The Someday Cinema Series at Edmond Town Hall Theatre will offer a double feature on Sunday, October 28: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). Tickets are only $5 to see both films back-to-back starting at 3 pm, and again at 7 pm.

The matinee of The Bride of Frankenstein will be captioned for the benefit of those with hearing impairment.

The Bride of Frankenstein picks up where Frankenstein (1931) left off, with the monster (Boris Karloff) buried under the charred ruins of a windmill. Later, Dr Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) arrives to convince Dr Frankenstein (Colin Clive) to help him create a mate (Elsa Lanchester) for the monster.

Director James Whale evokes sympathy for the creature, painting him as a misunderstood outcast yearning for companionship. He can be quiet, content, and even heroic, but his ghastly appearance, clumsy, destructive movement and knack for extinguishing life make his existence impossible to tolerate for the average citizen.

The Bride of Frankenstein was the inspiration for Mel Brooks’s homage/parody, Young Frankenstein (1975). In fact, Brooks uncovered the iconic props used in Pretorius’ laboratory to lend authenticity to his film.

In The Beast with Five Fingers, Peter Lorre is excellent as Hillary Cummins, an astrologist and friend to accomplished pianist Francis Ingram (Victor Francen), who is partly paralyzed by a stroke. Ingram, now a recluse, has fallen in love with his nurse, Julie (Andrea King), who is secretly in love with Ingram’s friend Bruce (Robert Alda).

Ingram’s suspicious death leaves Julie as sole inheritor, upsetting the others who were originally meant to inherit.

The locals in the Italian village believe that evil inhabits the estate. Inexplicable things start to happen — someone is murdered, the piano seemingly plays by itself, Ingram’s body is discovered to have his left hand missing, and the dismembered hand is seen around the house. This film has all the suspenseful elements of an Agatha Christie murder mystery combined with the style of film noir.

Edmond Town Hall is at 45 Main Street.

The next film in the series is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, scheduled for Thursday, November 15, at 2 and 7 pm. Visit tiny.cc/somedaycinema2018 for all the details of the 2018 season.