Bride of Frankenstein

Finding and marrying someone with a specifcally improbable last name and then opening a hot dog stand, all so I can call my business "The Frank of Bridenstein." 1931's Frankenstein was such a success, Universal demanded a new ending be shot after just a few test screenings, to open up the possibility of a sequel. Director James Whale thought the first film had covered the story sufficiently, but agreed to do it if Universal would later finance a different film that he wanted to make. Several potential plots were rejected, and eventually it was decided to base the film primarily on two scenes present in the novel but cut from the original film: the creature befriends a blind hermit, and the creature demands a female bride. (Plus a truly odd subplot that goes nowhere involving new character Doctor Pretorius creating weird little homunculi to prove he can grow organs.) The movie has a prologue featuring Mary Shelley telling Percy and Lord Byron that, oh, by the way, she actually has more story, it's not over yet. There was also supposed to be an epilogue featuring her again, but that was one of the things cut to get the running time down from 90 minutes to 70. Shelley was played in the prologue by Elsa Lanchester, who also played the monstress herself. Back when Diamond Select Toys had the Universal Monsters license, they were unable to secure her likeness rights, so sculptor Jean St.Jean had to redo his good work, and genericize her. NECA is not subject to the same limitation, so portraitist Trevor Grove was free to make this face look as much like the real woman as a toy can. Or more accurately, "faces": the figure's regular head is plain and intense, as it should be, but the set also includes a second head with the mouth open wide. It looks like a shout, but if you've seen the film, you know it's actually a hiss. Or a honk. Lanchester famously based the Bride's sounds and movements on the swans that lived in London's Regent's Park, birds which were, in her own words, "really very nasty creatures." Another change from the DST release is the Bride's gown. (You did twig that that's why they put her in a big white smock, right? To call to mind wedding dresses?) On the Select figure, her dress was sculpted, while this one is cloth. And in full honesty, the sculpted one looked better. A production issue meant it didn't fit that figure properly, but we'd rather have seen NECA try again here than just throw a handkerchief over the toy. It's not like the Bride does anything dynamic while she's wearing it, standing around inside a molded plastic tube would be sufficient. On the plus side, Nicole Falk included the black stitches on the back of the garment that hold it closed, so it's more interesting than just white cloth would be. If NECA had sculpted the dress, they'd have needed to make it so you could pop the arms out at the shoulders, because her tightly wrapped bandages are fully sculpted under there, and it would be bad if we didn't get to see them. They're cleaner and less frayed than the Mummy's were, though she'd totally look like part of his world if they ended up near one another on your shelf. Kyle Windrix and Alex Heinke did this part of the sculpt, and it really looks great. To complete the look, there's a third head in the set. This one is as fully bandaged as the body. In order to make both versions look as accurate as possible, it's not just the heads that swap: the entire neck trades out, plugging into a rectangular hole at the top of the torso. Interestingly, the bit of plastic you can see inside there is pink like her skin, not gray like her bandages, suggesting the chest at least is molded in that color, then fully painted the color we see. It's quite the unexpected choice to make. As far as accessories go (other than the three heads and the removable surgical gown), we get an alternate pair of hands. The ones she's got in the tray are flat but have the fingers together, while the replacements are flat but have the fingers splayed. There are two little loops of bandage to fit around her wrists, similar to the things Mummy came with, and then a flap of bandages for her face. When Frankenstein and Pretroius first put her body together, she was entirely covered, and when they began unwrapping her, the first thing they did was take off a piece in the front to reveal her eyes. So we've got the wrapped head with its eyes visible and safety pins on the forehead like a crown, and then we've got a little mask to cover those eyes when you don't want to see them. Technically her legs should also be bound together in that state, but we're not going to be picky about that small detail. After all, with her legs tied together, we'd be losing articulation. As it is, the figure has swivel/​hinge ankles and knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips and chest, swivel/hinges for the wrists, elbows, and shoulders, and a barbell head. She looks like an ancient Egyptian ninja when you pose her, but the joints are all there and they all work. And since the white dress is softgoods, she's just as ready for a high-action brawl when she's wearing that as when she's not. As with all the other monsters in this line, NECA is doing both color and grayscale versions of the Bride. The black-and-white one may be more vintage, but if you get that, you'll be missing out on something really cool. When you think of the Bride's iconic hair, what do you think of? A big black Nefertiti wedge with two white stripes in it, yeah? Well, that's not strictly accurate. Most versions show her stripes as symmetrical, coming right out from her temples; if you look closely, though, the one on the right is higher than the one on the left, a feature NECA gets right. The only other toy to do that before now was the Monster High doll, and even that repeated another common mistake: the Bride's hair was never black, it only looked that way on film because it was auburn red. No merch gets that right! Jon Wardell and Geoffrey Trapp's paint does, though. Beauty! Also, don't miss the small scars they've put under her jawline, just like in the movie. It's been said that Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter only appeared in Silence of the Lambs for about 15 minutes, give or take. The Wicked Witch of the West got 12 minutes in The Wizard of Oz. Darth Vader was in Star Wars for 8 minutes, Empire for 12, and Jedi for a whopping 14. Of course, none of them were in a movie named after them, but Beetlejuice was, and Michael Keaton was only in that for 11 minutes and 58 seconds. Still, none of those come close to the Bride of Frankenstein, who is the titular character, but only shows up for three minutes at the very end. And never appeared in another film after! That's some truly iconic star power in the briefest window imaginable. I didn't plan to get the Bride, but picked her up on a whim after talking to Monkey Boy about the figures. She may not be as flashy as some of the other figures are, but NECA did the absolute best they could with her, getting some details right that no other company has ever bothered to even try. -- 10/27/24 Should NECA pad out its line by making up Brides for the other monsters? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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