In most of our Film at 11 podcasts, I’ve focused on introducing my sons to movies from the 1980s and ’90s, because those were the years when I fell in love with film and was most active going out to the theater. For this week’s Halloween-themed episode, however, I take Joseph back much, much farther, all the way to the early roots of the horror genre with a double bill of the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein*.

I’ll be honest, I was worried about his reaction. While we watched, I got the sense he wasn’t much into these nearly hundred-year-old movies. Despite their very short lengths, he asked me repeatedly how much time was left on the first Frankenstein (less so during Bride). Remarkably, he surprised me afterwards with a more positive take on them than I expected.

Titles:	– Frankenstein – Bride of Frankenstein
Years of Release:	– 1931 – 1935
Director:	James Whale
Watched On:	Blu-ray
Also Available On:	4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Amazon Prime Video Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

The Blu-rays

I acquired both Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein on Blu-ray years ago as part of a large eight-film box set called Universal Monsters: The Essential Collection. Other titles in the box are Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, Phantom of the Opera, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. The set was originally released in 2012, but I bought a copy from the UK a few years later as part of a sale. Other than the box art, the discs inside are identical to the American releases.

More recently, all these movies have since been issued on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, both individually and in box set forms. I’ve resisted that upgrade. I’m skeptical of the need for either 4K or HDR on movies this old. I seriously doubt their existing film elements have 4K worth of detail on them, and in many cases HDR messes around with the image contrast for a revisionist boost that doesn’t resemble how the films actually looked when projected in theaters. With that said, I need to be clear that I haven’t watched the 4K versions of any of these movies and cannot fairly judge whether they offer any improvement or not.

What I can say is that I’m still pretty satisfied with the quality of both Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein on Blu-ray and don’t feel an immediate need to replace them. Both movies received restorations prior to the Blu-rays and look pretty comparable in quality to one another. Both are presented in their original black-and-white, at an aspect ratio that measures 1.35:1. While this may not technically be accurate to the 1.37:1 Academy Ratio standard established in 1932 (after the first Frankenstein), the difference is too small to quibble about and I’m sure nobody would notice it by eye.

For films this old, the picture is acceptably sharp with a light but not distracting layer of film grain. If anything, it’s a little too revealing of the obvious painted backdrops in Frankenstein‘s outdoor scenes. The first movie also has some occasional moments where the footage quickly slips out of and back into focus. Both have brief instances of scratches or jump cuts, but the majority of physical damage on the elements has been impressively repaired or removed.

Contrast looks fine projected in my home theater. Could HDR improve peak highlights and add some extra vividness? I won’t rule that out, but at the moment, I don’t feel it’s necessary.

The soundtracks for all the titles in this box set are authored in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. For movies this old, a prominent amount of audible hiss shouldn’t come as any surprise, especially on the earlier Frankenstein. Music is a little bright, dialogue can sound hollow, and sound effects are often either dull or shrill. All of these are common traits of film audio from the era. I don’t know what processing Universal put into cleaning them up, but I didn’t notice any crackle. Everything sounds sufficiently clear enough. However, Bride of Frankenstein may have been run through a little too much noise reduction, because that track is noticeably weaker and requires several extra decibels boosting in volume compared to the first movie.

Annoyingly, the discs are authored with a forced studio promo before the main menu and have a frustrating menu interface. For bonus features, the original Frankenstein gets two audio commentaries by film historians Rudy Behlmer and Sir Christopher Frayling, a text trivia track (called “Monster Tracks” in the menu), a 45-minute retrospective documentary, a 38-minute profile of Boris Karloff, a 95-minute piece on Universal Horror, and an animated poster and still gallery (“The Frankenstein Archives”). A jokey 1932 short film called Boo! is nearly insufferable to watch today. Finally, the disc offers trailers for this film as well as sequels Bride of Frankenstein, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and House of Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein is a little lighter in content with just one commentary by film preservationist Scott MacQueen, a 39-minute retrospective doc, its own poster and still gallery, and a similar bevy of trailers (curiously omitting the Wolf Man entry).

The UK box set also came with a thick booklet containing essays about the individual films, plus a bunch of postcards featuring reproductions of their poster art.

*Note that all packaging and artwork for this Blu-ray set refer to the 1935 sequel as The Bride of Frankenstein, apparently matching original posters from the time of release. However, the movie’s actual title as seen on screen has always just been Bride of Frankenstein with no “The” preceding it.

Related

• Frankenstein’s Monster
  • The Monster Squad (1987)
  • Young Frankenstein (1974)