Following the major financial success of Universal’s 1931 film adaptation of Frankenstein, director James Whale returned to direct a 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein. It was a far stranger film than the original, but in terms of plot and characterization it also was more creatively ambitious and deviated even further from the original plot of Mary Shelley’s novel.
However, one major scene from the novel did make it into Bride of Frankenstein: the Creature’s meeting with the elderly blind man. For your Final Exam, watch the following scene from Bride of Frankenstein:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wRVfzaIRj8
Then, respond to the questions below in approximately 300 to 400 words total. You may answer the questions separately, or you may answer them together as part of one larger discussion, but you should devote equal space (about 150 to 200 words) to answering each question.
1) In terms of plot and characterization, how does the film version of this scene compare to the novel’s version? How do the two versions differ? You should include at least one quotation from Shelley’s novel to support your response.
2) How are both editing and cinematography used in this scene? How do they create meaning in ways unique to the medium of film (in other words, in ways that a novel or short story cannot)?