Frankenstein (1931)

It seems that given enough time in our culture, you seem to know the story of Frankenstein before you see any of the movies or read Mary Shelley’s classic novel: mad scientist creates monster, horror ensues.  Between Halloween novelties, The Munsters and countless parodies, there seems to be an accepted iconic image of the monster: tall, green skin, black flat-top, rivets in the neck and fresh stitches here and there.  That being said, I think it’s easy for most casual film fans to look over the original Frankenstein, especially when there are so many other fun spins on the story, one of my favorites being Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.  However, this is one of the original horror film icons from Universal, the first featuring Boris Karloff, that should not be missed.

In the film, a young Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) works in a secluded tower on his reanimation experiments.  He and his hunchbacked assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye) carry out the ghoulish task of finding recently dead bodies and bringing them back to the lab.  I love how we meet them stalking a funeral, ready with shovels get the stiff.  Henry’s fiancee, Elizabeth (Mae Clark), becomes worried about Henry, so she and Henry’s friend Victor (John Boles), go to visit him.  Their timing couldn’t be better (or worse), they get to witness Henry using the electrical power of a storm to bring a man built from corpses to life.

Boris Karloff plays the monster on screen and breathed life into what became an icon of horror.  In this film, the monster says little more than grunts and shrieks, but in later films (three of which Karloff reprised his role) the monster has learned to speak.  However, we still get a good idea of the character, a poor abomination born out of blasphemous power and thrown into a world it doesn’t understand.  I always feel so bad for the monster as Fritz scares him with fire.

One of my favorite scenes was severely edited in the film’s initial release.  When the monster happens upon the little girl tossing flowers into the pond, the scene was originally cut as the monster was reaching for her and left the audience to infer that the monster had tossed her in.  It was considered too violent.  How awful that the earliest audience did not get to see the monster toss her into the lake and flee in confusion when she didn’t float like the flowers.  I always found that last moment makes the monster look very sympathetic, like a scared child who didn’t know any better.  It was not until the 1980s that the scene was restored.

When it comes to Frankenstein movies, I enjoy them all, but this original always held a special place for me.  I became especially fond of it after reading the novel in high school, even though the fact that Victor and Henry’s names are switched still throws me off.  But if you’re in the mood for some good old fashioned grave robbing, lightning resurrection and climatic windmill burning, 1931’s Frankenstein is sure to bring you some chills.

“It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!  Oh, in the name of God!  Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

The Mummy (1932)

I’m not sure if I ever saw 1932’s The Mummy as a small child.  I seem to have more recollection with the CGI action/adventure version of the film that came out in the late ‘90s.  And the images in my mind of an old black and white mummy wrapped head to toe in ragged gauze shuffling through dim corridors and always catching their running victims seems to have come from elsewhere.  But The Mummy is one of Universal’s original monster movies, has become an icon and still holds up to a be one of the greats in classic horror.

During an archaeological expedition, an ancient mummy is discovered.  Upon further inspection, he seems to have been mummified alive and a curse placed on whoever opens up his tomb.  While some take the warning seriously, one young archaeologist does not, and accidentally unleashes the undead mummy, Imhotep (Boris Karloff).  He shuffles out of his sarcophagus away, in search of the reincarnation of his lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon.

Ten years later, Imhotep is masquerading around Cairo as a normal wrinkly Egyptian guy in a fez.  He seeks out Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron) and his son Frank (David Manners) and tells them where to search for Ankh-es-en-Amon’s tomb.  It’s a valuable find and once the exhibit is up, Imhotep spends much of his time there.  When he meets a lovely young woman, Helen (Zita Johann), he notices her similarities to Ankh-es-en-Amon and is convinced she is her reincarnation.  Soon, Imhotep is using his other-worldly powers to attempt to bring Helen to him so he may turn her into his mummy bride.

Perhaps one reason for Karloff’s lack of iconic mummy presence was that the makeup was such an ordeal.  I’ve read that it took over seven hours to apply the mummy bandages and makeup, which included clay being tacked into Karloff’s hair and onto his face.  When the opening scene featuring Imhotep’s resurrection was finished, removing all the makeup took another two hours, some of it quite painful.  It’s no wonder that throughout the rest of the film, Karloff sports much less dramatic makeup.

This is a smart kind of early horror film that focuses on story rather than the fantastic.  For some, that may make it a bit dry, there is a lack of jumps and shocking moments until nearly the ending climax.  However, it is an enjoyable classic and the springboard for many, many more cheesy mummy monster movies.

“Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?”

Five Star Final

Just like the tabloids of today, every now and then some old scandalous case is slapped across the front page just to sell copies.  That’s how the Gazette operates here in Mervyn LeRoy’s Five Star Final.  With the competitive circulation dropping, publisher Hinchcliffe (Oscar Apfel) pushes the editor, Randal (Edward G. Robinson) to run a more sensational story.  Randal decides to dig up a twenty year old murder case, where the actions of the murderess, Nancy Voorhees (Frances Starr), were found justifiable.  Since then she has been living a quiet life of anonymity, with her daughter, Jenny (Marian Marsh) who knows nothing of the murder or the true identity of her father.

The Townsend family (Nancy’s new last name that helped her hide twenty years ago) is about to have a joyous celebration.  Tomorrow is Jenny’s wedding to Phillip (Anthony Bushell), a sweet upper-class boy.  This is everything Nancy could have dreamed for her daughter, born just after her trials.

When Randal sends one of his reporters, Isopod (Boris Karloff) to get some dirt straight from Nancy’s mouth, Isopod disguises himself as a minister in hopes of seeming more trustworthy.  Just after Nancy welcomes an appointment with the phony minister (trusting he has some ties to Jenny’s wedding), she reads in the Gazette that her story will be featured again.  Desperate to save her daughter’s wedding, she confides in Isopod, asking if he could try to reason with the newspaper not to run the story.  It’s only too late when she realizes she’s trusted the wrong person with her secret.  Printed on schedule, her name is smeared through the mud again, along with Jenny’s, resulting in heartbreaking tragedy.

It’s established early that this isn’t a newspaper that plays fair.  When they get a whiff that one news stand isn’t putting the Gazette on top, they vandalize the old man’s stand.  It’s a dirty trick that lets us sever any allegiance we could have had with the paper

One interesting detail I found in Five Star Final, is the role of alcohol.  Set in the era of prohibition, speakeasies seem to be the main hangout for the Gazette’s employees, from reporters to secretaries.  Booze seems to be the lubrication that helps them regularly run these stories that end up ruining lives.  Showing only our villains touching the outlawed liquor reinforces the negative image of alcohol that helps the law.

Five Star Final is a good film that gets us interested in this seedy world within the Gazette right away and then pulls our heart with Nancy’s story.  It has a smart split-screen phone conversation scene that I’m sure was quite the technical achievement in it’s day.  Problem is, the ending climax is gone in a flash, watch it and you’ll see that you don’t even have time to gasp before it’s snuffed.  Then things turn to preachy speeches before giving us one last great moment.  Even with this one Achilles heel, the film is still worth a watch for any classic film buff, and available on YouTube.

“They don’t throw you out of speakeasies… they carry you out!”