood :

Take the Luminol to sleep... 

and whenever you feel 

an attack coming on. 

James Whale :

What you're saying is that this isn't 

just a case of resting until I'm better, 

but that my condition will continue 

to deteriorate until 

the end of my life?

Frankenstein’s Ghost

Sir Cedric Hardwicke also plays the "ghost" of His Father in the scene where Frankenstein decides to reinvigorate the Monster. Hardwicke's mellow baritone sounded nothing at all like the clipped, nervous speech of Colin Clive, who played the original Frankenstein, but Clive had passed away in 1937, the result of poor health exacerbated by acute alcoholism.

The Mob :

There's a curse upon 

This Village...

The Curse of Frankenstein.

Aye.

Aye, it is True.

The whole countryside 

shuns The Village.

Our fields are barren, 

the inn is empty.

Wailing Woman :

My little ones cry in their sleep.

They are hungry. There is no bread.

It's The Curse, The Curse of Frankenstein.

The Mayor of Frankenstein :

This is nonsense, folks.

You talk as though these were the Dark Ages.

You know as well as I do 

that The Monster died 

in the sulphur pit under 

Frankenstein's tower...

and that Ygor, his familiar 

was riddled with bullets

from the gun of Baron 

Frankenstein himself.

The Mob :

But Ygor does not die that easily.

They hanged him and 

broke his neck, 

but he lives.

Haven't I seen him, sitting beside 

the hardened sulphur pit,

playing his weird horn, as if to lure 

The Monster back from Death 

to do his evil bidding?

The Mayor of Frankenstein :

You talk like frightened children.

Elder # 1 :

Well, if something isn't done, 

there'll be a new mayor 

after the fall election.

The Mob :

Aye!

The Mayor of Frankenstein :

What do you want me to do?

The Mob :

Destroy The Castle —

Wipe the last traces of these

accursed Frankensteins 

from Our Land.

Elder # 1 :

The People are right, 

Your Honour.

Elder # 2 :

I agree, Your Honour.

The Mayor of Frankenstein :

I Don't Believe that these dead wretches can 

affect the prosperity of This Village.

But Do as You Will with The Castle :

It's yours.

The Mob :

We'll blow it up!

*****

Frankenstein :

Ever since I can remember,

I have dreaded this moment.

For years I felt secure, certain that

The Monster had been destroyed.

I tried to keep all knowledge of it from you. 

And until last night, I succeeded.

Elsa Frankenstein, 

The Princess :

I had to know.

Yesterday, when I saw Ygor...

I felt that something had come out

of The Past to threaten our Happiness.

Please don't let it spoil our lives.

Father, promise me.

Frankenstein :

I promise you, Elsa.

I'll find a way.

I must find a way.

*****

Frankenstein :

Dr. Bohmer, I need your aid.

This Monster must be destroyed.

Dr. Bohmer :

Destroyed? But how?

He's not subject to the ordinary laws of Life. 

Frankenstein :

There is a way.

He was made limb by limb, organ by organ.

He must be unmade in the same way. 

Dr. Bohmer :

Dissection?

Frankenstein :

Bit by bit, piece by piece...

just as My Father created it.

Dr. Bohmer :

But this thing Lives -- 

It would be Murder.

Frankenstein :

How can you call the removal 

of a thing that is not Human, 'Murder'?

Dr. Bohmer :

I regret, Doctor...

I cannot be part of your plan.

Frankenstein :

Then I must do it alone.

While it lives, no one is safe.

*****

Frankenstein's Ghost :

My Son - What are you about to do?

Would You Destroy...

that which I, Your Father,

dedicated his life to creating?

Frankenstein :

I must. The Monster you created

is in itself destruction.

Frankenstein's Ghost :

Nevertheless, I was near to solving a problem

that has baffled Man since The Beginning of Time...

the secret of life, artificially created. 

Frankenstein :

But it has brought Death

to everything that it's touched.

Frankenstein's Ghost :

That is because, unknowingly...

I gave it a criminal brain.

With your knowledge of Science,

You can cure that.

Frankenstein :

It's beyond My Cure.

It's a malignant brain.

Frankenstein's Ghost :

What if it had another brain?

Frankenstein :

Another brain!

*****

Frankenstein :

Bohmer! Dr. Bohmer!

Dr. Bohmer :

What is it, Doctor?

You've changed Your Mind?

Frankenstein :

Yes. Attach the high-frequency

leads to the terminal electrodes.

Dr. Bohmer :

Yes, sir.

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

Frankenstein!

Frankenstein :

Come in, Ygor. 

I may need your assistance. 

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

You have agreed.

You are going to Help Him, Doctor?

You are giving him Life.

Frankenstein :

Yes, but not for The Purpose

that you think, Ygor.

I'm giving him strength so that 

an operation may be successful. 

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

An operation?

Frankenstein :

Yes, I'm giving him another brain.

You must explain to him

when he becomes conscious.

You must make him understand.

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

Whose brain?

Kettering?

Frankenstein :

Yes, Kettering.

A Man of character and learning.

The Monster will cease to be an evil influence...

and become everything that is Good. 

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

No! You cannot take My Friend away from me. 

He's all that I have, nothing else. 

You're going to make him Your Friend, 

and I will be alone.

Frankenstein :

It will be as I say, 

or he must be destroyed. 

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

He cannot be destroyed.

Frankenstein :

There is one way - by dissection.

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

No. Not that. Doctor.

Ygor's Body's no good.

His neck is broken, crippled and distorted, 

lame and sick from the bullets

Your Brother fired into me.

You can put My Brain in His Body.

Frankenstein :

Your brain?

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

You can make us One.

We'll be together always...

my brain and his body... Together.

Frankenstein :

You're a cunning fellow, Ygor.

Do you think that I'd put 

your sly and sinister brain 

into the body of A Giant? 

That would be A Monster indeed.

Ygor, The Bad Shepherd :

You'll do as I tell you, 

or I'll not be responsible for the consequences.

Dr. Bohmer :

Ironic, isn't it, Doctor?

Yes, The Monster's Victim shall inherit His Body.

And Everlasting Life.

Frankenstein :

Build up the voltage potential to its maximum.

The Bad Shepherd

Ygor: 

No. He cannot be destroyed. 

Cannot Die. 

Your Father made him 

Live for always. Now he is sick. 

Make him well, Frankenstein!

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

I don't know whether I...

Ygor: 

Your Father made him! 

And Heinrich Frankenstein 

was Your Father too.

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

Do you mean to imply, 

then, that, uh... 

That is My Brother?

 Ygor: 

But His Mother was Lightning.

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: 

Oh, Electricity. We'll see.

If you had come out of Egypt, 

you would have been destroyed in The Desert 

with all those who 

worshipped The Golden Calf!

Danny, Champion 

of The World (Aged 11) :

Then Let Him Destroy Me Now —

Go ahead. Kill Me. 

Here I am. Do it. 

Danny. Glad you came back. 

I wanted to take up that discussion we were having. 

Danny, Champion 

of The World :

I can't right now. 

About Abraham and Isaac. 

You remember what you said…? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been thinking maybe 

you were right about that. 

You remember what you said? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been thinking, maybe 

you were right about that. 

Died... and then reborn 

in The World to Come. 

You remember what you said…? 

That Isaac actually died 

on Mount Moriah. 

I've been thinking maybe you were right about that. Died... 

and then reborn in 

The World to Come. 

Danny, •STOP•. —

Where do you think 

you're going…? 

Don't you know?

There's nothing 

up there. 

"...Your Only Son 

whom you love, 

Isaac, and go unto 

The Land of Moriah 

and offer him there as 

a Sacrifice on a Mountain 

that I will show you." 

So... "I will show you." 

It was A Test 

of Abraham's Faith, 

of his Devotion to God. 

Danny, Champion 

of The World :

It's not about 

Abraham's Faith. 

It's about God's Power. 

Abstraction. 

They're obsessed 

with Abstraction. 

"Kill Your Only Son, 

because I'm Everything 

and You're Nothing." 

"You're nothing."

 Jews. Judaism. 

They're still just Jews. 

Differences exist, 

of course. All right? 

But they're irrelevant, 

'cause for a Jew, 

His Jewishness 

dominates everything. 

And even the ones 

who renounce it, 

and who hate its strength 

and want to cut it 

out of their hearts...

The Bride

The Creature :

She hate me. 

Like others. 

Dr. Pretorius :

Look out! The lever! 

Get away from that lever! You'll blow us all to atoms. 

Baroness Elizabeth von Frankenstein :

Henry! Undo the door! Henry! 

Baron Dr. Henry von Frankenstein :

Get back! 

Get back! 

Baroness Elizabeth von Frankenstein :

I won't unless you come! 

Baron Dr. Henry von Frankenstein :

But I can't leave them! I can't! 

The Creature :

Yes. Go!

You, Live! Go!

(He turns to Pretorius and The Bride)

You, stay —

We Belong Dead.

Dr. Septimus Pretorius :

Doctor. I think The Heart 

is beating. Look. 

Baron Dr. Henry von Frankenstein :

It's beating, but the rhythm 

of the beat is uneven. 

Increase the saline solution. 

Dr. Septimus Pretorius :

Is there any Life yet? 

Baron Dr. Henry von Frankenstein :

No. Not Life-Itself yet -

This is only the 

simulacrum of Life. 

This action only responds 

when the current is applied.

We must be patient - 

The Human Heart 

is more complex than 

any other part of The Body.

The Creature

No, that’s German -

it says, “The Frankenstein, The!”

Created by an Irish clergyman, 

Melmoth is one of the most fiendish 

characters in literature. 

In a satanic bargain, 

Melmoth exchanges 

his soul for 

immortality. 

The story of his tortured wanderings through the centuries 

is pieced together through those 

who have been implored by Melmoth 

to take over his pact with The Devil.

Influenced by the Gothic romances of the late 18th

century, Maturin's diabolic tale raised the genre to

a new and macabre pitch. 

Its many admirers include Poe, Balzac, 

Oscar Wilde and Baudelaire.

monster (n.)

early 14c., monstre, "malformed animal or human, creature afflicted with a birth defect," from Old French monstre, mostre "monster, monstrosity" (12c.), and directly from Latin monstrum "divine omen (especially one indicating misfortune), portent, sign; abnormal shape; monster, monstrosity," figuratively "repulsive character, object of dread, awful deed, abomination," a derivative of monere "to remind, bring to (one's) recollection, tell (of); admonish, advise, warn, instruct, teach," from PIE *moneie- "to make think of, remind," suffixed (causative) form of root *men- (1) "to think."

 

Abnormal or prodigious animals were regarded as signs or omens of impending evil. 

Extended by late 14c. to fabulous animals composed of parts of creatures (centaur, griffin, etc.). 

Meaning "animal of vast size" is from 1520s; sense of "person of inhuman cruelty or wickedness, person regarded with horror because of moral deformity" is from 1550s. As an adjective, "of extraordinary size," from 1837. In Old English, the monster Grendel was an aglæca, a word related to aglæc "calamity, terror, distress, oppression." Monster movie "movie featuring a monster as a leading element," is by 1958 (monster film is from 1941).

Origin and meaning of monster

Entries linking to monster

*men- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to think," with derivatives referring to qualities and states of mind or thought.

It forms all or part of: admonish; Ahura Mazda; ament; amentia; amnesia; amnesty; anamnesis; anamnestic; automatic; automaton; balletomane; comment; compos mentis; dement; demonstrate; Eumenides; idiomatic; maenad; -mancy; mandarin; mania; maniac; manic; mantic; mantis; mantra; memento; mens rea; mental; mention; mentor; mind; Minerva; minnesinger; mnemonic; Mnemosyne; money; monition; monitor; monster; monument; mosaic; Muse; museum; music; muster; premonition; reminiscence; reminiscent; summon.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit manas- "mind, spirit," matih "thought," munih "sage, seer;" Avestan manah- "mind, spirit;" Greek memona "I yearn," mania "madness," mantis "one who divines, prophet, seer;" Latin mens "mind, understanding, reason," memini "I remember," mentio "remembrance;" Lithuanian mintis "thought, idea," Old Church Slavonic mineti "to believe, think," Russian pamjat "memory;" Gothic gamunds, Old English gemynd "memory, remembrance; conscious mind, intellect."

demonstrable (adj.)

"capable of being proved or made evident beyond doubt," c. 1400, from Old French demonstrable and directly from Latin demonstrabilis, from demonstrare "to point out, indicate, demonstrate," figuratively, "to prove, establish," from de- "entirely" (see de-) + monstrare "to point out, show," from monstrum "divine omen, wonder" (see monster). Related: Demonstrably.

demonstrate

demonstration

monstration

muster

remonstrance

sea-monster

Percy

FRANKENSTEIN;
OR,
THE MODERN PROMETHEUS.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

---

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?——

Paradise Lost.

---

London:
PRINTED FOR
LACKINGTON, HUGHES, HARDING, MAVOR, & JONES,
FINSBURY SQUARE.

1818.

---

TO
WILLIAM GODWIN,
AUTHOR OF POLITICAL JUSTICE, CALEB WILLIAMS, &c.
THESE VOLUMES
Are respectfully inscribed
BY
THE AUTHOR.

---

PREFACE.

The event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin, and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurrence. I shall not be supposed as according the remotest degree of serious faith to such an imagination; yet, in assuming it as the basis of a work of fancy, I have not considered myself as merely weaving a series of supernatural terrors. The event on which the interest of the story depends is exempt from the disadvantages of a mere tale of spectres or enchantment. It was recommended by the novelty of the situations which it developes; and, however impossible as a physical fact, affords a point of view to the imagination for the delineating of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield.

I have thus endeavoured to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature, while I have not scrupled to innovate upon their combinations. The Iliad, the tragic poetry of Greece,—Shakespeare, in the Tempest and Midsummer Night’s Dream,—and most especially Milton, in Paradise Lost, conform to this rule; and the most humble novelist, who seeks to confer or receive amusement from his labours, may, without presumption, apply to prose fiction a licence, or rather a rule, from the adoption of which so many exquisite combinations of human feeling have resulted in the highest specimens of poetry.

The circumstance on which my story rests was suggested in casual conversation. It was commenced, partly as a source of amusement, and partly as an expedient for exercising any untried resources of mind. Other motives were mingled with these, as the work proceeded. I am by no means indifferent to the manner in which whatever moral tendencies exist in the sentiments or characters it contains shall affect the reader; yet my chief concern in this respect has been limited to the avoiding of the enervating effects of the novels of the present day, and to the exhibitions of the amiableness of domestic affection, and the excellence of universal virtue. The opinions which naturally spring from the character and situation of the hero are by no means to be conceived as existing always in my own conviction; nor is any inference justly to be drawn from the following pages as prejudicing any philosophical doctrine of whatever kind.

It is a subject also of additional interest to the author, that this story was begun in the majestic region where the scene is principally laid, and in society which cannot cease to be regretted. I passed the summer of 1816 in the environs of Geneva. The season was cold and rainy, and in the evenings we crowded around a blazing wood fire, and occasionally amused ourselves with some German stories of ghosts, which happened to fall into our hands. These tales excited in us a playful desire of imitation. Two other friends (a tale from the pen of one of whom would be far more acceptable to the public than any thing I can ever hope to produce) and myself agreed to write each a story, founded on some supernatural occurrence.

The weather, however, suddenly became serene; and my two friends left me on a journey among the Alps, and lost, in the magnificent scenes which they present, all memory of their ghostly visions. The following tale is the only one which has been completed.