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Frankenstein (1931) - James Whale


This movie is the quintessential Frankenstein piece. The Monster is so iconic and the story is timeless. Everything that follows this is just a copycat. Boris Karloff puts out a great big masterful performance as the powerful and destructive monster. While other actors including Dwight Frye make this film so interesting and greatly acted introduction into "Talkie" horrors.  I mean acting with sound was brand new. Only in it's infancy. Its really amazing if you stand back and look at it.

I was always taught growing up that I should not fear the monster, but I should feel bad for him. Admittedly, I really feel bad for the poor guy. It seems to me that he is just a misunderstood zombie-esqe type dude who just wants nothing more than to fit in. Unfortunately he doesn't know his own strength, and he is clumsy. Its kind of like the Gorilla with a kitten thing where the Gorilla is given a kitten and he loves it and loves it until he squeezes it to death. The Gorilla isn't a horrible animal because of this, it just doesn't know its own strength.

Universal Studios, and more specifically, Carl Laemmle are the real heavyweights in the horror cinema world at this time. The era of Universal Monsters had begun. This is one of the Plank Owners of horror movies. 

Now i know what it feels like to be God!


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