(1931, dir. by James Whale)
Oh, sure, it starts off kind of campy with a master of ceremonies telling audiences that the film is not for the faint hearted, giving them a chance to get up and leave, then ominously stating, "We've warned you". I wonder if this intro was viewed as gimmicky by folks back in1931 or if some took it seriously and actually got up and walked out. Of course, viewing it in the year 2000 I can't help but take the "warning" as a challenge and say to the screen, "Bring it on!"
While it's not a nightmare inducing movie, it is fairly spooky with an eerie atmospheric setting. Like vultures, Dr. Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz, secretly watch a burial, waiting for the mourners to leave so they can rob the grave, then take the unearthed body to the cold and imposing laboratory in the mountains where Frankenstein seeks to create life in a method quite different from procreation.
Colin Clive is fantastically mad as the obsessed scientist - crazy as a loon, yet oddly almost endearing in his enthusiasm for his, uh, work. Even his famous "It's alive, ALIVE!" scene, while wildly over the top, is still rather powerful and effective.
As fascinating and entertaining as this gothic horror story has been up to this point, the movie is taken to a whole other level when Boris Karloff as the monster goes beyond being some frightening creature and begins to display human emotions. Abused, rejected and treated as sub-human by his creator, and tortured by Fritz, Karloff breaks free from the laboratory. His encounter with a little girl, Maria, from the village is a lyrically beautiful scene. It's initially full of tension as we view him as a threat to Maria, and expect her to react to him in terror. But she sees him with a child's acceptance, and indeed is able to recognize the child in him, and invites him to play. There is a glorious sweetness to their interaction, but unfortunately it's only momentary. Things soon go horribly and accidentally wrong, leading to Karloff being chased by an angry, vengeful mob. The movie is very much like a fairytale, an allegory for the way we, as a society treat any who are different from the majority. And like all good fairytales, it's a lesson from which we all can learn.
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