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In 1931, as a follow up to their hit movie DRACULA, Universal Studios released FRANKENSTEIN, based on Mary Shelley's classic horror novel. Boris Karloff, who had already been in many films but to little acclaim, skyrocketed to fame overnight by playing the part of Dr. Frankenstein's mute, murderous monster.
Karloff played the Monster as a child, always holding out his hands for something, always pleading. Of course, this particular child tends to murder people if he doesn't get his way, but thanks to a well-written script and Karloff's performance, we tend not to hold it against him. In this film, the Monster kills Dr. Frankenstein's assistant Fritz, Dr. Waldman (an associate of Dr. Frankenstein), and a little child from the village. Karloff's monster remains sympathetic, however, due to the circumstances of the murders. Fritz has a masochistic habit of waving a lit torch in the Monster's general direction. Needless to say, the Monster only takes so much of this before he decides to overpower and hang Fritz. When he realizes that the Dr. Waldman, played by Edward Sloan, is going to put him out of everybody's misery, he strangles the doctor. And when he meets little Maria, in the film's most tender scene, he accidentally drowns her while playing a game near the lake. The first two murders were clearly in self-defense, while the last was purely an accident. He wanted to see if the child could float. Turns out she couldn't.) In this first Frankenstein film, the Monster could not yet speak, but Karloff gives him a voice by using grunts, whimpers and roars to get his message across. Though parts of the film are creaky and dated, Karloff's performance remains one of the best in film history. His grunts and groans are often more effective than some of the stilted dialogue. There are so many memorable scenes in this film, including the Monster's first taste of sunlight (he likes it), his introduction to fire (he doesn't like it), and the drowning of Maria and his subsequent panic attack, two scenes that were originally cut from the movie after previews but have been restored in the video release.
The copyright of the article Boris Karloff and the Frankenstein Trilogy (Part 1) in Black-and-White Movies is owned by John Vincent Brennan. Permission to republish Boris Karloff and the Frankenstein Trilogy (Part 1) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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