Frankenstein (1931)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

James Whale

Writers:

Mary Shelley (novel)
Peggy Webling (play)

Release Date:

21 November 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A Monster Science Created - But Could Not Destroy!

Plot:

Horror classic in which an obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Frankenstein | Frankenstein's Monster | Fire | Baron

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Colin Clive	...	Dr. Henry Frankenstein
Mae Clarke	...	Elizabeth
John Boles	...	Victor Moritz
Boris Karloff	...	The Monster (as ?)
Edward Van Sloan	...	Dr. Waldman
Frederick Kerr	...	Baron Frankenstein
Dwight Frye	...	Fritz
Lionel Belmore	...	Herr Vogel
Marilyn Harris	...	Little Maria

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) (cinema version) (cut) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:PG (video rating) (2002) | Finland:K-15 (2004) | Iceland:16 | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | Canada:(Banned) (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Norway:16 (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

A 20-minute test reel, starring Bela Lugosi as the monster and directed by Robert Florey, was filmed on the Dracula (1931) sets. This footage has not been seen since 1931 and is now considered lost. Only a poster, featuring the vague likeness of Bela Lugosi as a 30 feet colossus, remains.

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the film, Dr Waldman presents two brains in glass jars each bearing two neatly typed labels, one in Latin, the other in English. The good brain reads "CEREBRUM" and "NORMAL BRAIN" while the other reads "DYSFUNCTO CEREBRI" and "ABNORMAL BRAIN." When Fritz breaks into the medical school, the typed NORMAL and ABNORMAL labels have been replaced by larger, hand-printed ones.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dr. Henry Frankenstein: Down! Down, you fool!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

WHAT MORE CAN YOU SAY ABOUT ONE OF THE GREATEST?

MORD39 RATING: **** out of ****

Dark, cloudy nights. Thunder and lightning. Colin Clive's Frankenstein shouts: "It's Alive!", and Boris Karloff lurches forth in Jack Pierce's greatest monster makeup of all time....What more can be said about this classic?

It's one of the first (and greatest) horror movies of all time and required viewing. Karloff's sympathetic monster can evoke fear as well as break our hearts. This film made him a huge star after years of working as an unknown in tons of features.

James Whale is a masterful director, though there are less "light moments" in FRANKENSTEIN than some of his later horror films. Interestingly enough, the lack of a music score in this movie actually works in its favor.

Tight, brisk, and oozing with the stuff nightmares are made of, this grandaddy of all monster films needs no further selling.