Day #19
Frankenstein
(1931)
A scientist is determined to prove his theory correct by bringing life to dead tissue. Now if only his dad and fiancée would leave him alone and stop pestering him about wedding stuff!
Fright Factor:
1 / 5 Ye Olde Mills
Gore Factor:
1 / 5 Reanimated-Corpse Collages
Should you watch it?
Old movies are often hard to properly review, because the art form has changed so much over the decades and they are trying to achieve vastly different things. When this movie came out the concept of a movie with sound was only 4 years old. And as such movies from this time period are often a crossbreed. They have the direction and over-the-top emoting of a silent movie, but with the plotting and dialogue of a stage play.
So with that in mind, Frankenstein is quite well done. Although be warned that it takes a lot of liberties with the source material and thank goodness for that! Personally, I find that book to be friggin’ ridiculous. The funny thing though is that more than the book, it’s the Frankenstein from these old movies that has established itself the most in the public consciousness. That raving maniac doctor, the square-headed monster with bolts in its neck? That wasn’t Shelley’s story, that was pure movie magic.
So, yeah, I think you should totally watch it sometime. It’s pretty short, it’s insanely iconic, and the pairing of Colin Crive as Dr. Frankenstein and Boris Karloff as the monster? Amazing.
“Dangerous? Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if no one tried to find out what lies beyond? Have your never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars, or to know what causes the trees to bud? And what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy. Well, if I could discover just one of these things, what eternity is, for example, I wouldn’t care if they did think I was crazy.”
No comments:
Post a Comment