"Its alive! It's alive"

Quote #49 comes from movie #87. Frankenstein was released in 1931, the same year as Bimbo's Initiation--plot outline: Bimbo the dog is initiated into a secret society in a sadistic 'fun house'; then Betty Boop (with dog's ears) takes a hand; The Pajama Party (starring the wonderfully-named Zasu Pitts), and the Fredric March version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Actors you've heard of: Boris Karloff. Actors you may not know: Karloff again. IMDB, one of the five greatest sites on the Internet, lists him with 204 TV and film credits. He played a wide range of uglies, villains, and weirdos. And in 1966, he narrated "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", maybe the greatest Christmas cartoon of all time. "You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile." Great line.

Famous monster/horror movie has success, sequels abound, and eventually you're going to see imitations and spoofs follow in droves. Psycho, Exorcist, Alien, Shining, to name a few. But I don't know if you can name a movie that's been "all of the above"-ed more than Frankenstein. Especially Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder. Creating the monster by digging up graves, the elaborate device that harnesses lightning to energize the beast, the crazed shouting at success. And of course, the lumbering, lurching, moaning and groaning monster of enormous strength. Mad scientist pursuing his aims despite the pleas of the woman he loves.

And so we have the creature. "The creature", because Dr. Frankenstein never gives it a name, neither in the Shelley novel or in the film. "Frankenstein's monster" became "Frankenstein." He evokes fear and pity as he first escapes his prison, then causes mayhem wherever he goes. We know that he is cursed by the abnormal brain inside his skull, so we pity him. He does not understand the things he is doing, be they good or bad. But when he is angered or frightened, then whatever reason or decency is inside him quickly disappears, and our pity is replaced by fear. Whips, fire, chains, dogs. He has to face them all at one point or another. At the end, I think we're back to pity as he is surrounded by fire, which he fears most of all.

Quick note: I'd always thought that the famous "mob storming the castle" scene was in this movie, but such is not the case. The mob does storm the giant windmill, but that's not exactly a castle.

Even though I mentioned the mad scientist idea earlier, I never get the feeling that Frankenstein is mad. He's obsessed, and his work does put him through an enormous amount of stress. But "crazy" really never appeared to me. His jovial father seemed more of a nut case than the son.

Two hours, twenty-five minutes seems pretty long for this type of movie in 1931. But I can't go without recommending what is maybe THE classic movie of the monster movie type. And watching an early Boris Karloff is nice, too.