This article contains spoilers for “The Bride!”
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new film “The Bride!” is a jazz-era reimagining of both Mary Shelley’s seminal 1818 novel “Frankenstein,” and an extrapolation of the events of James Whale’s 1935 horror/comedy “Bride of Frankenstein.” Gyllenhaal presents several layers of metanarrative, starting with Mary Shelley herself (Jessie Buckley) serving as a ghostly narrator. Mary has also, supernaturally, taken partial possession of a young woman named Ida (also Buckley), who was killed by gangsters, and then resurrected to become the titular Bride. Annette Bening plays this particular story’s Modern Prometheus, a character named Dr. Euphronious, a clear allusion to Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) from Whale’s film.
“The Bride!” knows that many, many “Frankenstein” stories, movies, and media have come before it, and winkingly acknowledges them all while also breaking out into an anarchic, punk-rock act of feminist defiance. In this universe, the Bride and Frankenstein (Christian Bale) are depicted as crazed serial criminals, akin to Bonnie & Clyde, or even Mickey & Mallory Knox from Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers.” The world takes notice of the sexy, scarred monsters on the lam, and the Bride inspires the women of the era to fight back, stand up, and become agents of revenge and chaos. Did I mention that “The Bride!” is one of the best movies of the year?
While the Bride and Frank are on the run from the cops (they are wanted for murder), they duck into a fancy jazz club to hide among the aristoi. The bandstand is playing one of the great standards of the day, Irving Berlin’s 1929 hit “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal knew what she was doing, as “Puttin’ on the Ritz” was also featured in a notable, hilarious scene in Mel Brooks’ 1974 monster spoof “Young Frankenstein.”
The Bride! makes a direct reference to Young Frankenstein
The inclusion of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in “The Bride!” was not merely a period detail. It was a reference. The fact that Christian Bale’s Frankenstein atonally yells the song’s title at the top of his lungs ensures that the “Young Frankenstein” reference was deliberate.
To remind readers, there was a scene in “Young Frankenstein” in which Doctor Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder), having created his monster (Peter Boyle), aims to prove to the world that his creation is not just peaceful but kind of dapper and sophisticated. He dresses the monster in a tuxedo, and they proceed to do a song-and-dance number to “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Frederick sings every lyric of the song, and Boyle grunt-sings the title at the top of his lungs. It’s one of the funniest scenes in a movie full of funny scenes, and perhaps one of the film’s best-known. Weirdly, Gene Wilder once tried to get that scene cut from the movie.
It was at least well known to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who smartly allowed her own monster to sing and dance to the same song. This was also in-keeping with the plot of her own movie. Her Frankenstein iss obsessed with romantic song-and-dance movies, particularly the ones starring the Fred Astaire-like movie star Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal). He was well-versed in the era’s musical comedies, and it’s 100% likely that the monster saw Edward Sloman’s obscure 1930 film “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” which was extrapolated from Berlin’s song.
So the use of “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in Gyllenhaal’s film serves a double purpose. It was not just a reference to “Young Frankenstein,” but a way to expand the character of the monster. “The Bride!” is a smart movie made by a smart filmmaker.
Other Frankenstein references in The Bride!
And the “Young Frankenstein” riff is only one of several “Frankenstein” references throughout “The Bride!” As mentioned, Mary Shelley is a character in the film, and she speaks periodically throughout to comment on the action. Mary comments at one point that what she’s witnessing reminds her of the times she saw her husband, Percy Shelley, groping their mutual friend Lord Byron. All horror fans can tell you that Mary, Percy, and Byron used to party together, and that her “Frankenstein” novel was written during a fateful party when all three of them decided to have a ghost story writing contest. Some literary gossip-mongers have posited that Byron and Shelley might have been lovers.
This may not have been intentional, but the Dr. Euphronious character in “The Bride!” has a stern and severe-looking maid named Greta (Jeannie Berlin) who traipses about the movie with harsh makeup and a maid’s working outfit. Something about her look evokes the character of Magenta, the domestic played by Patricia Quinn, in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” “Rocky Horror,” of course, is a Frankenstein riff unto itself, about a mad Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) who creates artificial people to be his sex slaves. Maggie Gyllenhaal may not have been evoking “Rocky Horror,” but I do not doubt that she has seen it several times at least. At the very least, she was reaching out to the cult movie kooks. It’s appreciated.
And the final song that plays over the credits is the piece de resistance. Gyllenhaal makes great use of the long-established 1962 Halloween hit “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. As a lover of old novelty tunes, “The Bride!” is a movie after my heart.
“The Bride!” is now playing in theaters everywhere.
