Next up in the Universal monsters series is Frankenstein, released in 1931, nine months after Dracula started the series. Boris Karloff is the legendary actor who created the character. Here's a good review at 1001plus by SJHoneywell.
Unlike Dracula, which kept pretty close to the book, Frankenstein, the movie, is very different from Mary Shelley's gothic horror novel. The origin of the Monster is different, the characters are different, and, most importantly, the Monster is different. In the book, the Monster is smart, thoughtful and articulate. In the movie, the Monster is frightened of the world around him and talks in no more than grunts, a clear choice designed to elicit more horror than the literary original.
The story in the movie is one you probably know, even if you've never seen it. A scientist, Henry Frankenstein, is working to create life, reanimating stolen body parts into a living person. Unfortunately, his assistant, Fritz, accidentally drops the brilliant brain intended for the body and grabs an "abnormal" brain instead. Once created, the Monster runs amuck, killing several local villagers until he's hunted down. Dr. Frankenstein also has a love interest who's concerned for his sanity and who is eventually, briefly targeted by the Monster.
Right away, you may have noticed a couple of unexpected names in the paragraph above. It's Henry Frankenstein, not Victor, as in the book, and Fritz, not Igor. This surprised me a bit. (Interestingly, Igor isn't a name in any of the original Frankenstein movies but gained popularity over the next several decades as the name of any generic lab assistant of a mad scientist.) I was also surprised because numerous people were in attendance when the Monster comes to life. Pictures always just show Dr. Frankenstein and Igor, I mean Fritz.
The Bavarian village setting is wonderfully realized along with some great location shooting, just as in Dracula. Unfortunately, during a chase on a mountaintop, the canvas wall-hangings intended to be the sky are obviously canvas wall-hangings. Still, it's a great looking movie for the most part.
Even more striking is how bold the story is for 1931. This was released pre-Hays Code which means censors were not yet cutting out everything related to sex and violence. The scenes where the Monster comes across a little girl throwing flower petals into the lake, and the aftermath in the town, are just brutal. Once the Hays Code was adopted, the lake scene was cut significantly in all future releases until the 1990s.
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| This will not end well. |
I should also note that Boris Karloff's performance is wonderful. He has no lines but imbues the Monster with real pathos; none of what's happening is really his fault. In fact, weirdly, even though all of this is Dr. Frankenstein's fault and every death should be considered his responsibility, no one once blames him for setting the Monster loose on their village.
He's white and rich, so I guess things haven't changed that much.
2 comments:
The assistant in Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein, played by Bela Lugosi, was called "Ygor".
When the censors cut these old movies, they cut the original negatives, and so the cut scenes were often lost. Fortunately, the footage of the lake scene was rediscovered in the 1980s so it could be added back in.
An interesting note about the lake scene--when it was cut because of the Hays Code, it played as much more brutal. In the full version, it's easy to see that the Monster doesn't really understand what is happening. When cut, we see him approach the girl and the two throw flower petals in the water...and then the girl is dead. No explanation, and so the mind creates what it will.
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