Movie Review – Frankenstein (1931)

Imagine if you had the power to restore life to a deceased person.

What if you were able to not only restore a life, but make the person even better, giving them new appendages?

Those are the kind of questions addressed in 1931′s classic horror tale, Frankenstein.

Frankenstein tells the story of a brilliant scientist, Henry Frankenstein, and his quest to assemble the perfect human being.  But assembling a person isn’t enough.  He intends on giving his creation life and allowing it to walk the Earth.  Frankenstein’s experiment works, but the creature he creates, a monster, has different thoughts in mind.  This is a killing machine and nobody is safe from its rage.

Directed by James Whale and produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr., Frankenstein is loosely based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel of the same name.  The film stars Colin Clive in the title role of Henry Frankenstein, a brilliant scientist who is determined to bring life to inanimate objects through artificial means.  Boris Karloff has the classic role of Frankenstein’s monster.

Supporting them are Mae Clarke as Elizabeth, Henry Frankenstein’s fiancée; John Boles as Victor Moritz, a friend of both Elizabeth and Henry; Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Waldman, Henry’s old medical professor; Frederick Kerr as Baron Frankenstein, Henry’s father; and Dwight Frye plays the classic role of Fritz, Henry Frankenstein’s laboratory assistant.

Frankenstein begins with Edward Van Sloan stepping out from behind a curtain and warning the audience of what they’re about to see.  He warns that it is one of the strangest tales ever told.  The film addresses issues of life and death, and it may thrill, shock, or even horrify the audience.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

The film itself begins in a small town in Germany.  We watch as a small gathering of people mourn over a recently deceased person, and that person is then buried in the Earth.  Once the coast is clear, two men, Heinrich “Henry” Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), quickly dig up the coffin.  They steal the dead body and then take the corpse of a man who was recently hanged and still swinging from the gallows.  Unfortunately, as Henry Frankenstein points out, the brain in the hanged man is useless.  They’ll have to find another brain.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Fritz is sent to Goldstadt Medical College in search of another brain.  He waits until a professor finished with his lecture and the auditorium is vacant.  Fritz takes the normal brain, but he accidentally drops it when he’s startled by a noise.  Not wanting to return empty handed, Fritz takes the other brain on display, one that once belonged to a violent man.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

On the other side of town, Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), Henry’s fiancée, is growing more and more concerned about Henry’s secret experiment and his obsession with it.  He’s been gone for four months now, secluded away in an old watch tower.  Elizabeth seeks advice from her friend Victor Moritz (John Boles), and the two of them seek further help from Dr. Waldman, Henry’s old professor from medical school.

Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) claims that Frankenstein is a brilliant young scientist yet so erratic and troublesome.  He claims that Frankenstein’s field of study at the college was very advanced, and that advanced stage made things more dangerous as Frankenstein continued to experiment.

Dr. Waldman goes on explaining how Frankenstein needed human bodies to complete his experiments, as the usual laboratory animals were no good to him.  Frankenstein was only interested in destroying and then re-creating human life.  Elizabeth convinces Dr. Waldman to go with her and Victor and pay Henry Frankenstein a visit despite his warning of not to be disturbed.

In his secret laboratory at the old watch tower, Henry Frankenstein and Fritz are preparing for Frankenstein’s latest experiment.  A thunderstorm is approaching, and the lightning within that storm is what Frankenstein needs for his experiment to be successful.  The experiment is nearly ready to proceed when Fritz suddenly becomes frightful of the creature lying on the table.  Frankenstein explains how the creature as assembled from the parts of other human beings, and its brain was the one that Fritz stole from the medical college.  It’s a brain that yearns to continue living in another person’s body.

Suddenly there’s a knocking at the door.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Henry Frankenstein insists on sending the people away until he realizes that it’s Elizabeth standing outside in the storm.  He allows her along with Victor and Dr. Waldman to enter the watch tower.  As glad as he is to see his fiancée, Frankenstein tries to send her away as his experiment is just too important.  Victor calls him crazy for trying to throw her out into the storm.  Frankenstein dislikes being called crazy.  He then invites Elizabeth, Victor and Dr. Waldman into his laboratory and see just how “crazy” it looks.

After locking the door and trapping everybody inside of the laboratory, Henry Frankenstein informs his old college professor that he has made a startling discovery.  Dr. Waldman claimed that the ultraviolet ray was the highest color in the spectrum, but there in the laboratory, Frankenstein has gone beyond that.  He claims to have discovered the great ray that first brought life into the world.  After experimenting with dead animals and then a human heart, Frankenstein is ready to proceed to the next phase of his experiments — a human being.

The body on the table is not dead as Frankenstein claims that it has never lived.  He has attached the body parts from a host of bodies, creating a new human body of gross exaggerations.  Thunder fills the room and Frankenstein proceeds with his experiment.  They throw a bunch of switches, use a platform to raise the body onto the top of the watch tower, and then use the power of lightning to create the life-giving ray.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

The body is then lowered back into the laboratory.  The hand slowly moves.  It’s alive!

Back at home, Elizabeth and Victor pay Baron Frankenstein (Frederick Kerr) a visit.  The Baron is worried that Henry’s absense means that he has found another girl, but Elizabeth and Victor assure him that it’s not the case.  Henry is simply busy with his experiment and he’ll be in contact with his father again in a few days.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

At the watch tower, Dr. Waldman is still concerned about Henry Frankenstein’s experiment.  Henry isn’t too concerned as his project is only a few days old and seems to be learning quickly.  Henry then opens a door and the monster (Boris Karloff) steps into the room.  The monster appears to be rather innocent as it sits in a chair as instructed by Henry.  Henry then opens a hatch in the ceiling and the monster tries to grab the sun.

The monster seems to be learning well until Fritz runs into the room carrying a torch.  The flames terrify the monster and it cowers away in fear.  The monster then lashes out and fights Henry and Dr. Waldman while trying to grab Fritz and his torch.  They’re able to subdue the monster and chain him in the cellar.

While the monster is chained in the cellar, Fritz uses a whip and tortures the monster.  Henry is able to stop Fritz from using a whip, but when Henry leaves the room, Fritz uses fire to continue torturing the monster.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Henry Frankenstein and Dr. Waldman are studying some books when they hear Fritz scream in horror.  When they reach the cellar they discover that Fritz is dead and hanging from the ceiling.  The monster had killed him.  The monster then sets its sights on Frankenstein, but Henry and Dr. Waldman are able to lock it in the cellar.

That’s it.  The creation is simply too powerful.  Dr. Waldman convinces Frankenstein that they must overpower and murder the monster before it’s too late.  They only have a few moments before the monster will break through the wooden door.  Henry fetches a poison that should kill the monster.

Henry Frankenstein acts as the bait in their trap for the monster.  They open the door and the monster lunges at Frankenstein.  While it’s distracted, Dr. Waldman injects the poison into the monster’s back.  This infuriates the monster and it attacks the professor, knocking him to the ground.  The monster then attacks Frankenstein and tries to strangle him until the poison finally brings down the monster.

Baron Frankenstein arrives at the watch tower along with Victor and Elizabeth.  Victor goes inside first and finds Henry along with Dr. Waldman.  The three of them carry the monster and hide it from Henry’s father.  The Baron then enters the tower and finds Henry inside one of the rooms.  Henry collapses, but he recovers while lying on a bed.  Dr. Waldman insists that the baron takes his son out of there at once.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

After everybody has left, Dr. Waldman prepares to dissect the monster and try to see what went wrong.  Unfortunately for him, the poison only stunned and didn’t kill the monster.  As Dr. Waldman leans down for a closer look, the monster reaches up and grabs the professor by the back of his neck.  He easily strangles Dr. Waldman and then flees the watch tower.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

The small town has come out to celebrate the wedding between Henry Frankenstein and his bride, Elizabeth.  It’s a joyous occasion as the proud Frankenstein family grows by one more.  Even the house maids are allowed to toast to the happy couple, but they are only allowed to use cheap champagne and not the expensive wine.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Meanwhile, the monster wanders into the countryside and meets a friendly little girl named Maria (Marilyn Harris).  Instead of being fearful of the monster, little Maria quickly becomes friends with it.  She takes the monster to the shore of the lake and shows it a game of making flowers float on the water.  The game goes well until the monster runs out of flowers and doesn’t have anything else to throw into the water.  It then picks up the girl and tosses her into the lake, accidentally killing her when she quickly drowns.

Back at the house, Elizabeth is suddenly concerned for Dr. Waldman as he’s late for the wedding.  She’s fearful that something bad is about to happen.  Victor suddenly enters the room with news about Dr. Waldman.  He takes Henry into the main part of the house, and Henry locks Elizabeth inside of the room for her own safety.  Victor then reveals that Dr. Waldman has been murdered in the watch tower.  The monster has escaped and been spotted in the surrounding hills, terrorizing the people.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

They hear crashing sounds and realize that the monster is somewhere inside of Baron Frankenstein’s house with them.  While the men search the house, the monster climbs through a window and terrorizes Elizabeth.  The monster attacks her, but the men hear her cries and the monster flees before it can kill the woman.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Outside on the city streets, the joyous scene turns into horror as a local farmer presents the dead body of Maria.  He stands in front of the Burgomaster (Lionel Belmore) and demands justice.  His daughter was murdered!  Word spreads that a terrible monster was responsible for the act of crime.  The peasants demand action and a lynch mob is formed.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

Within a few hours, the peasants become an organized mob.  The Burgomaster divides the crowds and assigns each of them an area to search for the monster.  The farmer’s group will search the woods, Frankenstein’s group will search the mountains, and the Burgomaster’s group will search around the lake.  Everybody lights their torches and the hunt begins.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

It turns out that the monster is hiding in the mountains.  After it has attacked one of the peasants, Frankenstein locates and has a face off with his monster.  The monster strangles and ultimately knocks out Frankenstein.  As the peasants are rapidly approaching, the monster grabs Frankenstein and carries him to the top of an old wind mill.

The wind mill is surrounded by peasants armed with torches.  Henry regains his consciousness and tries to flee from the monster, but the monster grabs him again.  In a final act of violence against his creator, the monster throws Henry off the wind mill, intending on killing him.  But he doesn’t die as one of the wind mill’s blades catches Henry.  The man is seriously injured by the time he reaches the ground, but he’s still alive.

Frankenstein (1931) – (c) Universal Pictures

The peasants then burn the wind mill to the ground and the monster is ultimately killed.

Frankenstein ends with Henry Frankenstein recovering in a bed room and being tended to by his newly wedded wife, Elizabeth.  Baron Frankenstein exits the bedroom and drinks a toast to his son’s health and to a future grandson in the House of Frankenstein.

So is 1931′s version of Frankenstein a good movie?

Frankenstein isn’t merely a good movie.  This is a fantastic film that is nearly perfect in every way.

First, you have the horror elements of Henry Frankenstein being driven mad in his pursuit of what seems like an impossible goal — bringing life to inanimate objects.  This is combined with the morbid thrill of him assembling a new human being out of other people’s body parts, and then adding a new brain to control everything.  Bring that creation to life and have it become a powerful killing machine, and there you go.

Between the scientist driven mad by his obsession and the monster that he creates, Frankenstein delivers plenty of horror and chills, especially for an audience of its time period.

In Frankenstein we also have the human elements.  When he’s not in the laboratory, Henry Frankenstein is a deeply caring individual who loves Elizabeth and wants to honor his father, Baron Frankenstein.  Henry is reluctant to destroy his own creature until Dr. Waldman convinces him that it’s the right thing to do.  Again in the mountains, Henry is somewhat reluctant to strike down and attack the monster despite it being responsible for killing several people including an innocent little girl.

And then you have a monster, a creature somewhat aware of its surroundings yet unable to understand just why people are so fearful of it.  You feel sorry for the creature when Fritz tortures it with a whip and then flame.  We also feel saddened when the creature doesn’t understand the game that the little girl is playing, and he accidentally drowns her in the lake.

I the end of the film, it’s also sad to see the monster shrieking in terror of the wall of flames, unable to escape from the burning wind mill or the mob of peasants.

Here was a hideous and menacing creature that was created from the darkest areas of science, yet it seemed so human and almost caring when it began to explore the world.

While this version of the film is not even close to the classic novel written by Mary Shelley, what we have here is a fantastic movie with an outstanding story and some amazing characters.

Frankenstein (1931) – movie trailer

Frankenstein is a classic film that needs to be viewed by all movie lovers.  Fans of horror films and the classic Universal monsters will be thrilled, but anybody else who enjoys outstanding movies will be pleased by this film.  Simply put, 1931′s Frankenstein is one of the greatest films ever produced.

Victor Moritz – “You’re crazy!”
Henry Frankenstein – “Crazy, am I?  We’ll see whether I’m crazy or not.”

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Henry Frankenstein – “Look!  It’s moving.  It’s alive.  It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!”
Victor Moritz: Henry – “In the name of God!”
Henry Frankenstein – “Oh, in the name of God!  Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

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Doctor Waldman – “You have created a monster, and it will destroy you!”