Frankenstein (1931)
by Robbo
Posted on 29 October 2021
Rating -
Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.
Bela Lugosi expressed an interest in playing Henry Frankenstein with Robert Florey directing, however the studio wanted Lugosi to play the monster so they could keep his name on the poster.
After several unsuccessful makeup tests both Lugosi and Florey left the film and went to work on ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’.
Universal brought in English director James Whale and offered him his pick of films and he chose Frankenstein and was allowed to make significant script rewrites.
Boris Karloff was cast as the monster with makeup designed by the now legendary Jack P. Pierce.
The film opens in a village of the Bavarian Alps, where Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), a hunchback, piece together a human body. Some of the parts are from freshly buried bodies, and some from the bodies of recently hanged criminals but he still needs a brain for his creation.
At a nearby school, Henry’s former teacher Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) shows his class the brain of an average human being and the corrupted brain of a criminal for comparison.
Henry sends Fritz to steal the healthy brain but accidentally damages it, and so brings Henry the corrupt brain.
Henry uses a lightning storm to bring the creature to life and despite its grotesque form, seems to be an innocent, childlike creation.
The Monster kills Fritz and escapes and wanders through the landscape, encountering a farmer’s young daughter, Maria. She asks him to play a game with her in which they toss flowers onto a lake.
The Monster enjoys the game, but when they run out of flowers he throws Maria into the lake, where she disappears beneath the surface. The Monster runs away.
Maria’s father arrives, carrying his drowned daughter’s body. He says she was murdered, and the villagers form a search party to capture the Monster.
During the search, Henry is attacked by the Monster. The Monster knocks Henry unconscious and carries him to an old mill. The peasants hear his cries and find the Monster has climbed to the top, dragging Henry with him.
The Monster hurls Henry to the ground but his fall is broken by the vanes of the windmill, saving his life.
Some of the villagers carry him home while the rest of the mob set the windmill ablaze, with the Monster trapped inside.
At Castle Frankenstein, Henry’s father (Frederick Kerr) celebrates the wedding of his recovered son with a toast to a future grandchild.
Like with Dracula (1931), I first saw this film as a child, when my parents would let me stay up late on a weekend and watch TV. Frankenstein only increased my love of classic horror, and specifically monster movies.
Whereas Dracula was human, albeit a vampire, Frankenstein’s monster was some abhorrent creature stitched together from the corpses of the dead, topped off with an abnormal brain, an abomination of nature.
Lugosi’s creature would have simply been a killing machine with no though or emotion, an early Michael Myers or Terminator type character. However when James Whale took over the project he re-wrote the script, injecting a soupçon of dark humour, making the monster a much more sympathetic character, innocent and childlike, a victim of it’s creator.
Given life by Henry Frankenstein, then rejected, locked up and tormented, you almost feel compassion for the creature, or at least pity him, and Karloff conveys this in a remarkable, understated performance which catapulted the then unknown actor into superstardom, and created a new horror icon alongside Lugosi.
Frankenstein provides a stark warning of what happens when man attempts to play at being god and was a huge box office success, which spawned four sequels and several cross-overs, becoming an integral part of the Universal Monsterverse.
Frankenstein may seem a little dated now but I would urge everyone to see this film as in my opinion it is still one of the best.
Leave a Reply