Mary Shelly got the shaft,
historically speaking. A smart, literate, talented writer and editor, on top of
being the only woman in her peer group, and what is she best remembered for?
Only the first science fiction novel, ever, and when it’s mentioned, trust me,
it’s with much grousing and grumbling and caveats from the science fiction
community.
Of course, I’m talking about Frankenstein:
or, the Modern Prometheus, a decent piece of Victorian melodrama, written
in 1818, that inadvertently grapples with the concept of the soul, what makes
us human, and asks the question of whether or not science should meddle with
the forces of nature. Heavy stuff for back in those days, don’tcha know. But
those hard SF guys, the graybeards, over in the corner, will shake their heads,
and say, “Well, sure, some of the ideas are there, but
really...”
How do you top that kind of
back-handed compliment, I wonder? Oh, I’ve got it! Make a movie out of an
extremely successful stage play and overwrite all of the conceits and concepts
of the novel into its most reductive form, and turn a brilliant allegory into a
grotesque caricature that is parodied and copied ad infinitum, well
into the 21st century. Talk about “No Respect.”
As with the Dracula movies, it’s
probably best to look at Frankenstein movies from the baseline question, “how
close to the book do they get?” To do otherwise is to invite madness and derision
into this house, and I’ll have none of it. To say that there’s some great
portrayals of Pop Culture Frankenstein—that lumbering creature based on Boris
Karloff’s most famous role—is a given. After all, we're talking about one of
the most recognizable figures of the 20th century. And whether we’re watching
Herman Munster or reading Marvel Comics’ Frankenstein as drawn by Mike Ploog,
or looking at any of the hundreds of other versions—they are all great, for
what they are: Pop Culture Frankenstein. Not literary Frankenstein.
With that in mind,
here are my top five favorite Frankenstein movies. It’s a motley assortment, to
be sure. What I’d really like to done day is take my favorite parts from each
movie and sort of, I don’t know, stitch them all together to make one giant,
killer movie. Not sure what to call it, though: maybe my Frankenstein “Frankenstein” cut?
This movie was the beginning of the
“more monsters is better” Universal formula, and it’s the best one because
there’s a sincere effort to make the story coherent. Not so much so with later
outings. Because this movie established that the Universal monsters were all
living in the same universe, this is also the birthplace of Pop Culture
Frankenstein.
5. Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Normally, I would never say this
about Christopher Lee, but he’s not the main reason to watch this movie. He’s
just not. His heart wasn’t in it, and it’s obvious, because that Frankenstein
make-up sucked. It just sucked. It’s messy, crude, and yeah, I know, they were
trying to get away from the now-iconic Jack Pierce design, but they went the
wrong way.
The real reason to watch this movie
is Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein. He’s the man; driven, obsessed, chilling,
relentless. Nothing will keep him from his dream of bringing the dead back to
life. He’ll even kill to get what he wants. That’s focus.
Despite the heartbreak that is
Christopher Lee with lumpy pancake make-up on his face, the movie is really
watchable. It’s made abundantly clear throughout the movie that Cushing’s mad
scientist is the real monster, but Lee manages to get some mayhem done on his
own, and also in the service to his master.
If none of the above sounds like
Mary Shelly’s book, that’s not an accident. The movie was Hammer Studio’s first
foray into updating and re-imagining the old Universal movies. I think this is
one of their better efforts, and the only thing that keeps it from being
everyone’s favorite is the terrible make-up job on Lee—something they fixed in
later films. So, you know, it’s not just me that thinks that.
4. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1994)
This could have been, and probably
should have been, the corrective it was advertised to be. Kenneth Branagh,
fresh from doing all that Shakespeare stuff, set out to adapt, direct, and star
in a lavish do-over of Frankenstein—and
do it right, as we can see by the addition of Mary Shelly’s name to the title.
Produced by Francis Ford Coppola. A screenplay by Frank Darabont. Filmed on
location in actual castles, with sumptuous sets, a huge budget, and a lengthy
running time to get it all in, and yet, this film is a hell of a near miss.
What happened?
I’ll tell you what happened. Branagh cast Robert De Niro as the monster.
Yep, you heard me. Terrible,
terrible stunt casting that takes you completely out of the movie every time
you see him in his subdued make-up. Don’t get me wrong—they tried, they really
did, to get it right. But instead of asking those big picture questions about
the meaning of life and whether or not Victor should be meddling with the
powers of creation, the film centers around Dr. Frankenstein’s rejection of his
creation and the monster’s anger at his “father” for being abandoned. Lots of
victimization, and not a lot of villainy. Oh, and no scares. I don’t know that
there should be a lot of scares when you’re doing Frankenstein from the novel,
but there’s audience expectations to manage, and this film drops the ball.
Not completely, mind you. There are
some scenes that made it to the screen that have never been in a Frankenstein
movie up until that time—like Victor’s and the Monster’s final confrontation in
the frozen North. Straight out of Shelly. And while De Niro does give a good
acting performance, it’s still not what the movie needs. It’s a good thing that
Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter are pretty to look at.
3. Frankenstein (1931)
It’s hard to discuss literary
Frankenstein without mentioning this movie, a nearly exact copy of the stage
play of the same name (hey, it worked out well for Dracula, right?) And Universal hit upon something with their
portrayal; the idea of the grotesque nature of the monster being a source of
horror and tragedy.
Make-up man Jack Pierce loved to
tell the story of his idea for Boris Karloff’s now-legendary make-up. He
figured that the good doctor wasn’t a skilled surgeon and that he’d take a lot
of short cuts, such as lopping the top of the head off and sewing the top of
the skin over, like a flap, with clamps for easy access. Creepy, right? Also,
kind of genius. And the bolts are in the neck because, of course, the monster
runs on direct current, like a battery. But the stitches in the face, neck, and
hands, and the dazed, disfigured look, stirred audience members up more than
they may have realized. So many of the people in the theaters had to deal with
the soldiers coming home from The Great War in Europe with horrible
disfigurements—missing arms and legs, noses and ears, scars that no make-up
could conceal, and worse. These veterans were walking reminders of the horrors
of that war, and Frankenstein was the stand-in for a nation’s reaction to those
veterans. The movie made it okay to scream and shudder when Karloff lumbered
into the light, a living reminder that War is Hell.
Accuracy be damned. This film
modernizes the setting, for what that’s worth—everything is still in the
backwater countryside of Europe. It’s fitting that, despite the twentieth century
trappings, it’s still torches and pitchforks for the movie’s monster-hunters.
It’s enjoyable now for what it is, but what it isn’t is Mary Shelly’s Novel.
2. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Much ado has been made over this
film—the sequel to the smash hit, and in some weird way, a very personal
statement for director James Whale. I think the movie has a lot of hubris in
it—the notion of “playing God” and creating life is pushed even farther, and
with more disastrous results, in this film. If anything, the themes are closer
to what Shelly seemed to be driving at in her novel.
Whale must have thought so too,
because he opens the film with Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelly, knitting on the
divan whilst her husband Percy and Lord Byron men roll their R’s and pose and
preen while they talk about how neato it was that a mere slip of a girl could
write so wonderfully wicked a story. Lovely. She eventually tells them there’s
more to the story, and then we dissolve to the end of the first film, implying
that everything that follows in the film was somehow or another straight from
the author’s mouth.
Clearly this is not the case, but if
you want watch a well-shot, bizarre, whackadoo black and white camp-fest, this
is your movie. It’s a beautifully told, messed up morality play based on a
subplot from the original novel, teased into a feature-length film, featuring
the sexiest Universal Monster to ever spurn a creature’s tentative advances.
Thematically, the movie is worth your time, but you have to make it past Dr.
Pretorius’ ridiculous collection of homunculi first.
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1.TIE!
Frankenstein (1973) and Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)
It’s hard to imagine that there was
a time when the best horror stories could be found on daytime television, but
let’s face it, Dark Shadows was a
saving grace. Not so much for the show itself, because it was still a soap
opera, vampires and werewolves notwithstanding. But rather, because it was so
successful that producer Dan Curtis got the go-ahead to adapt some classic
novels into made-for-television movies. In addition to Dr. Jeckyl and
Mr. Hyde and Dracula, he also managed to crank out a fine
version of Frankenstein starring Bo Svenson as the monster.
No, I’m not kidding. 1974 would see
the theatrical releases of Young
Frankenstein, Frankenstein and the
Monster From Hell, and Andy Warhol’s
Frankenstein (in 3D, no less), but Dan Curtis’ television movie special
takes the top prize, no disrespect to Mel Brooks, as the closest to the book
without going over.
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| Bo Svenson |
The production is claustrophobic,
shot on a shoestring budget, with video lighting and no sense of scale to any
of the shots. The whole thing feels like you’re watching a theatrical
production, and that makes the suspension of disbelief hard to overcome. But
Curtis stuck to the book, much in the same way he did with Dracula and Dr.
Jeckyl. I know you don’t believe me. But if you’re looking for Literary
Frankenstein, this is about as close as you’re going to come until someone
comes along and shoots the novel as a mini-series, which is honestly what needs
to happen. Oh, wait, someone did do that, in the same year, no less…
Frankenstein: The True Story stars James Mason, David McCallum, and Jane Seymour in a
lavish (as only the BBC could pull off) and lengthy reconstruction of the novel
that deviates in two key places. And unfortunately, one of the deviations is
James Mason’s character, Polidori—named after the author of The Vampyre, but based on Dr. Pretorius,
from The Bride of Frankenstein
(thankfully without the ridiculous homunculi). Again, if it were possible to somehow blend these two productions together into a seamless whole, that would be the sublime version of the story.
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This is one small part of a much larger series of articles, the entirety of which are listed below. Enjoy!
My Top 5 Favorite Haunted House Movies
This is one small part of a much larger series of articles, the entirety of which are listed below. Enjoy!
