Frankenstein 1931

Cast:
Colin Clive – Dr. Henry Frankenstein
Mae Clarke – Elizabeth
John Boles – Victor Moritz
Boris Karloff – The Monster
Edward Van Sloan – Dr. Waldman

The classic and definitive monster/horror film of all time, director James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) is the screen version of Mary Shelley’s Gothic 1818 nightmarish novel of the same name (Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus). The film, with Victorian undertones, was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. for Universal Pictures, the same year that Dracula (1931), another classic horror film, was produced within the same studio – both films helped to save the beleaguered studio. [The sequel to this Monster story is found in director James Whale's even greater film, Bride of Frankenstein (1935).]

The film’s name was derived from the mad, obsessed scientist, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), who experimentally creates an artificial life – an Unnamed Monster (Boris Karloff), that ultimately terrorizes the Bavarian countryside after being mistreated by his maker’s assistant Fritz and society as a whole. The film’s most famous scene is the one in which Frankenstein befriends a young girl named Maria at a lake’s edge, and mistakenly throws her into the water (and drowns her) along with other flowers.

James Whales’ version of “Frankenstein” is many times removed from Mary Shelley’s novel as most of Hollywood’s films are.But this is the version of “Frankenstein” that we all know …even better than Shelley’s classic,but difficult novel. If a person wants a film version that follows Mary Shelley’s novel to the letter but is still a classic piece of cinema and is chilling,atmospheric and memorable then one should see the film “Terror Of Frankenstein”.Producer Calvin Floyd made it and it is a great version of the novel and a film that is neither boring or suffering from a star’s ego to tell his version of the story as was Kenneth Brannagh’s film which is not the masterpiece that it and a variety of uninformed other’s have claimed it to be.

Universal’s “Frankenstein”(1931) is an amazing film to see.It is uniquely it’s own version of the tale of a medical student who is not a doctor but is a scientist on his own misguided quest to create life from the dead.Colin Clive is Baron Henry Frankenstein who has chosen to break any ties that he had with the medical school where he had attended.In this writer’s opinion Colin Clive is Baron Frankenstein and he’s ideal as the reasonably mad scientist.Also this writer prefers Frankenstein’s first name being changed to Henry for this film and for the entire Universal series.How sad that Clive would only live to the age of 37 and expire in 1937.

Obviously, the filmmakers weren’t at all interested in being faithful to the novel if they were going to make a movie only 71 minutes long; why even point it out? The problem I have with the movie is the story; particularly a very large hole in the plot (among other lesser faults). I’m speaking specifically of the fact that the villagers immediately seem to know all about Frankenstein’s monster and that he’s killed a little girl, when it’s never established that he’s been seen by anyone outside Frankenstein’s inner circle (except the girl that he kills). Maybe I missed something, but I don’t think so. This might be a small point, but would it have been too much to add some more running time to the movie to round out the story a little more? Also disappointing is the fact that nobody seems to blame Frankenstein for the monster’s existence. He essentially gets off scott free, except for any lingering guilt he might suffer, but this, as well as any character development, is not sufficiently explored.

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