Frankenstein: 5 out of 10: Frankenstein is a hard film to review. So much that was shocking in the film when it first came out is muted today. (Desecration of the grave ect.) As a standalone film rather than an “American Classic” Frankenstein leaves much to be desired.
The film is very stagy with people exiting stage left and posing theatrically. The fight scene between the monster and the bride on her wedding day is Mystery Science Theater 3000 material. The movie is quite short (running about an hour) and character development is minimal. If you read Shelly’s original work you are likely to be appalled by some of the changes.
The brain is in the film is one of a criminal (Abby Normal) as opposed to an everyman. This changes a major component of the novel. In the book, Frankenstein became evil because he was rejected by man not because of some predestined nature. The destruction of Frankenstein’s family by his experiment that goes against God’s will is barely touched upon and the romance between Victor (excuse me Henry; they changed the name to Victor’s younger deader brother) and his fiancée is barely touched upon.
While the vastly superior
Bride of Frankenstein surprised with its effectiveness and advanced film techniques Frankenstein surprises with its brevity and staginess. But in its defense it is a classic and Boris Karloff is great as the monster.
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Comments (2)
How close was this movie to the actual novel? I never saw the classic so I was always curious.
@godfatherofgreenbay - Pretty far away. Some of the changes are silly. (such as the Victor's name) but others really changed some of the themes of the book such as the criminal brain mentioned above,