John Lloyd Balderston

It took John L. Balderston (Dracula) to move the story from poverty row-styled potboiler to deeper atmospheric tones built firmly on the Egyptian craze peaking after Howard Carter opened King Tut's tomb ten years earlier. Drawing on his knowledge of Egyptology (as a journalist he covered the discovery of Tut's tomb), and staging the action similar to Dracula, Balderston turned Cagliostro's driving hatred into desire. He then added pity to lighten the dark shade over Im-#!@%*#-tep's futile longing for his lost love. Like Dracula, Im-#!@%*#-tep has survived death, wields great occult power, and seeks to possess a particular woman. Unlike Dracula, Im-#!@%*#-tep is at heart a romantic and harms others only when they stand between him and his lover, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon (Zita Johann). Johann captures the allure of the sultry golden sands in her portrayal of Helen Grosvenor, the reincarnated princess, with her kolh-darkened eyes and plunging neckline, struggling against Im-#!@%*#-tep's hypnotic influence as he forces her to remember her past life with him. http://zomboscloset.typepad.com/zombos_closet_of_horror_b/2009/01/the-mummy-1932-universal-legacy-series-special-edition.html

To entice Whale back to the laboratory he was practically given carte blanche to direct his way, which he did, by greatly loosening conventionality with his caustic wit tempered by derision for having to succumb to commercial necessity, and by an unbridled flair for pushing boundaries; all of which combine to produce a less serious and less sedate film than Frankenstein, but far grander. Bride of Frankenstein borders on the outrageous; part parody, part satire, it is a reluctant parable touched with fantasy that periodically explodes into quintessential horror theatrics, providing Whale with a lucrative vehicle to poke fun at domestic relationships, the budding horror genre he helped foster, and allow him to lay bare his inner struggle between his homosexuality and society's ambivalence toward it. Henry, the Monster, Elizabeth, Pretorius, the townspeople, all represent parts of Whale's tag team match with his inner demons, yearning for, while disgusted with, a social conventionality he can never attain, but still desires deeply. http://www.zomboscloset.com/zombos_closet_of_horror_b/2009/11/bride-of-frankenstein.html