Frankenstein - Movie Review

 Thinking activity

Frankenstein - Movie Review 

              Hello Readers, this blog is a part of the thinking activity of Movie Review writing of the movie Frankenstein assigned by Yesha ma'am, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog I am going to write my understanding of the movie which was organised by Yesha ma'am on 1 August, 2022.

         Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821. It is science fiction.

This literary work paves a path to many films. Like,

• The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), 
• The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
• Young Frankenstein(1974)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
• Frankenstein (2015)

         These are some examples. There are many other film adaptations also of the novel. All are having differences from the original novel. Among these, the Movie Frankenstein which was released in the year 1931 is considered the best and true to what Mary Shelley has written in her novel. 

            Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale. It was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.

         

Cast:-

Boris Karloff - Creature
Colin Clive - Victor Frankenstein
Mae Clarke - Elizabeth
Edward Van Sloan - Dr. Waldman

                The movie is very appealing in terms of human nature who always want to have hidden power or great power as God. We can compare this work with Paradise Lost by John Milton and Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve eat the apple from the Knowledge tree, as it was denied by God to eat. In Dr. Faustus, the main characters Dr. Faustus wants to be like God in the sense he wants to know everything. The same is with Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein wants to create a life and wants to search the mystery behind life and death. But ultimately he fails with his creation of a Monstrous creature.


Monster is always in search of his identity from which race he belongs but he doesn't find a single person who is like him. And that's why he demands Victor to create a Female creature. When Victor destroys it he vows revenge to be at the wedding night of Victor. He does the same and kills Elizabeth. Victor now doesn't want to lose his beloved and starts to work to keep Elizabeth alive. He succeeded to do it, but now she is not like what she was before. When Victor asks him to come near to him, she goes near the Creature. Because now she is looking like him. She now doesn't want to live with her this Deformed body and took her life. This shows that a man can give birth to a man but can never create. This scene is one of my favourite scenes of the movie.

            

           Despite this, there are so many similarities as well as dissimilarities are there between the original novel and the movie Frankenstein 1931, screening of which was organised in the Department of English.

          When I first saw the movie, it laid a lasting effect on me. It is the true presentation of the original novel. Yes, there are many scenes which differ from the novel but while making a movie a director has to make certain changes to develop the plot of the novel. 

• Both revolve around the story of Monster creation, when a scientist uses the parts of human corpse.
• Dr. Frankenstein has a girlfriend or finance and who is worried a lot about things that happened to him. 
• Dr. Wadman appears in both texts as a mentor to Dr. Frankenstein. He also acts as a consultant during the process of creation
• Dr. Frankenstein decides to abandon the monster only to get haunted by him afterwards.
• The book and film both have the monster willing to murder his creator.
• The attempt to show Frankenstein as having human features: Shelley manages to do this by elaborating on the monster's feelings towards a blind man's family in the forest and his love of violin music. James Whales manage to do this by showing the monsters fascination with a girl whom he letter drowns.

There are obvious differences between the two works in the movie:-

• In the movie The Monster lacks speech and only grows and grunts whereas, in the book the Monster is able to produce eloquent speech and teaches himself both to read and write.
• The name of the scientist differs: In the movie he is Henry Frankenstein but in the novel he is Victor Frankenstein.
• The appearance of the monster also differs: If in the movie the Monster had a flat head with bolts at both side of his head as well as has short blackish hair, Shelley's Frankenstein has long black hair, white teeth and is tall and muscular. 
• In the film, the horrible behaviour of Monster is ascribed to his having a criminal dream, while in the book it is a result of monster's resentment of being abandoned by his creator.
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To sum up, we can say that this movie with major and minor changes has the similar effect of what the novelist wanted to present.

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