FRANKENSTEINThis is not the original FRANKENSTEIN film, but it's the most famous -- produced by Carl Laemmle, who produced all the great Universal horror films, directed by James Whale, who seemingly directed all the good ones, and starring Boris Karloff in a career-launching role as the Monster himslef.
I don't know if it's possible to NOT know the story, but FRANKENSTEIN is the tale of Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), a scientist bent on discovering the secret of life by assembling a body from corpses and reanimating it in his lab with electricity. As is usually the case in films like these, though the tradition was probably started with this one, Frankenstein has a frustrated fiancee who wants to marry him if he'd just stop being so obsessed with his work (Mae Clark), as well as a best friend who'd be glad to swoop in and take the fiancee if Frankenstein goes too mad (John Boles).
Frankenstein is aided by his hunchbacked assistant, Fritz (Dwigth Frye) in robbing graves, cutting corpses from gallows, and stealing brains from medical schools, to help with his experiments. The result: a hulking, monstrous brute, mistakenly awakened with a murderer's brain, played by Boris Karloff.
Director Whale is clearly influenced by German expressionist filmmakers here with his towering gothic sets and startling camera angles. Those familiar with Whale's filmography may find this film strangely lacking in his customary dark sense of humor. The movie feels sparse, as if absolutely everything was left out except the parts that really matter, although the character of Frankenstein's blowhard father (Frederick Kerr) sticks out as fairly unnecessary.
I think the main thing that sets this film apart from most other monster and horror films is the fact that you can really identify with the Monster. Part of this is thanks to Karloff's human portrayel -- buried under layers of Jack Pierce's masterful, creative and highly infuential makeup, you can still sense a vulnerability thanks to Karloff's vocalizations, his eyes, and his hands. But, it's also thanks to the story. There's no clear villain in this film -- sure, the Monster ends up going on a killing spree, but he's overwhelmed, misunderstood and persecuted just days after suddenly sparking to life. The only other potential villain would be Frankenstein himself, but even though Colin Clive reaches amazing heights of madness in his portrayel, you never get the idea that he's bent on evil, even if he is stepping into God's domain. Incidentally, I nominate Crispin Glover for the role of Dr. Frankenstein in the next remake.
The best scene is probably the one that was censored upon the film's original release but has been restored on VHS and DVD versions of the movie. Karloff's monster encounters a young girl throwing flowers into a lake. She's the first person to show him any kindness, so he sits and joins her in her game. But, when they run out of flowers, the monster misunderstands and tosses the girl into the water.
When I was a kid, I used to have a Frankenstein story book, and the part where the monster is trapped in the burning windmill at the end of the film really bothered me. It seemed so unfair that the mob's hysteria rushed to judgement and trapped a confused creature in a torturous death. That was more frightening than anything.
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEINConventional wisdom, possibly revisionary in nature, says this is the best of the FRANKENSTEIN films. Re-watching the films recently, I think I still agree with this assessment, though kind of like the recent DARK KNIGHT, part of the greatness of BRIDE OF RANKENSTEIN relies on the solid foundation set by the original, so it's hard to view it as a movie all on its own. The nice thing is, together, the original and the sequel only add up to 2 hours and 26 minutes, so you can watch them together in a little over the average running time of one movie.
The film picks up right where FRANKENSTEIN left off, revealing the Monster survived the fiery trap in the windmill. But, the tone seems to be different. Part of this is probably due to the creative control Whale was afforded after the success of the original. Another part is probably just due to the evolution of filmmaking in the intervening four years between the films -- where FRANKENSTEIN had no musical score in 1931, BRIDE has an evocative theme that is repeated effectively throughout in 1935, much more in line with what we expect out of modern films today. This dose a lot to do away with the "sparse" feel of the original and is just one example of how the years in which the films were made dictated how the films ended up feeling.
Here, Whales' subversive sense of humor comes to the forefront. It's clear he's having a lot more fun with the material than Universal expected him to -- much like with THE INVISIBLE MAN, Whale turns in a respectable horror flick while sneaking in his own satirical insights into sexuality and religion. The film is surprisingly existentialistic, although it does feature at least one positive religious character. Also, many have pointed out the homosexual themes that lurk under the surface of nearly every scene, partially based on what we know of Whales' personal life now, but also just based on characters and scenes that seem fairly obvious in the light of 74 years worth of experience.
Colin Clive and Boris Karloff return as the scientest and the Monster, but in this film Karloff gets a lot more to do. The themes of his isolation, persecution and misunderstanding are amped up to become the main themes of the flick and Clive is pushed into the background (though he still gets a couple deliciously manic lines in).
We're introduced to a new and fascinating character who basically steals the movie: Dr. Pretorious (Ernest Thesiger). This flamboyent, campy, and overall evil performance dominates every scene of the film and clearly differentiates BRIDE from the original. Now, we have a definite villain, and Dr. Frankenstein and his Monster are just pawns in his plan. Pretorious is a former colleague of Frankenstein's who is also bent on creating human life from scratch, and wants to combine his methods with Frankenstein's in order to create a mate for the Monster. Then, hopefully, the Monster and his mate will procreate, and we'll have the beginnings of a completely man-made race. No more need for God, who Pretorious talks about only in disgust.
The presence of Pretorious and the way he effects the other characters helps to elevate BRIDE over just being another sequel, retreading the steps of the original and repeating cliches. But, the development of the Monster as a character also helps to do turn this into more of a continuing story and not just a cheap cash-in.
As the Monster wanders the wilderness, he grows and changes. The strongest and most memorable passage in this series of scenes involves the Monster meeting a hermit (O.P. Heggie) in an isolated cottage. He happens to be blind, so he unconditionally accepts the Monster as a companion and the two of them enjoy a brief time together in which the hermit entertains the Monster with music, smoke and drink and also teaches him the concepts of "good" and "bad," what a "friend" is, and helps him learn to speak. Not only does the Monster start to become more human, but the hermit is so happy for companionship that he prays to God in thanks for his new friend.
Finally, there's the BRIDE of the title, played by Elsa Lanchester. She only has a brief moment of screen time but she makes a huge impact, not only on the viewer, but also on film history. All you have to do is mention BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and pretty much everyone can at least describe her lightning struck hair. The film ends in bittersweet tragedy, and that's part of what makes it so great.
SON OF FRANKENSTEINFor years, the only Frankenstein flicks I'd seen were the first two (unless you count Abbot and Costello, which you shouldn't). I always wrote the rest of them off as cheap imitations.
So, I was surprised to find out, a few years ago, that SON OF FRANKENSTEIN is actually pretty great. It doesn't reach the creative heights of the first two films, but it is clearly better than the rest of them and stands firmly in the list of Universal horror flick as one of the best.
This was Karloff's final turn as the Monster, and unfortunately it's his least effective. He spends the first half of the flick comatose and even when he finally comes to life, only the last few of his scenes are any good.
But, the strengths of the movie rest on the shoulders of the other three main characters, and I guess this is a strength of these first three movies in general: the willingness to introduce brand new fascinating characters to keep the story going, rather than attempting to milk old characters for more of the same.
Unlike BRIDE, SON picks up a few decades after the previous film with the adult Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) returning with his wife and young son to his ancestral castle much to the annoyance of the towns people who still remember the tragedies pervious generations of the Frankenstein family brought upon them.
Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill) takes an interest in the Frankensteins, at first pledging to protect them from the vengeful villagers, mob-happy as ever, but eventually becoming suspicious of Wolf and investigating him. Krogh was maimed by the Frankenstein Monster in his youth and has had his arm replaced by a prosthetic one, which he jerks into and out of position to great dramatic effect.
Finally, the mad blacksmith, Ygor (Bela Lugosi) is lurking in the ruins of castle Frankenstein. Some time in the past he was sentenced to hang by the town council members and although the rope broke his neck, he survived. Now, the council members are mysteriously dying one by one but Ygor is never anywhere near the scene. Hmmm.
As Wolf, Basil Rathbone does a great job of walking the line between mad scientist and respectful member of society. On one hand, he's many decades removed from the rampages of teh first films. On the other, he believes in his family name and wants to restore it. As he gazes up at his father's giant portrait, he can't help but think his father was right all along and everyone else simply misunderstood him. So, when he finds his father's diary, detailing his experiments, he finds it very tempting to enter the old lab and start playing scientist.
Interestingly, it's not so much Wolf's drive to create (or re-create) life that's his undoing -- it's his crippling guilt. He feels guilty for what his father and the Monster did years ago, and as it becomes more and more clear that things are getting out of hand again, he feels guilty for that as well, though he's never quite sure what exactly is going on. Sure, he found the Monster's body and helped bring it back to life, but what's that have to do with the murders in town? And how come Ygor seems to have such control over the Monster? Are they up to something?
Most of the drama in the movie, and the best scenes, come from Wolf's run-ins with Krogh. The scenes between Rathbone and Atwill, matching wits and trying to out-fox each other, are great. They add another dimension to SON, which, much like Pretorious' presence in BRIDE, serve to differentiate the feel of the film from the previous two.
And, of course, Lugosi is great as the creepy Ygor, always secretly plotting and pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Then, when you really need him, he's just off perched on a window ledge creepily playing his horn (or whatever that thing is ) seemingly controlling the monster like a devilish Pied Piper.
The films went downhill after this one, looking increasingly bland and repeating plot-points with less and less effective actors as both the mad doctors and the monsters. But, the first three are great, with the first two being possibly the two greatest American horror films ever made.
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