Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Horror, Science Fiction • 1h 15m
Director: James Whale
Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Walton, Una O'Connor, E. E. Clive, Lucien Prival, O. P. Heggie, Dwight Frye, Reginald Barlow, Mary Gordon, Anne Darling, Ted Billings, Billy Barty, Robert Adair, Norman Ainsley, Frank Benson, Maurice Black, Walter Brennan, Mae Bruce, A.S. Byron, John Carradine, D'Arcy Corrigan, Grace Cunard, J. Gunnis Davis, Marie DeForrest, Elspeth Dudgeon, Helen Jerome Eddy, Neil Fitzgerald, Brenda Fowler, John George, Helen Gibson, Marilyn Harris, Carmencita Johnson, Rollo Lloyd, Murdock MacQuarrie, Josephine McKim, Torben Meyer, Edwin Mordant, Charles Murphy, Joseph North, Helen Parrish, Edward Peil Sr., Tempe Pigott, Sarah Schwartz, Mary Stewart, Anders Van Haden, Dorothy Vernon, Lucio Villegas, Joan Woodbury
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 17 days ago
Upcoming
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
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Overview
Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive, not killed as previously believed. Dr. Frankenstein wants to get out of the evil experiment business, but when a mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, kidnaps his wife, Dr. Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new creature.
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray Nov 24th
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original Laserdisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, work done to un-Nolan the 4K master, the first ever appearance of the 35mm mono track on physical media and a new restoration/remastering of the 70mm 6-track mix.
(early pressing has errors of a shot, later pressings fixed)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Box Set coming on October 20th with FiM encode
DTS:X mix most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD has additional features not found on the 4K Blu-ray
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Criterion Box Set coming October 20th with FiM encode, new restoration of mono mix which should be better than what was on the WB 4K Blu-ray and 1999 DVD and revised colour timing to make the film look more like it did in 1971.
WB 4K 5.1: a remix but has higher fidelity
Mono: 4K Blu-ray/1999 DVD
Director: James Whale
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
1993 CIC Video LaserDisc
Director: James Whale
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Here are some screenshots that include the Cohen Blu-ray and the poor Germany 4K with terrible fake HDR. David’s DV grade is way more subtle and doesn’t blow out the highlights
Director: James Whale
No comparison available with Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: John Carpenter
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
2D version: Universal 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Turbine Germany 3D Blu-ray
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