Frankenstein

Nine months after Universal released Dracula, they put out Frankenstein, using a couple of the same actors. Renfield (Dracula's assistant) becomes Fritz (Frankenstein's assistant), and Professor Van Helsing becomes Dr. Waldman, Frankenstein's college professor. It probably goes without saying but this movie is brilliant, especially for its time. I can't recommend it enough.

It's been 15 years since I first saw this movie on VHS, and it looks even better up-scaled on a DVD. What still strikes me with most, even more so having just watched Dracula, is how dynamic the camera is. It moves into scenes and across them, there are close-ups and long shots mixed in, and mixing of studio and outdoor footage. It in no way looks like a stage play in the way Dracula does. The special effects are also quite good, relatively speaking, culminating in a burning windmill. There is even matte painting work in at least one scene.

Boris Karloff becomes one of only a few quintessential "guys in monster makeup" after this movie. He will only be replaced in the role by Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. His version of The Monster differs wildly from the novel, but it adds something to a story that would have been too difficult to film at the time. His introduction in the movie is one of the best moments on screen. It's subtle and quite. In fact, like Dracula, there's no music, a common issue for movies at this time. Somehow the lack of music still manages to set the tone nicely. And all the character motivations are out front, even though there could have been more exposition concerning Frankensten's fiance, Elizabeth, and her connection to the family, but that's what Commentary Tracks are for.

The version I watched is a restored 1999 DVD copy with all the lines that had been deleted post-1934 as well as the famous "drowning girl" scene. I'm impressed they even bothered to have a scene like that in the movie, since Dracula only showed one death, Renfield's. Sorry, spoiler warning all around. But instead of glorifying it, the director showed how innocent The Monster was and just accidentally murdered Little Maria. Afterwords, her father finds her body and parades it into town, starting one of film's most famous "mob hunting something with torches" scene. This is about the only thing that could have been better executed, since I don't understand how any of the villagers would have known about a monster on the loose. But they sure organized quick. Maybe this happens all the time to them.

I have a Tumblr blog internet write-y thing where I like to "geek spiral" over trivial Sci-Fi matters, so below are the conclusions I drew from the movie. If you haven't already, see this movie, anyway you can. I'm pretty sure it's public domain so just find it on Youtube or your favorite torrent site.

One of the earliest, best Science Fiction movies made. A film that is 81 years old, based on a novel written almost 200 years ago (194 to be as precise as I can). Hopefully in 2018 Universal has something planned. We don’t see enough “mad scientist” movies and this is one of the best (I also count Zuckerberg from The Social Network as a type of mad scientist).

When classifying the Sci-Fi elements in the movie it really comes down to animated The Monster. There’s not a lot to say here, but some dialog between Frankenstein and Dr. Waldman illuminates a little of the movie’s science. Frankenstein talks of light waves (or Electromagnetic Radiation if you prefer) beyond the ultraviolet that no one knows about. X-rays and Gamma rays (the stuff that turned Bruce Banner into The Hulk) are “beyond” that point, but must not have been discovered yet in the story. This puts the time period prior to 1895, either that or the village of Goldstadt, home of Castle Frankenstein, is way behind the times.

The point Frankenstein makes is that there is energy beyond ultraviolet that gives life. And he knows how to harness it. From the look of the tech in his lab and the Tesla-made generators, my guess is he means electricity, since the big deal is to hit The Monster with a bolt of lightning. I’m sure there’s supposed to be more than just that, but let’s exam what The Monster is. Fritz does the grunt work of finding freshly killed bodies, and a brain in a jar, for the experiment. Frankenstein stitches several corpses together and places the brain inside a slightly misshapen head. Since there are a couple bolts visible protruding from his neck, these are likely important to revival.

His intention isn’t to bring someone back from the dead, but to create a new life from the pieces of the dead. The only real failure is Fritz grabbing a brain from someone who was criminally insane, with visible lesions. In fact, Dr. Waldman is showing his college class these lesions, so it’s odd Frankenstein didn’t notice them when installing the brain. In his defense his lab is dark and he’s a little insane. I should point out in Star Trek “Bones” had trouble putting Spock’s brain back in his body and he’s a 23rd century man. How in the world did he “wire” an inactive nervous system to a brain it wasn’t developed with?

I have a feeling there are extra things going on inside the body, like more wiring and what-not. Since his head is flattened out in an unnatural way, he no doubt has more going on inside, thus accounting for increased strength, I think. The Monster knows haw to walk after a few days and understands simple commands, appearing fairly innocent until Fritz begins torturing it with fire. Then the killings begin. He constantly staggers around stiffly, grunting, but never appears to want food, so not quite a zombie. It’s just simple enough this great story works.