I have been feeling unwell all weekend. IT started with a sore throat on on friday that felt really bad on Saturday and by Sunday left me congested and coughing. Given all of that I knew I would not have the endurance for a full two hours or more picture, so I opted for an older and shorter film to watch, Frankenstein.

The 1931 production of Frankenstein is  a very short film, just 70 minuets from start to end and while it deviates wildly from the original text, what can you expect when they can’t get the original author’s credit correct,  it is still one of the best productions based upon that classic novel.

Of course you would have had to lived your life in a very deep and dark cultural hole to not know the basics of the story of Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein, in this production named Henry instead of Victor, obsessed with life and death, pursues dangerous and forbidden experiments seeking to create life in a body that has never known life. Robbing execution yards, universities, and graveyards for his materials Frankenstein allows no law and no morality to sway or hinder his experimentation. Aided by his hunchbacked lab assistant Fritz, nope not Igor, Ygor as it is spelled in Son of Frankenstein, doesn’t show up for a couple of films yet,  Henry’s fiance Elizabeth, concerned by the strange and incomprehensible letters she has received from her groom-to-be enlisted the assistance of their best friend, Victor, who in the novel was named Henry, and together the Dr, Frankenstein’s former college mentor, they barge in just as Henry is ready to revivify — or should we vivify — the target body. Continue reading →