Here is what is considered the granddaddy of all horror films. It is Frankenstein. The movie that made Boris Karloff a household name. This is a fantastic tale about a scientist that dares to try to discover the secrets of life and death by trying to play god and bring back life parts of corpses. It might have worked out if his assistant, Fritz(Excellently portrayed by Dwight Frye) had been frightened of his own image in a mirror while trying to steal a brain from the medical school. He saw his reflection in the mirror,dropped the normal brain and unknowingly took an abnormal brain. The monster in this film evokes sympathy because he never asked to be in this situation and he was feared and misunderstood by people. Fritz enjoyed torturing the monster with fire. He was the first one to die by the hands of the monster. The actual scene of the murder was cut from t film. Another lost scene is where the monster makes a friend, a little girl named Maria. She tosses flowers in the lake to show the monster they float and the monster not being educated figures that if the flowers float, why can't the little girl. He tosses her in the water and she drowns. Pretty violent stuff for the thirties. The monster eventually tries to get revenge on the good Dr. by kidnapping his bride on their wedding day. The climax has the Dr. thrown from the burning windmill by the monster and hitting one of the windmill blades before he hits the ground. The monster is trapped in the burning windmill under a fallen beam and perishes.(Or does he?) Once again look for Edward Van Sloan in another brilliant performance as Dr. Frankenstein's college professor who falls victim to the monster while trying to disect it before it can cause anymore harm. Interesting things about the film - Boris Karloff was billed as ? in the opening credits as the monster but had his name in the end credits. He wasn't asked to the cast party but was the star. The role of the Frankenstein monster was turned down by Bela Lugosi (keep in mind the role of the monster wasn't the same as the one offered to Karloff. The one offered to Lugosi had the monster as nothing more than a killing machine) and by doing this created a star that was his biggest rival in horror movies. Universal also had a different idea for the theatre owners to promote the film. They sent them a clock face to overlay over the lobby clock that replaced the numbers with 12 letters that spelled out FRANKENSTEIN and inclded a lobby card that read "It's time to think about Frankenstein" Interesting.
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