Frankenstein

He's just resting...waiting for a new life to come.

Instead of a full-fledged review of the Frankenstein movie, some musings/observations as I go along.
I always find the opening of this movie quite ghoulish, the way Frankenstein can't even let the poor family's lost loved one rest his weary bones, not even buried in the ground, the grave digger just finishing, not even away from the hard labour five minutes before the obsessed scientist takes off his coat, rolls up his sleeves, and commands Fritz to help him dig it up. Whale shoots the grave mourners at an angle, as do we see how the site is warped and hilly, a statue of the grim reaper behind the corpse robbers.

My own hands.

Pretty ghoulish, particularly when you see Frankenstein sending Fritz up a post to cut the body of a criminal down (the image of the hanging man is quite a sight).

In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God.

There's a quiet moment of reflection where Dr. Waldman, who teaches at the local observatory, tries to convince Frankenstein that his pursuit of the creation of life through his own experiments can only bring death and destruction while Henry expresses his desire to understand what "lies beyond the veil", that if he questions about life, its meaning through his science, he's considered crazy. He feels if he could get the answer, it'd be worth whatever others labeled him. Just before Fritz stirs the Monster's anger, using a torch to scare and enrage it, this moment puts a reason behind why he'd dig graves, stitch together body parts, and attempt to bring life to it through a special type of ray encouraged by strong lightning through a powerful enough storm.

Here's health to a son of the house of Frankenstein.

In subsequent films carrying the Frankenstein name produced by Universal studios, the house of this scientist is looked upon with scorn, as a curse that stands high on a mountain from afar (Hammer studios does this with Dracula's castle as well) as a reminder of the affliction that can work as a scourge to the innocent, the Monster whose memory is spread down generations. No doubt, besides the horrifying accidental drowning of the little girl by the Monster, the truly powerful scene that I think is just as iconic as "It's alive! It's alive!" is the "interruption of the pre-wedding village ceremony" as a father carries his dead, drowned daughter through the village, the villagers, dancing and carrying on silenced as they catch his view, the ultimate symbol of Frankenstein's ill-conceived mad dream.

The torches and clubs, the angry mob, gathered and ready to hunt down and crucify the murdering Monster who didn't intend to kill the little girl but play with her, brought to life by a man it now blames for all that has happened to it. The hills alive with these scattered villagers, Frankenstein about to face his pissed up creation, not fairing well, particularly when tossed off the balcony of the nearby windmill. How cool is that scene where the Monster, chasing his creator, stares at Henry (and vice versa) through a spinning gear in the windmill? The windmill, now an ignited inferno, Frankenstein's Monster trapped, freaking out, and suffocatingly consumed by the smoke and eventual flames, the worst case scenario because of its fear of fire.

Frederick Kerr's cranky curmudgeon, Baron Frankenstein, gets plenty of time on screen to make his presence and influence known, not one to be told what he can or cannot do, no longer tolerant of his son's time away from his worried future-wife, Elizabeth (Mae Clark). John Boles gets the thankless, "friend of Elizabeth" role, an obvious magnet for Henry's jealousy because he actually spent time with the missus while "the crazy scientist is away in his gloomy, decadent castle conducting his experiments". Edward Van Sloan is the Universal Studios darling, a mentor to Frankenstein who maybe was too close, allowing himself to remain in Henry's world, costing him dearly. Then there's Dwight Frye as the fiendish Fritz, completely at Henry's beck and call, the crook-back, wobbly walk, and misfit appearance, definitely a one-two punch along with his scenery chewing madness in Dracula. But, when I was a kid, Karloff wowed me because he didn't have dialogue, using his hands, a snarl, the deep pain, angst, confusion, frustration, and bitterness wonderfully conveyed through his eyes and movements. What an achievement.