This story may shock you. We are taken to Middle Europe, the graveyard of the town near Goldstadt where mourners are weeping at a funeral under overcast skies. Once the service is finished, the gravedigger is left to bury the coffin, unaware that he is being watched by two men in the shadows: Dr Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his assistant, the hunchback Fritz (Dwight Frye). By the time the gravedigger has left, it is evening and the duo set about exhuming the body for their experiments, for the doctor has grand ideas and a new method for bringing the dead back to life...
Perhaps the most influential horror film of all time, horror fans have a lot to be thankful to Frankenstein for; watching it is like seeing icons from another age interacting on the screen. It may not be as frightening today as it was then, but it does have the bleak power of a dream turning to nightmare, like another world descending into madness. The man bringing life to both the monster and the genre was James Whale, trying something different from the war films he had made his name with, but the man who would forever be associated with the film would be Boris Karloff.
The three of them venture out to the watchtower where Henry and Fritz are toiling on a dark and stormy night, ideal conditions for lightning to zap life-giving energy into a sewn-together collection of body parts. Though Whale and his writing team did not stick to the letter of Mary Shelley's novel, they do build on its theme, and here the power of nature is equated with the power of God, so when Henry harnesses it he, as he admits now feels what it is like to be a deity, a life giver. However, just as there those who believe that if there is a God then He neglects his responsibilities, so Henry is a poor guardian and mentor to his creation.
We are supposed to accept that the reason the Monster (who never gets a name: even Henry calls him that - thanks Dad!) is such a misfit is down to the fact that clumsy Fritz dropped the normal brain he was stealing for his head and had to steal the criminal brain instead. But if you follow the events, once the Monster is brought to life the actual reason he ends up killing and rampaging is because not one character offers him any respect; even Henry is ashamed at what he has done once the initial euphoria has worn off. Only one character treats him with kindness, the little girl, and he accidentally kills her thinking she will float like a flower on the lake (she doesn't). You cannot underestimate Karloff's brilliant performance for truly lifting the film into the realms of classic, it is a wonder of mime and pathos, all under Jack Pierce's superb makeup design. Frankenstein still deserves its hallowed place as the great-grandfather of horror movies.
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