250. Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)

Director : James Whale

Starring: Colin Clive

Boris Karloff

Mae Clark

IMDB ranking: 7.9

MY ranking: 7.5

"Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive!"

One of my first memories as a child, is of Frankenstein's monster. When I was three years old, my father and grandfather thought it would be funny to put on masks of The Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster. Their mission was to scare my cousin Jacob and I. It is safe to say that their mission was accomplished. It is a story that is still told today. Jacob and I holding each other for dear life, as my father and grandfather groaned and growled at us. As I remember, they carried on much longer than they should have. My cousin peed in his pants and I was silent for something like two days. Parenting at it's finest folks.

Frankenstein tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein's (Colin Clive) obsession with creating life using the dead. His obsession has separated him from the his fiancee Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), and has him exiled from his former university. With his assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), Dr. Frankenstein robs a grave to obtain the body for his experiment. He then sends Fritz to his former school to steal a brain. Fritz is startled when in the classroom, and drops the "normal brain." Without looking, Fritz grabs the next brain that he sees, which is "abnormal." As Dr. Frankentstein is finishing the final preparations, Elizabeth and Dr. Waldman, his former teacher, arrive at his laboratory. They all watch as Dr. Frankenstein raises the body to an opening in the ceiling of the laboratory. Lightning strikes the body and is it is lowered back down. They all realize that the experiment has worked and the body is alive.

For two days the monster is left in darkness. Then Dr. Frankenstein brings it into the laboratory. The monster appears to be calm and curious. Then Fritz comes into the room with a torch, scaring the monster. The monster sees the fire as a threat and becomes violent. They take him to a dungeon where he is chained up. There Fritz terrorizes it with a torch until the monster kills him. Dr. Waldman and Dr. Frankenstein then inject the monster to knock it out. Dr. Frankenstein leaves his laboratory to prepare for his wedding. Dr. Waldman stays behind to conduct tests on the monster. It turns out that not enough sedative was used and the monster escapes to terrorize the mountain side.

Once on the loose, the monster encounters a young girl throwing flowers into a lake. The girl does not appear to be frightened of the monster at all, and immediately invites him over to play. She shows him how the flowers float when you throw them in the water. The monster does as she does and laughs. When there are no flowers left, he stands and picks up the girl. He throws her into the lake where she drowns. The monster flees scared of what he has done. Word spreads back to Dr. Frankenstein on what has happened, and then the entire village joins together in a mob to hunt down to capture the monster.

Frankenstein doesn't thrill and chill as much as I imagine it did in the early 1930's. Although, when you first see the monster enter the room it does send a small chill down your spine. Boris Karloff delivers a great performance, in what is a mostly silent role. Karloff's monster transitions from gentle to distructive seamlessly. This leaves the viewer never knowing what the monster will do next. Karloff played the monster for two films after this one, until Lon Chaney Jr. took over the part. The real star of the film for me, was Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein. His portrayl was not of a mad scientist, but a man determined on playing God. He might be insane, but it is only because his passion is so strong. His ignited performance is where this film shines the most.

Frankenstein serves as a textbook monster movie. It might not provide many scares, but it does hold up as a good film. The characters are all believable and the films dark tone is a pleasure to watch. The only thing that I could say negative about the film, is that it was too simple. It lacked some detail that could have given it a little more authenticity. I did enjoy this film very much though. James Whale's classic shows that sometimes the biggest monster isn't what we create, but what we have become in the process.