Dead By Dawn 2018: Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

Some people put Bride Of Frankenstein above the original film. I am not one of those people. It loses a point for one important element - the performance from Una O'Connor. Never mind that now though, we'll come back to it later.

Most of the main players come back for this sequel, a story given a prologue in which Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays the famous bride) tells her guests that there is more to the tale of Frankenstein than just her original story. She then proceeds to pick up from the end of the first film. Frankenstein has survived, his creature has also survived, and we get Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) added to the mix, an unscrupulous man who hopes to use Frankenstein's work to better his own.

William Hurlbut is the main credited writer this time around, although there are numerous other names who had a hand in crafting the screenplay, and James Whale is back in the director's chair, and it's clear that this is a film even more concerned with showing that the perceived monster isn't really the monster. In fact, he behaves better than almost all of the human characters that we see onscreen.

Thesiger is a lot of fun in his role, callous and calculating even as he seems to delude himself into thinking that he has good intentions, and both Clive and Karloff remain fantastic as the main creator and creation. Dwight Frye also returns, playing a different character not a million miles away from the one he played in the previous entry. Valerie Hobson takes over the role of Elizabeth, doing just fine in the role, and O. P. Heggie makes the most of his role, a blind hermit who befriends the monster and offers him some hospitality (a sequence among many brilliantly parodied in Young Frankenstein). Then we have Una O'Connor, mentioned in the first paragraph. I don't blame her for her performance, it was obviously asked of her, but I do find her to be one of the most irritating characters I have had to tolerate in any of the classic Universal horrors. Shrill and twitchy, I am constantly bemused when I hear from other viewers who enjoy her comic relief.

That performance from O'Connor IS enough for me to drop a point from my rating, but it's not enough for me to dissuade anyone from viewing, and loving, this horror classic. It's arguably the best of the sequels to the iconic horrors of this age and it often feels natural to stick it on for a watch as soon as the first film has finished.

9/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Frankenstein (1931)

I'll be reviewing most, not all, of the films shown at Dead By Dawn this year. The reviews won't be in order. Because my schedule doesn't allow for that. Deal with it. Anyway . . .

Although it was not the first of the classic Universal monster movies, and not even the first to be released in 1931 (Dracula beat it by a few months), Frankenstein, or his monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff, certainly deserves to stand as one of carved faces on any Mount Rushmore of the horror genre.

Based on the book by Mary Shelley, there seems little point in going over the plot, or any of the factors that make the film so memorable. But I will anyway, because this would be a very short review otherwise. Colin Clive plays Henry Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with the idea of creating human life from dead flesh. He has the body all stitched together, he just needs to procure a brain, a task which he entrusts to his hunchback assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye). It’s unfortunate that Fritz ends up dropping the healthy brain he was asked to acquire and so instead heads back to his boss with an abnormal brain. One atmospheric, lightning-filled, night later and the creature is alive, although not of the sound mind that Henry had hoped he would be. Things go from bad to worse, so Henry entrusts a friend (Dr Waldman, played by Edward Van Sloan) to take care of the creature and he heads home to busy himself with preparations for his wedding to the lovely Elizabeth (Mae Clarke). But his troubles are far from over.

A script written (by Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh) from an adaptation of a play (by Peggy Webling) from the source novel, Frankenstein is a masterpiece that stands tall today thanks to a perfect storm - no pun intended - of performances, direction, and writing (not just from those mentioned here, but also other credited and uncredited contributors). With certain moments and passages that still hold a magical power today, it's almost impossible to fathom how audiences would have felt when faced with this maelstrom of horror, blasphemy, and murky morality back in 1931.

Clive remains on of the best Frankensteins we've ever had onscreen, a man so driven by his obsession that he takes himself to a state of physical exhaustion. Frye is fun as Fritz, Van Sloan does just fine with his role, and Clarke is suitably lovely and poised to be a damsel in distress. But it is, of course, Karloff who owns the film, helped in no small part by the superb make-up work from Jack Pierce. There's a saying nowadays that goes something like this; intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein is not the monster, wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster. That idea may have been muddled by sequels and reworkings of the material, but it's clear as day here, largely because of the sweet and lumbering performance from Karloff.

Some might say that director James Whale does a great job here and then betters himself in the sequel. I am not sure about that. I think both films stand alongside one another as fantastic pieces of work, brought to the screen by a team determined to thrill and entertain, and yes even shock, audiences of the time. Deftly working within, and right to the edge, of what was allowed at the time (even going over the line, certain dialogue was excised from the film for many years when it was re-released, due to the blasphemous nature of it), everyone involved managed to craft part of Hollywood horror history. Some modern viewers may scoff at the melodrama and the tame nature of the content. That's their loss. I know many horror film fans who love this one as much as I do, and rightly so.

10/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

The Invisible Man (1933)

 "We'll begin with a reign of terror, a few murders here and there, murders of great men, murders of little men, just to show we make no distinction." 

James Whale was quite a talent. Horror fans should already know that, of course, but it's worth repeating until everyone, young and old, takes the time to explore his filmography and remember just how great a director he was. Arguably best known for Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein, he also gave cinema fans at least two other movies that many consider classics, one being The Old Dark House and the other being this, a movie adaptation of the H. G. Wells tale.

Claude Rains plays the titular character (although his face remains unseen for the majority of the movie, of course), a man who becomes invisible after using a serum that he doesn't realise will also drive him insane. Quickly becoming drunk on the power, he starts to terrorise the entire country, throttling some people, causing a train to crash, and generally being really quite spiteful and dangerous just because he can get away with it. There are some people who still think that he can be saved (Dr. Cranley, played by Henry Travers, and his daughter, played by Gloria Stuart) but the standard reaction is fear, a reaction which leads Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) to betray the invisible man, which is a huge mistake.

"Power, I said! Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the Holy of Holies; power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moon's frightened of me, frightened to death!" 

With a final screenplay by R. C. Sherriff, after the many treatments attempted by other writers, and that direction from Whale, this is a perfect blend of black comedy, wonderful special effects (that still hold up to this day), tense moments and some wanton violence.

Rains, despite really only being judged on a vocal performance for a lot of the runtime, is superb in the main role. He really does convey lunacy and menace with almost every line uttered, especially in the second half of the movie. Travers, Stuart and Harrigan are all decent, as is Holmes Herbert in his role as Chief Of Police.

The Invisible Man, like a number of the classics from the '30s and '40s, feels just as fresh and entertaining today as it did decades and decades ago. I hold my hands up as a fan of most films featuring invisibility (including the daffy and enjoyable Hollow Man), but this remains the very best of the lot. Easily.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Classic-Monsters-Essential-Collection/dp/B008H45YSO/ref=sr_1_17?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1392843164&sr=1-17&keywords=the+invisible+man