creature features: frankenstein (james whale, 1931)

After the success of Dracula, Universal went to the well a second time for Frankenstein, based on the novel by Mary Shelley. Like Dracula, it had been a stage play, but while the movie Dracula was itself stage bound, James Whale and company moved away from that, immediately making Frankenstein a more interesting movie. The concept of a man creating a man clearly fascinates ... there had already been three film adaptations before James Whale came along, and since then, it's been a non-stop procession of Monsters on film. There were the literal sequels, of which Bride of Frankenstein is to my mind the best of all Frankenstein movies. There was Universal's crossover, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, another favorite of mine. In the 1950s, Hammer Films gave us Peter Cushing as the doctor and Christopher Lee as the monster. (There are at least 7 Hammer Frankenstein films.) There was Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter in 1966, the Mel Brooks' comedy Young Frankenstein, versions with Randy Quaid and later Robert De Niro as the monster, all leading up to to 2023's Oscar-bait film Poor Things.

The number one reason the 1931 version still resonates is the performance of Boris Karloff. He didn't do it all by himself ... the script was tailored to make the monster more sympathetic. But Karloff is brilliant, setting up a long career in horror (he was already in his 40s when the film was made). Despite Bela Lugosi's iconic presence in Dracula, Frankenstein is a huge step up in quality, the first real classic of the Universal Monsters series. It's #646 on the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They list of the top 1000 films of all time.

As you can imagine, even for a pre-Code film, there was some outrage and some censorship. The end of this scene was edited in many showings:

What was the moment that stepped over the line? When Frankenstein says, "Now I know what it feels like to be Gods!"

James Whale wasn't done. Still to come was The Bride of Frankenstein, one of the greatest sequels in film history.