In total, in the sum of its parts, Bride of Frankenstein pits the sacred against the profane. It shows us both the ridiculous and the sublime, sometimes in the same frame. The prototype of the Hollywood monster is entranced by the strains of Ave Maria played by a blind man on his violin. By another who is afflicted, the mute creature is taught to speak, and from thence to express his fundamental, elemental desires. And in the last reel, we see those desires satisfied in deleterious ways when they are unreciprocated. Because, as Dr. Pretorius explains, the human heart is more complex than any other part of the body.
