Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Edward Van Sloan, Frederick Kerr, Dwight Frye.
Director: James Whale.
Another movie that really needs no introduction. James Whale's excellent horror flick is next up on my run through of the classic Universal Monsters. We all know the stories of Bela Lugosi being unwilling to participate (though supposedly he tells it differently) and struggling actor Karloff being chosen because he happened to be walking through the Universal Lot and happened to bump into Whale. So, let's get to it.
We open with a guy talking directly to the audience, after emerging through a thick red theater curtain, and telling us we're about to watch a scary movie that might destroy our souls. Then we go to a very interesting looking credits backdrop with eyes swirling about...how different from Dracula and its straight forward presentation. Bonus: "The Monster" is credited as "?"
Whale utilizes an amazing backdrop of what seems like a sunset, covered with clouds. The Cemetary depiction is gorgeous, too: great big Grim Reaper, Crosses and a life-sized Jesus on a Cross. All against that perpetually cloudy backdrop. I'm not sure simplicity ever looked as beautiful as it does when Whale wields it. It really is hauntingly lovely.
Dwight Frye is back, this time as Fritz (who is usually called Igor in later adaptations...of course, no such character appears in the original novel). Mae Clarke, as The Good Doctors Fiance Elizabeth, looks a lot like modern American Horror Story actress Sarah Paulson. Paulson has a better nose, but Clarke is very lovely.
Colin Clive doesn't get enough credit, given that he's quickly eclipsed by Karloff's gruesome (in context, anyway) Monster, but he really gives an excellent performance here as the mad Doctor Frankenstein. Clive spits and gesticulates every line, surrounded by an extraordinary set and neat little gadgets that flicker and spark...audiences in '31 must have been going out of their minds when they saw this stuff for the first time.
How awesome is it that Frankenstein actually is super pissed at letting his fiance into his house during a rain storm? Then he just glowers at his rival, Victor. "CRAZY am I?!" Awesome stuff. Edward Van Sloan is back, too, as Doctor Waldman. I love that Universal recycles actors. It's not a practice we see much in the modern era. Actually, I think only The CW actually does it these days: sign actors to contracts, put them in shows and if those shows tank, put them in different shows. It's a cool practice.
"IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE! I NOW KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE GOD!" Clive is awesome.
Baron Frankenstein is having NONE of Henry's shit. Neither is Waldman, it seems. I love that Henry is basically sitting around, smoking, all "I'm totally god and shit." Then we have a great monologue about wanting to do something dangerous, trying to discover things from the beyond. "The Brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain" Waldman says. Clive puts a priceless "Oh, crap" look on his face. I always forget that Doctor Waldman is around for a lot of this stuff, especially for the grand reveal of Karloff's hideous Monster...
Whale handles the unveiling excellently. There's no sound, for one: no big sting or musical swell to signify the horror. It just happens. Karloff has his back to the audience, building suspense. He turns, revealing his heavy-lidded, tight-lipped facial features. Then Whale snaps forward with a jump cut, giving us his face in full view. It's amazing. Then we watch as he lumbers forward into the room, sits down, and then reaches up for the light above him. It's a beautiful and frightening scene: this frightening monstrosity, capable of horror, is an innocent and psychologically fragile being. Karloff is so physical in the scene, too: attacking Henry when Fritz enters with a torch, and then raging against his bonds. Then Fritz hits him with a whip and purposefully frightens the Monster with a torch...then there are screams and the Two Doctors run into the room and see that the Monster has hung Fritz. Seriously, how terrifying must this movie had been to contemporary audiences? Karloff is really frightening as The Monster. So physical and menacing. How incredible is it that he can actually ACT under all that makeup?
Frankenstein also does something Dracula didn't: tons of extras at the Frankenstein wedding. Whale uses it for a couple of great effects: the seemingly handheld shot moving through the jubilant crowds is quickly silenced by a smash cut to the Monster running alone through the wilderness. Loud sounds of music and celebration to utter silence. It leads into one of the more heartbreaking scenes in the film-possibly the most heartbreaking, really-as The Monster meets a sweet little girl who doesn't recoil in fear but sees some sort of kindship in him: two children playing, it's just that one of them is a giant freak thing. Of course, we all know how that turns out. And, again, it cuts from that to music and celebration at the wedding.
Elizabeth cuts a beautiful visual in her pure white dress. Black and White is gorgeous. Of course, Henry locks her in her room even when she has a monologue about some sort of premonition of horror and says "don't leave me." NOPE. Lock her in. This leads to another absolutely gorgeous scene...the monster, draped in black, lumbering massively into frame, as Elizabeth in her beautiful white dress attempts to flee...this with a terrifying build up as he creeps up on her from the bottom of the screen.
How horrifying is the image of the Father carrying the lifeless body of his Daughter through the town as music and dancing surrounds him? It's a particularly long shot for a Universal horror film, too...it just continues for almost a full minute. Whale understood visuals, contrast and framing better than anybody. He then brings us some brilliant scenes of frightened and angry extras brandishing torches and cowering in entryways...there's a larger scope to this film than Dracula. The crowds travel into the mountains-a barren and jagged landscape-where Frankenstein confronts his Monster and the two battle. The Monster drags his creator to a dark windmill as the local men attempt to pursue. Once again, Whale has surrounded his characters with industrial apparatus. Whale clearly gets the mixture of philosophy with science gone wrong.
Karloff is amazing with his portrayal of abject terror at his imminent death. The emotional resonance of The Monster is really something special. We move to a laugh, interestingly enough. "Here's to a son of the house of Frankenstein" indeed.
Final Thoughts: What a movie this is! Beautiful, brilliant, and spectacular.
Final Rating: Five Stars.
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