Frankenstein

I love watching the classic films that I've somehow missed. There are quite a lot of them, especially from before the 60's. Every time I see one, I can feel a huge gap in my knowledge of cinema history fill up just a little bit and create two smaller gaps where it once was.

The Universal monster movies are definitely something I should have gotten to sooner. I saw Creature From the Black Lagoon a couple years ago and really dug it. It's amazing how well that costume holds up to this day. I watched Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein over Halloween this year. I don't know if that counts. But last weekend was my first time watching the original, real deal, 1931 James Whale Frankenstein.

I was surprised by what it was. This wasn't the movie I expected at all. I grew up watching so many Looney Tunes, Mel Brooks, and everyone else parodies of Frankenstein that I thought I already knew what it was, without ever seeing frame one of the movie itself (okay, I've probably seen some frames).

Dr. Frankenstein (not Victor, but Henry) is not the wild haired mad scientist cliche that I expected, but a clean cut dignified man (except that "It's Alive" scene, which is pretty much exactly how it's portrayed). His hunchbacked lackey, Fritz (not Igor), was a sadistic little monster of a man.

And Boris Karloff's Frankenstein's Monster was such a touching performance. It wasn't the "FIRE BAD" thing that Phil Hartman did. Karloff had this look of pain and sadness in his eyes the whole time. There's a scene where Dr. Frankenstein opens the skylight to show him the sun. The monster reaches up to the sky and takes in it's rays and warmth.

The movie was also startlingly violent for an old movie. It came out before the Hayes code effectively neutered all Hollywood films until the late 60s. The famous scene with the little girl was amazing.

One thing that surprisingly was the same was the fact that Fritz/Igor actually did break the original brain and take a brain clearly marked "abnormal" from another jar. I would never have guessed that this was in the original since it feels tailor made for a Mel Brooks movie.

Another classic. Of course I liked it. A+

I plan on watching Bride of Frankenstein soon.