Frankenstein

1931's FRANKENSTEIN is a film of studied direction and astonishing set design.  Just like you probably already knew.   James Whale's horror classic is in fact quite iconic for many of its seventy one minutes.  And surprisingly minimalist.  Even its most celebrated scene - Dr. Frankenstein's creature comes to frightening life after an electrical storm.  Frightening, yet oddly childlike. Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh's screenplay nicely distills Mary Shelley's nineteenth century novel to a simple, tragic tale of the perils of playing God, though a surprising, and sometimes incongruent, amount of humor seeps in.

Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchback assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) troll funerals and graveyards for fresh cadavers for the doctor's new creation - a man made human.  Or at least one stitched together with parts from nature's laboratory.  In the great tradition of bumbling sidekicks, Fritz steals a criminal brain rather than a "normal" one from a classroom.  The creation will indeed come alive and wreak havoc and death, all the while seeming curious about its actions. 

Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) had warned Frankenstein, his former student, about such experiments.  He becomes increasingly concerned for his sanity, as does Henry's fiancee Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) and father, the Baron Frankenstein (Frederick Kerr), a wisecracking upper crust who thinks his son is in the at remote castle, not tying to reconcile science, but rather hiding another woman.

FRANKENSTEIN slowly builds toward its highly eventful climax - the hunt for the monster by a mob of townspeople and the father of a little girl (no spoilers here, though if you're a film buff at any level you already know just why).  The film has atmosphere but wasn't particularly creepy.  Perhaps if the film had a score this might've been aided sufficiently.  But to me the silence worked well, giving the picture a more natural, documentary feel.  As wild as the scenario may be, here it does seem possible.  

Kerr's dialogue provides numerous laughs, and as enjoyable as he was to watch I found him a stifle of sorts to the business at hand.  There's comic relief, sure, but the actor does seem like he wandered onto the sound stage from another picture.  Always with a sardonic aside.  He even gets the very last line in the movie, which makes the entire thing feel less than significant.  But despite any shortcomings, this is still essential cinema.