Ever since the classic Horror movie genre was at its peak during the pre-WWII era, Mary Shelley's The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) starring Boris Karloff still remains the true cream of the crop. The black and white movie, directed by James Whale, is a prime example of how suspense meets great storytelling, the film's thriller elements making it a benchmark for many film directors.

Its score was written by Franz Waxman, the legendary German-American classic composer with an impressive number of Academy Award Nominations movies to his name. Waxman wrote engaging soundtracks for classic films such as Rebecca (1940), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1941), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Nun's Story (1959) and many more.

Especially for Halloween, we've managed to release Franz Waxman's The Bride Of Frankenstein OST on vinyl for the first time ever! First pressing available as 1000 hand numbered copies on slime green vinyl.

• 180 gram audiophile vinyl
• First vinyl issue of Franz Waxman's film score to the classic Bride Of Frankenstein movie
• Includes movie poster
• First 1000 numbered copies on slime green vinyl!

Review:

Franz Waxman's score for James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein has held up better than almost any other movie music of the 1930s. In addition to their association with the movie for which they were composed, major parts of Waxman's score later turned up in the Flash Gordon serials (like The Bride of Frankenstein, made at Universal), especially Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, and fragments also showed up in various westerns and B-thrillers. With its strange, sweeping yet disquieting melodies and unusual timbres, it was some of the most ambitious music ever written for the screen – indeed, if Max Steiner's score to King Kong made that movie into a “symphony accompanied by a motion picture,” in the words of composer-pianist Oscar Levant, then Waxman's music for The Bride of Frankenstein gave that movie the impact and sweep of a Wagnerian opera (although the finale recalls the Mahler “Symphony No. 2”). The Silva Screen recording of the score, by Kenneth Alwyn and the Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra, is the best representation that Waxman's music has ever had, restoring some sections that were lost to the last-minute pre-release editing of the original film – the only complaint in the treatment is the use of a synthesizer to enhance certain sections of the score; the instrument's pre­sence is momentary but jarring in those moments. The CD includes a six minute suite of Waxman's music for The Invisible Ray as a bonus , the only other fantasy film that he scored while at Universal; it isn't in the same league as The Bride of Frankenstein's sco­re, but it is entertaining.
All Music Guide – Bruce Eder