Frankenstein (1931 film)

Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code science-fiction horror film from Universal Pictures. It is about a scientist and his assistant who dig up corpses to build a man animated by electricity. The project goes awry when Frankenstein's assistant accidentally gives the creature an abnormal, murderer's brain. The film was directed by James Whale, and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The created "monster" is portrayed by Boris Karloff in the film. A hit with both audiences and critics, the film was followed by multiple sequels and has become one of the most famous horror films in history.

Frankenstein stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Karloff, and features Dwight Frye and Edward van Sloan. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell. The make-up artist was Jack Pierce.

In 1991, the Library of Congress selected Frankenstein for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot
Frankenstein begins with Edward Van Sloan stepping from behind a curtain and delivering a brief caution before the opening credits:

In a village of the Bavarian Alps, a young scientist, named Henry Frankenstein, and his assistant Fritz, a hunchback, piece together a human body, the parts of which have been collected from various sources, including stolen freshly buried bodies in a cemetery, and the bodies of recently hanged criminals. Frankenstein desires to create human life through electrical devices which he has perfected. He sends Fritz to a school where Dr. Waldman, Henry's old medical professor, teaches, to steal a brain; Fritz drops the normal brain and has to take the brain of a criminal.

Elizabeth, his fiancée, is worried over his peculiar actions. She cannot understand why he secludes himself in an abandoned watch tower, which he has equipped as a laboratory, and refuses to see anyone. She and a friend, Victor Moritz, go to Dr. Waldman, and ask Waldman's help in reclaiming the young scientist from his experiments. Waldman tells them that Frankenstein has been working on creating life. Elizabeth, intent on rescuing Frankenstein, arrives just as Henry is making his final tests. He tells them to watch, claiming to have discovered the ray that brought life into the world. They watch Frankenstein and the hunchback as they raise the lifeless body on an operating table, high into the room, toward an opening at the top of the laboratory. Then a terrific crash of thunder booms, and Frankenstein's electric machines flash, crackle and buzz. Shortly, the hand of Frankenstein's creature begins to move. This prompts Frankenstein to shout 'It's alive!'.

The manufactured Monster, despite its grotesque form, initially appears to be a simple, innocent creation. Frankenstein welcomes it into his laboratory and asks his creation to sit, which it does. He then opens up the roof, causing the Monster to reach out towards the sunlight. Fritz enters with a flaming torch, which frightens the Monster. Its fright is mistaken by Frankenstein and Waldman as an attempt to attack them, and it is chained in the dungeon. Thinking that it is not fit for society and will wreak havoc at any chance, they leave the Monster locked up, where Fritz antagonizes it with a torch. As Henry and Waldman consider the Monster's fate, they hear a shriek from the dungeon. Frankenstein and Waldman run down and find that the Monster has strangled Fritz. The Monster lunges at the two but they escape, locking the Monster inside. Realizing that the Monster must be destroyed, Henry prepares an injection of a powerful drug and the two conspire to release the Monster and inject it as it attacks. When the door is unlocked the Monster lunges at Frankenstein as Waldman injects the drug into the Monster's back. The Monster falls to the floor unconscious.

Henry collapses from exhaustion, and Elizabeth and Henry's father arrive and take him home. Henry is worried about the Monster but Waldman reassures him that he will destroy it. Later, Henry is at home, recovered and preparing for his wedding while Waldman examines the Monster. As he is preparing to vivisect it, the Monster awakens and strangles him. It escapes from the tower and wanders through the landscape. It has a short encounter with a farmer's young daughter, Maria. She is not afraid of him and asks him to play a game with her in which they toss flowers into a lake and watch them float. The Monster enjoys the game, but when they run out of flowers he thinks Maria will float as well, so he throws her into the lake where, to his puzzlement, she disappears beneath the surface. Upset by this outcome, the Monster runs away.

With preparations for the wedding completed, Henry is serenely happy with Elizabeth. They are to marry as soon as Waldman arrives. However, Victor rushes in, saying that Doctor Waldman has been found strangled. Henry suspects the Monster. Meanwhile, the Monster enters Elizabeth's room, causing her to scream. When the searchers arrive, they find Elizabeth unconscious on the bed. The Monster has escaped.

Maria's father arrives, carrying his drowned daughter's body. He says she was murdered, and the villagers form a search party to capture the Monster and bring it to justice, dead or alive. In order to search the whole country for the Monster, they split into three groups: Ludwig leads the first group into the woods, Henry leads the second group into the mountains, and the Burgomaster leads the third group by the lake. During the search, Henry becomes separated from the group and is discovered by the Monster, who attacks him. The Monster knocks Henry unconscious and carries him off to an old mill. The peasants hear his cries and they regroup to follow. They find the Monster has climbed to the top, dragging Henry with him. The Monster hurls the scientist to the ground. His fall is broken by the vanes of the windmill, saving his life. Some of the villagers hurry him to his home while the rest of the mob set the windmill ablaze, with the Monster trapped inside.

At Castle Frankenstein, Frankenstein's father, Baron Frankenstein, celebrates the wedding of his recovered son with a toast to a future grandchild.

Cast

 * Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein
 * Mae Clarke as Elizabeth Lavenza
 * John Boles as Victor Moritz
 * Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster
 * Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Waldman
 * Frederick Kerr as Baron Frankenstein
 * Dwight Frye as Fritz
 * Lionel Belmore as Herr Vogel
 * Marilyn Harris as Little Maria
 * Michael Mark as Ludwig, Maria's father.

Background
In 1930, Universal Studios had lost $2.2 million in revenues. Within 48 hours of its opening at New York's Roxy Theatre on February 12, 1931, Dracula starring Bela Lugosi had sold 50,000 tickets, building a momentum that culminated in a $700,000 profit, the largest of Universal's 1931 releases. As a result, the head of production, Carl Laemmle Jr., announced immediate plans for more horror films.