Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film

A milestone for the Monster

Universal is celebrating the 75th anniversary of Frankenstein, a movie that gave life to horror films.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 25, 2006

LOS ANGELES - The terror of Frankenstein dates to 1818, when Mary Shelley wrote the novel. Many theatrical versions followed, as did silent films, the first made by Edison's company in 1910.

Yet not until James Whale's 1931 version was the horror movie accepted by audiences and studios as a classic genre.

On Tuesday, Universal is unveiling the DVD Frankenstein- 75th Anniversary Edition, which includes the new digitally remastered movie, a biography of star Boris Karloff and featurettes, including one about the film's influence.

Universal is giving the same treatment to Dracula, which was also released in 1931. But no horror picture quite captured the realism and style of Whale's Frankenstein.

"It's one of those iconic films that had a lot of influence," says Rick Jewell, a University of Southern California professor specializing in American films of the 1930s and '40s. "It really established the horror film as one of the more potent genres in Hollywood."

Carl Laemmle Jr. produced the first Frankenstein talkie at Universal Studios. (It was presented to gasping audiences 75 years ago on Dec. 6.) His father, Carl Sr., who founded the company in 1903, had presented his son a unique 21st birthday present: command of Universal's production. The young man was derided by the Hollywood crowd, who referred to him disparagingly as Junior.

"Junior had a lot more on the ball than people gave him credit for," says cousin Carla Laemmle, 96.

"He was called a rich man's son. That was true, but he did have a vision and a sense of what people wanted."

Despite his father's disapproval, he believed that horror films would be popular with the masses. He proved his point with Dracula, which starred Bela Lugosi in the vampire role he had played on Broadway.

Encouraged by the film's success, he bought another Broadway play, Frankenstein by Peggy Webling. Lugosi and director Robert Florey had been assigned to the project, but Laemmle decided to try a different team.

The British-born Whale turned out to be an inspired choice as director. He had come to Hollywood in 1930 and had proved his taste and artistry in Journey's End and Waterloo Bridge.

"Whale's visual style added much to the film," says Chris Horak, curator of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum and a lecturer on film at UCLA. "There were a lot of other horror films that never became classics. Whale had unique style in his work."

Karloff was more of a gamble. He had been a character actor in films since 1916, often cast as a villain. Whale saw a soft side to Karloff and thought he could bring empathy to the role of the Monster.

The studio feared the movie would be too scary for audiences, so an opening sequence was filmed in which an actor appeared to warn theatergoers. That proved unnecessary at the film's preview. The viewers screamed but they also seemed fascinated.

Frankenstein made millions for Universal, and millions more when it was re-released as a double bill with Dracula.

[Last modified September 25, 2006, 06:52:23]