Universal Horror - Frankenstein

First published in 1818, the novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" was marvel of a horror novel. The novel was originally published anonymously, but more remarkably the true author was Mary Shelley, who was only 18 when she first began writing it, and published it when she was 19. The novel itself is a great book, and unusual in that it is almost entirely in the first person. The story begins with a ship which is stranded in the Arctic that finds Victor Frankenstein in poor health. He recites his life story of growing up and creating the monster that went on to destroy his whole family, including his wife Elizabeth. He vowed to hunt the monster at whatever cost and until his last breath. He ends up dying just before the monster breaks into the ship's cabin. Upon learning that his creator had died, he throws himself from the ship to perish in the ice. A dark novel that ends darkly and is creepy and full of horror. Perfect for Hollywood.

"Frankenstein" - 1931

Following the success of "Dracula", Universal chose to adapt another classic horror novel - Frankenstein. This film has Boris Karloff as the monster, and Colin Clive and Frankenstein. This movie really does not follow the novel at all, but it is unique and an intriguing film. The makeup and acting of Karloff are great. Dwight Frye appears in this movie as Fritz, the assistant to Frankenstein, who was not in the book at all. One switch is Frankenstein and his friend's names: in the movie, they are Henry Frankenstein and Victor Moritz; but in the book, they were Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval. The story from the book is all but abandoned.

The movie begins with Frankenstein and Fritz digging up bodies and cutting down hung bodies, and family members and friends worrying about Frankenstein working too much, and really, it takes awhile before you understand that Frankenstein is so wrapped up in his work to create life from death that he is losing his sanity. Friends ask his old professor Dr. Waldman (played by Edward van Sloan, Van Helsing from Dracula) to figure out what he is doing. Although Waldman disagrees with what Frankenstein is doing, he doesn't stop him either. Then follows the classic scene where he awakens the monster, and he shouts the famous "It's alive!", but then follows with a line that was originally censored out for many years "In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!" Soon, Frankenstein realizes that a criminal brain was used for the monster, and he considers it a failure, which is accentuated when the monster kills Fritz. Frankenstein leaves Waldman in the castle where he's been experimenting so he can get married to Elizabeth. Waldman doesn't show up at the wedding because the monster killed him and escaped. The monster finds a little girl who isn't afraid of him and there is again a classic scene where he throws the girl in the pond. The father brings the girl into town where they go searching for the monster that killed her (although it's not clear how they know it was murder, or who killed her). The monster shows up at the wedding and attacks Elizabeth, but has to flee before he kills her. The town bands together to find the monster. When looking for the monster, Frankenstein is abducted by the monster and taken to a windmill, where he is thrown off. The windmill is burned, and presumably so is the monster. The movie ends happily, with Frankenstein recuperating, and everyone happy... a major departure from the novel.

One interesting fact about this movie was that Bela Lugosi screen tested for the part of the monster on the set of Dracula, and supposedly dressed up in full makeup. However, this footage has been lost and all that remains is a poster. Overall, this isn't a bad classic movie.

"Bride of Frankenstein" - 1935

Inevitably, the call for a sequel went out. Director James Whale wanted nothing to do with making a sequel to his original Frankenstein, but when Universal gave him complete artistic freedom, he agreed. Many people consider "Bride of Frankenstein" to be the best sequel in the original Universal Horror subgenre, and many even call it superior to the original. Watch it and see for yourself. Karloff returns as the monster, Clive returns as Frankenstein, and Fry returns as a different character.

This movie begins with Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron discussing the novel Shelley had written, and while their discussions go, you learn that it was a contest between them that inspired her to write the dark tale (and you also see a synopsis of the original). She reveals that the story did not end. Frankenstein has given up his ways of trying to create life from death and is instead now just trying to enjoy life. The monster on the other hand, who had survived the fire, spends his time trying to make friends. He spends time with an old hermit in the woods and his granddaughter. The hermit teaches the monster to speak, which is unique. And for a short period, he is happy, until the rest of the family returns home, and drives the monster away. Also thrown in the mix is Dr. Pretorius, who is the stereotypical mad scientist. Pretorius takes the monster in and tries to force Frankenstein into making a mate for the monster. Frankenstein chooses not to, but then changes his mind when his wife Elizabeth is abducted. The film climaxes when the bride is awakened. She has the now classic hair that stands up with the white shock through it. She is afraid of the monster, the monster seeks revenge. Frankenstein escapes with Elizabeth, but the monster attacks Pretorius. The castle blows up, burying the monster and taking Pretorius with it.

The original novel had the monster ask for a mate from Frankenstein, and Frankenstein agrees, then changes his mind and destroys his second creation before it is finished. This causes the monster to go after the rest of Frankenstein's family. Also, Elsa Lanchester who playes as Mary Shelley in the opening scene also plays as the Bride, but the credits give her no credit for the latter. The credits simply say the bride was played by "?"

"Son of Frankenstein" - 1939

Once again, a sequel had to come out. But this one breaks from the previous two in several ways. Pretorius is not mentioned, and the monster has no speech ever again. Although references are made to the first movie, and short scenes had been lifted for exposition purposes. Karloff returned as the monster, but gone was Clive and Frye. Making his appearance as Frankenstein's son was Basil Rathbone. Making his first appearance in a Frankenstein movie was Bela Lugosi who played as Ygor, a crooked, broken-necked blacksmith. This is actually a very good movie, sequel or not, and is the only Frankenstein movie of a normal length (this one being over 100 minutes).

The movie follows Wolf von Frankenstein and his family returning to the town of Frankenstein to claim his inheritance from his father. It is now the modern 1930's with cars. The town is slow to accept him because of his family's history. He becomes friends with Krogh the head inspector who has a fake arm because the monster had ripped it off when he was a child. While exploring his father's laboratory, he finds Ygor hiding inside. He explains that the village tried to hang him and failed, so now he is all crooked. He also shows Wolf what is hiding in the basement: the tombs of his father and grandfather, as well as the monster, who is now in a coma. He asks Wolf to revive "his friend". Wolf, who is torn between destroying the monster and resurrecting it for science, ultimately decides to resurrect the monster. After his attempt failed, Wolf leaves to ponder what to do next. But soon, villagers begin to turn up missing, and soon all the men who had sentenced Ygor to death have all been killed. The villagers blame Wolf, and they band together to storm the estate. Krogh doesn't believe that his friend had nothing to do with the monster, and remains inside the estate to get the truth from him. Finally, Wolf chooses to banish Ygor from the estate, and in the process shoots him. The monster chooses to get revenge for his friend's death by kidnapping Wolf's son. Wolf and Krogh (unaware or each other) hunt the monster back to the laboratory, where Wolf is able to send the monster into a steaming pond of sulfur. The movie ends with Frankenstein and his family leaving the town and leaving the deed with the townsfolk.

Originally, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains were to play as Wolf. Also, the town in which the developments take place is called Frankenstein, but in the previous two movies, it is called Goldstadt. Another interesting fact was that most of the script was unprepared until shortly before shooting scenes, which kept Bela Lugosi working. Ygor's character wasn't in the original script, and the rewrites that continued keep making Lugosi's character larger and larger, and some consider Ygor his best role.

"Ghost of Frankenstein" - 1942

Three years later came yet another sequel, which is for all intents and purposes not as good as the previous three. Karloff leaves the role of the monster, and in to fill it is oddly enough Lon Chaney (yes, the WolfMan!). Back again is Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi, who apparently didn't die in the previous movie. It is revealed that apparently Ygor has nearly superhuman strength and can't be killed by ordinary means.

This movie begins with Ygor finding his friend, the monster, and leading him to Ludwig Frankenstein, brother of Wolf from the previous movie. Ludwig, as a pure scientist, decides that the problem with the monster is the brain. He figures if he can put a pure mind in the monster, then the monster will be a good person. The monster kills one his doctors, so Ludwig plans to place his brain in the monster. Ygor implores Ludwig to put his brain in the monster's body, but Ludwig is strongly opposed to this. Ygor convinces the other doctor (Dr. Bohmer) that if Ygor's brain is put in the monster, then Bohmer will get all he wants from the medical profession. Unbeknownst to Ludwig, Bohmer follows through with Ygor's wishes. The brain is put in the monster, and when the monster awakes, he has the voice and characteristics of Ygor (which is slightly disturbing, but only in the sense that it seems rather comical). The towns people storm the house/laboratory to kill the monster that has been secretly creating havoc throughout the movie. Gas is released in the halls, and fire is set to the building. The monster, with Ygor's brain inside, is lost in the blaze as well as Ludwig.

Overall, this is not a very strong movie. Chaney's monster was in my opinion weak. His acting is what we now think of as the typical monster, arms out and staggering. No personality at all.

"House of Frankenstein" - 1944

The sequels kept coming, but the public's interest was fading. In order to keep the interest alive, crossover movies began to come out. These crossovers had multiple monsters in them. This was the second of three. It features the monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and of course the mad doctor and hunchback. It features John Carradine as Dracula, Boris Karloff as the Dr. Niemann, Glen Strange as the monster, Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man, and a short cameo by George Zucco as Lampini. For certain, this was a B movie, but had some interesting moments.

This movie is about a mad doctor (Dr. Niemann) and his assistant (a hunchback) who escape a prison and decide to get revenge against those who have harmed him. his plan is to take on the role of being Lampini, by killing the real Lampini and pretending to be him. Along the way, they discover they had Dracula with them, so Niemann sets Dracula free to do his bidding. Dracula does for a short time, but is soon destroyed by the sunlight. Niemann and the hunchback continue their journey. They find a gypsy girl that the hunchback falls for, but she isn't quite so interested in him. They soon find the monster and the Wolf Man enclosed in ice, so they melt them and take them to his old laboratory. Niemann promises to operate on Talbot and put his brain in someone else to cleanse him of the Wolf Man syndrome. Talbot's impatience grows, and as it does, his interest in the gypsy girl increases, much to the chagrin of the hunchback. The hunchback takes his frustrations out on the monster because he feels the whole problem is from him. The Wolf Man awakens and goes on a rampage and attacks the gypsy girl, who soon shoots him with the silver bullet. The monster awakens and takes his aggression out on the hunchback. Again the villagers storm the laboratory of Niemann. They are chasing the monster who takes Niemann with him into the swamp. Niemann pleads with the monster not to go the way he does, and they both end up sinking in quicksand.

Once again, not a particularly good movie, and even stranger that this movie is like two in one: the first being Niemann taking over Lampini's role and using Dracula, and the second being when he finds the monster and the Wolf Man and taking out his revenge. This movie references the first crossover movie "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" from the previous year, which I'd recommend seeing before this one. From what I've read, Kharis the mummy was to appear in this movie as well, but was cut due to budget restraints. Lugosi was to reprise his role as Dracula, but because of a delay in schedule, he could not take on the role. Oddly enough, because of the delay, Lugosi took a role in the play of "Arsenic and Old Lace" that was previously held by Boris Karloff. A story I read about the shooting of this movie was that Strange had a tough time in the role of the monster: the makeup was painful and at times he had to stand in the cold mud (for the climax of the movie) for hours while the crew argued over the placement of the cameras. Chaney suggested he have some alcohol to keep warm. All day Chaney would pass a whiskey bottle to Strange, and at the end of the day, Strange admits he could barely dress himself he was so drunk.