Frankenstein - 1931

"How do you do?... Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning. We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation: life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even... horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to, uh... well... we warned you!"

All right, now we're getting into the meatier movies. Released by Universal Studios in 1931, this incarnation of Mary Shelley's story is arguably the most famous one of all, and possibly the most famous monster movie ever made. Released a full 21 years after Edison Picture's movie, the 1931 film is a much deeper, more complex, and more faithful story overall... though it still takes plenty of liberties with the text. It was actually based more closely on a play of the book written by Peggy Webling that made the rounds the year before. While the play got mixed reviews at best, it somehow was purchased by Universal Studios and went through several rounds of directors and actors before the project was handed off to James Whale. 

The film takes place in a world with aesthetics, technologies, and social norms in a strange mixture of the 1930s and the early 1800s, resulting in an undoubtedly timeless feel for audiences of the time, but a surprisingly effective "In the past" feel for modern audiences. It begins with Dr. Henry Frankenstein and his hunchbacked assistant, Fritz, robbing graves and stealing bodies from gallows around the European village of Goldstadt for his experiments. At one point, Fritz is sent to steal a perfect specimen of a human brain from the lecture hall of Henry's old medical professor, Dr. Waldman. Unfortunately, Fritz bungles the mission when he drops the brain, and he's forced to bring back the "abnormal" brain of a convicted criminal, instead. Meanwhile, Frankenstein's fiancee Elizabeth and his best friend Victor Mortiz (Yes, they DID swap Victor and Henry's names for some reason) are worried about him after months from no word from him. Together with Dr. Waldman, they track Dr. Frankenstein down to a crumbling old watchtower on the very night that he's set for his greatest experiment: he will bring life to a patchwork man crafted from the organs and body parts he has scavenged. As a tremendous thunderstorm rages outside, Frankenstein harnesses the lightning from the storm and uses it to bring his creation life. The monster seems to have the mind of a small, confused child, and over the next few days, Dr. Frankenstein desperately attempts to teach his creation about the world around him, how to understand speech, and how to act. Unfortunately, Fritz seems hell-bent on tormenting it relentlessly with his whip and his torch - the monster seems to have a strong instinctive terror of fire. In terror and pain, the monster finally hangs Fritz by his own whip before attacking Henry and Dr. Waldman. The creature is put to sleep with a tranquilizer, and Waldman promises to kill it while Henry goes to his wedding to Elizabeth. Unfortunately, the monster revives before Dr. Waldman can destroy it, and it breaks his neck before breaking out and escaping into the countryside. It comes across a young girl named Maria, and finds happiness for once in its life when it joins her in throwing flowers into a pond and watching them float. When they run out of flowers, the monster throws her in... where she sinks and drowns while the creature flees in panic. The monster then breaks into Frankenstein's ancestral home of Castle Frankenstein, and menaces Elizabeth before being frightened away. Eventually, Henry Frankenstein leads a mob from the village with the burgomaster and Maria's father, Hans, and to track down the monster and destroy him. Henry is separated from the group, and the monster beats him unconscious before taking refuge with him in a nearby windmill. Henry awakens, and battles his creation once more. The monster hurls Henry from the top of the windmill, nearly killing him.  The mob besieges the windmill, and burns it down, taking the creature with it. Henry survives his fall, and recovers in Castle Frankenstein while his father, the Baron, raises a glass in a toast to a Son of the House of Frankenstein.

The overall movie is oddly uneven. The atmosphere is nothing short of breathtaking, with the lighting and mood The actors are all over the map in terms of talent, but there's a damn good reason that this movie immediately propelled Boris Karloff to stardom. His somber, melancholy features, combined with the stunning makeup job that remains the default "Frankenstein's Monster" appearance nearly ninety years later, resulted in a legendary pop-culture icon. The movie also introduced the idea of Dr. Frankenstein having a hunchbacked, slow-witted assistant, though Fritz himself was killed by the monster about halfway through the movie. The name "Igor" wasn't brought up until "Son of Frankenstein" years later, and that hunchbacked assistant's name was actually spelled "Ygor". "Igor" as most people imagine him first appeared in "Young Frankenstein" the parody film! 

Both Frankenstein and his creation underwent some serious character changes, as well. Henry Frankenstein is a good deal more responsible and mature than Victor was, and doesn't hesitate to care for his creation as best he can. When people start dying, Henry immediately tells everybody instead of trying to keep it secret, and as a result, a lot fewer people are killed. The monster is not nearly so erudite, swift, or philosophical as his novel counterpart, but he's also never allowed to grow more than a week or two old, giving it at least a reason for being this way. 

All in all, one can hardly forget this movie once one has seen it - it has a strange way of lingering in the mind. If nothing else, this is the movie that brought us the quintessential interpretation of the brilliant "mad" scientist, the undying monster he created, and the immortal image of the genius deep in his strange castle laboratory, surrounded by mysterious beakers and electrical marvels, howling his triumph in the heart of a merciless thunderstorm as his greatest creation begins to move - "It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE, IN THE NAME OF GOD, NOW I KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE GOD!"

Previous --- Next