Frankenstein, 1931.
Directed by James Whale.
Starring Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Edward Van Sloan, Fredrick Kerr and Boris Karloff.
SYNOPSIS:
Eager to solve the mysteries of life and death, Dr Henry Frankenstein embarks upon a controversial experiment in which he will implant a human brain into a freshly constructed body and use electricity to bring it back to life. However, in his quest to play God, Frankenstein unwittingly creates a monster.
The countdown to Halloween has begun and for the 4th year running my Flickering overlords have once again allowed me to inflict another month of over-long, self-indulgent reviews that I like to call October Horrors.
With another packed year of iconic classics, cult favourites, obscure gems and more than likely a few turds to spotlight coming our way, let’s kick off with a cast iron horror classic. It’s the film that showed us what it feels to play God and why we perhaps shouldn’t, it’s Universal’s 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelly’s iconic novel Frankenstein.
Released following the success of Dracula (which I looked at last year), Frankenstein improves upon nearly every aspect in which the earlier film struggled, breaking free from the dusty confines of its stage adaptation origins to become the first great horror film of the sound era and one of most iconic horror films ever made.
Colin Clive dominates the film as the titular doctor, brilliantly navigating the careful balancing act between an inquisitive scientist and the mad doctor with a burgeoning God complex, with his crisp delivery and piercing manic stare making for a captivating and increasingly obsessive protagonist.
I especially loved Fredrick Carr’s performance as the titular doctors’ father, with the actor nearly stealing the film as the befuddled old man bewildered by any situation that can’t be solved with a nice glass of brandy. It’s a funny little performance that serves as a welcome spot of comic relief in this often dark and bleak film.
This being a Frankenstein film, the main attraction is, and always has been, the titular doctor’s monster. In this instance, we have the man who is often considered to be the definitive monster; the immortal Boris Karloff.
Key to the success Karloff’s performance is that, despite his gruesome appearance, the Monster is not portrayed as a malicious villain. Instead, Karloff with his sunken eyes, curious physical gestures and sometimes gentle nature makes the Monster seem like an overgrown child, one who is confused, amazed and frightened by the world around him.
Even when the Monster does kill, Karloff ensures that we still sympathise with him, with the actor careful to paint his character as a tragic victim of his creation instead of a murderous evil beast. A creature who is unable to control or understand the seriousness of his actions, yet one that society does not wish to help understand those actions.
On a technical level, the film is quite ambitious for an early sound film. In a marked change from the static camera placements of Dracula, Frankenstein has the camera moving freely around the sets, following the actors room to room, rising high above them and often attempting highly impressive tracking shots. One such impressively constructed sequence takes us through a village wedding festival filled with dancers and singers serenading us, with the camera gently trundling through and around of the dancing masses.
Made before the introduction of the Hays Code, which enforced strict censorship on films until the late 1960s, Frankenstein while avoiding explicitly depicting (for the time) gruesome sights, still pushes the envelope in terms of what was considered acceptable at the time in terms of its themes and ideas.
It’s honestly surprising to see a film from the 1930s, an era that we look back on as a somewhat conservative one, go as far as this one does with regards to the levels of violence, darkness and blasphemy depicted. I was rather shocked and disturbed by a scene in which Fritz, Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant, is killed by the monster. It’s a horrific moment as we hear a blood-chilling howl before we are confronted with the dead man’s hanging body at the centre of the frame casting a rather ominous shadow upon the wall as it does so.
While I have no issues with blasphemy, it would seem that many in 1931 certainly did. The now-iconic ‘IT’S ALIVE!!!!!’ sequence would prove to be one the most contested scenes among censors, with several deeply religious American states especially horrified by Frankenstein’s declaration of ‘NOW I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE GOD!!!!!!’.
The most controversial moment comes when the Monster briefly befriends an innocent young girl, joining her as she throws flowers into a lake to watch them float. Then the monster throws the girl in the lake, curious to see if she will float as well. Except that she doesn’t. The next time we see her is in the arms of her grieving father as he carries her corpse through the village. This drowning scene would prove to be too much for audiences and censors, with it ultimately being cut from the film until it was eventually re-inserted in the 1980s.
Masterfully constructed, dark, funny and daring to push controversial and often blasphemous themes, Frankenstein is simply one of the greatest horror films of all time and possibly one of the greatest films of all time.
I don’t think one can call themselves a true horror fan without having seen this bonafide masterpiece of horror cinema. Check it out.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Graeme Robertson
