Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)

Date: November 31 1931

Director: James Whale

Cast:

Colin Clive - Dr. Henry Frankenstein
Mae Clark - Elizabeth
Boris Karloff - The Monster
John Boles - Victor Moritz
Edward Van Sloan - Dr. Waldman
Dwight Frye – Fritz

Synopsis

The film starts out with Dr. Waldman saying a monologue that warns the viewer of the bad things that is about to be seen. It starts out in a cemetery where a funeral is happening. The casket is lowered beneath the ground, and then the grave digger starts covering the casket with dirt. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Before you know it Dr. Frankenstein and Fritz, his assistant, start to dig up the coffin. The next scene shows then cutting up a dead man then dispose of the brain because it is dead and therefore useless. The next scene is of Elizabeth, who shows a concerned looking face, and then she is visited by Victor Moritz. She talks to him about how she is concerned about Henry because she hasn’t seen him in months. They decide to visit Dr. Waldman, who then agrees to help them find Victor…etc.

I believe that the film and the book are quite similar. The different things are that in the film, Henry, not Victor, creates the monster. Victor is an entirely different person. Elizabeth still loves Victor, although. Elizabeth marries Victor. The monster kills Henry. There is an outlier as well named Dr. Waldman. He is not in the book. As well as the assistant to Henry, Fritz. There are many differences from the film to the book, but there are also many similarities, the monster is still created, regardless of the creator. The monster still kills the little girl who he meets in the woods. The most compelling part of the film was when the monster was playing along with the little girl, Maria, throwing flowers into the pond then runs out of flowers then throws her in. I was really surprised that he would just pick her up and throw her in. He did realize soon after, what exactly he just did but it was too late to save her. The disappointing part was the boring affects. It was made in the 1930s but it was still really cheesy.

I rate it 3.8 out of 5 stars because it was slightly accurate to the book, but was really boring.