1:02:02
"I got my start in high school
from my interest in science" he said.
1:02:05
"Otherwise, I might have been
a teenage werewolf."
1:02:08
His high-voltage Art-Deco assemblages -
all sizzle and no steak -
1:02:12
are the original light show,
a defining image of science fiction.
1:02:16
Mrs Strickfaden didn't think much of
horror pictures. "She's no fan" he said.
1:02:20
"I have to remind her that she lives in a
house built and paid for by Frankenstein."
1:02:33
Universal's publicity claimed,
after the fact,
1:02:36
that an intense hunt had been
mounted to engage the bride.
1:02:39
The exhibitor's trade magazine,
Universal Weekly, named a few also-rans:
1:02:43
Brigitte Helm, the malevolent
female robot from Metropolis,
1:02:47
Phyllis Brooks, a fashion model just
edging her way into supporting roles,
1:02:51
and Arletta Duncan, a Universal bit player
1:02:53
who had been Mae Clarke's
maid of honour in Frankenstein.
1:02:56
Poor Arletta - always a bridesmaid,
never a bride.
1:02:59
But Whale knew who he wanted, and Elsa
Lanchester's name, with a question mark,
1:03:03
is prominent on the cast page of
Balderston's first draft of June 9th, 1934.
1:03:08
It's still there six weeks later
in the July 23rd script,
1:03:12
only now Elsa is indicated
as both Mary Shelley and the mate.
1:03:16
Ted Kent's montage
for the creation sequence
1:03:19
is as artistically valid
as anything by Sergei Eisenstein -
1:03:22
and it won't give you an urge
to take up collective farming.