I will say that Una O Connor didn't do good acting in this or in Bride of Frankenstein. I found myself laughing my butt off every time she was on screen. Actually though I can't blame them for doing it that way though since the book itself has everyone talking funny too.
Green Goblin is great!

No, not at all. It's just you. I can understand if you're talking about some of the extra's. But certainly not Claude Rains. If he does come off as being a little over the top, it's only because this was his first sound film and having been trained as a stage actor (where you literally have to SHOUT all of your dialogue so the audience can hear you) he was at a disadvantage due to inexperience in front of a camera. But for me, his acting is the highlight of the film. And of course, the outstanding special effects share a part of the spotlight.

Real is good. Interesting is better.

No. Even the melodrama seemed right for the setting of this film as well as the time it was made.

Much of the acting in this film is played for intentional laughs. It was James Whale's style. Of the four classic horror films he directed, only the original Frankenstein is almost played completely "straight". Whale himself and his friends giggled uncontrollably during a screening of Bride of Frankenstein.

I don't want to say the acting is bad but it does seem to be played for laughs, intentionally or not. I just saw this in the theater and we were all cracking up.

Oh pretty sure it's definitely you.

Gee, I guess in the time between INVISIBLE and TITANIC, Ms. Stuart learned a little about acting, eh?
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

I think Gloria Stuart was a tad over the top in her delivery, same with the old woman in the bar. Besides that, everybody else was exquisite.
Make IMDb a better place, ignore The_Sound_of_Glaciers_Moving.

I'm a fan of old movies, but the entire cast outside of Claude Rains was just awful in this.

I liked Raines a lot, over-acting or not fun part, well-done.
But I found many of the others guilty of poor acting, lines or direction. I posted this elsewhere:
too many of the other characters (cops, townspeople)were just like her [the amusing innkeeper's wife]: funny faced, silly acting boobs. It got tiring (and silly) after a while, too many buffoons. ..I wish I had time to document this, but it seemed to me that the movie had lots of director flaws in it! A lot of scenes ended abruptly when there were great opportunities to milk them for more. And Travers (the father of Stuart), who is a great character actor I suppose, seemed very weak here. He delivered his lines without any enthusiasm, as though he were bored!
Raine's "partner" seemed pretty poor acting-wise. Take, for example, the scene where he is bound in a car and told he would go over a cliff in it. The actor seemed stiff and bored, no emotion at all. I couldn't believe it.

It's just you.
I thought Claude Rains was wonderful in this.

I find Gloria Stuart to be a very poor actress from what little I've seen of her. Particularly this movie. I also have The Old Dark House and that role wasn't as annoying.
Claude Rains could not be considered bad, as he is one of the best ever. The rest of the cast was solid.
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Claude Rains is great for the role, which is all that really matters.
Morning sun,
vanquish me!

Rest her soul and was very beautiful in this movie, Gloria Stuart severely overacted and wasn't very good.

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Well you replied directly to me, so learn how to use the message boards.
Koalas are telepathic. Plus, they control the weather.

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I don't remember saying anything about the rest of the cast, or not enjoying a classic
Koalas are telepathic. Plus, they control the weather.

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It has theatrical acting. Don;t forget movies are still relatively new at 1933, and theater is a much more commonplace and practices format. The over the top shreaking and cheesy hand over face sobbing etc are brough over from theater simply because they didn't know any better. The dramatics are needed in theater as there were large theaters and the further away you are sitting the harder it is to make out what is going on.
Sadly, this still happens today in daytime tv movies, where the actresses over do emotions because they aren't used to subtlety.
Saying this, I still enjoy the movie, the sadistic, manic psychosis of it all keeps it more than just an interesting movie with the effects that would have been amazing at the time.

Gloria Stuart is beautiful, but, frankly, not too good in this film. I thought her acting in "Titanic" was better.
The actor who plays Dr. Kemp is not very good either.
But Claude Rains and everybody else are excellent.

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Absolutely agree. I am only now watching the film and I came on here to say how extremely annoying I find Gloria Stewart. Her histionics are quite unnecessary. Back to watching.

Mrs. Hall was fine. The really annoying actress was the bird playing the love interest.