In my last post I mentioned one of the treasures included in my anniversary gifts from my wife. With this post I share a few reflections on the second gift, The Legacy Collection of Frankenstein by Universal Pictures.

When I grew up I had an appreciation for various schools of horror films. I know that for some there is a division between the camps of Universal Pictures film fans and those who prefer the Hammer Films reinterpretation of many of the Universal classics, but I appreciated both expressions of these horror icons. Even so, as a child of the 1970s I probably leaned more toward Hammer Films with their bold color and blood, not to mention the Hammer horror women with their ample cleavage. As I’ve gotten older I’ve “rediscovered” the Universal films and have given them rewewed focus for analysis.

The Legacy Collection is a great way for fans of the Universal films to add these gems to their library. Not only do they include several films in a series in their collection, whether Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, or The Creature of the Black Lagoon, but they also include interesting commentary by film historians, as well as documentaries. Of course, this is the case with the Frankenstein collection which includes not only Frankenstein, but also Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein, and House of Frankenstein. There are a couple of documentaries included in this collection, including She’s Alive! Creating the Bride of Frankenstein that was particularly interesting to me at several points.

One highlight is a discussion on how the film was a lightning rod for controversy with the censors. Apparently numerous cuts had to be made, totaling some fifteen minutes, in a film considered perverse for its time. One of the issues that raised concern was the film’s references that touched on religion, that in the minds of the censors at least, bordered on the blasphemous. This includes not only Henry Frankenstein’s statements about being part of the divine plan in his understanding of the secrets of God through the creation of life (something his young bride considers “blasphemous and wicked”), Frankenstein’s “monster” portrayed as undergoing “Christlike” misunderstanding and betrayal, the creature’s toppling of a religious figure in a cemetery seemingly symbolizing an attack against Christianity or organized religion (a change to the original script which conceived of the scene with the creature gazing upon a statue of Christ on the cross, apparently identifying with the sufferings of the figure before him), to a reference to biblical stories in a discussion between Drs. Frankenstein and Pretorius seemingly uttered with disdain in the mind of one of the film historians in the documentary.

Horror films continue to provoke and disturb us, forcing us to consider aspects of ourselves and the world we live in that we’d rather leave pushed aside to the margins and darkness of our inner selves. The Bride of Frankenstein is part of this long tradition, and it is worthy of repeated viewings and reflection that will reward audiences in 2009 as much as those who gasped at its images and story in 1935.