Frankenstein

"The man who made a monster."

1931 1h 10m EN

👍

7.5

SOLID

★7.5TMDB · 1,860

DramaHorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

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Obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from deceased body parts. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it flees into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc.

“The man who made a monster.”

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Cast

Colin Clive
Henry Frankenstein
Mae Clarke
Elizabeth
John Boles
Victor Moritz
Boris Karloff
The Monster
Edward Van Sloan
Doctor Waldman
Frederick Kerr
Baron Frankenstein
Dwight Frye
Fritz
Lionel Belmore
The Burgomaster

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Whale
Writers: Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh
Languages: English, Latin
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $12M — a 45.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

95 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Latin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Frankenstein (Universal) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Whale, shot by Arthur Edeson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Bernhard Kaun. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Whale directs. Arthur Edeson behind the camera. Bernhard Kaun scores. Clarence Kolster cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Latin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Grossed $12M — a 45.8× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
495 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Latin.
6Part of the "Frankenstein (Universal) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7Directed by James Whale, shot by Arthur Edeson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Bernhard Kaun. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Clarence Kolster shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Colin Clive and Mae Clarke and John Boles carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "The man who made a monster.".
12IMDB entry: tt0021884 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 21 themes, including "fire", "monster", "experiment", "based on novel or book".
14Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Arthur Edeson
Original score: Bernhard Kaun
Editing: Clarence Kolster
Makeup / hair: Jack Pierce
Runtime: 70 min · 1h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $262,007
Box office: $12,000,000
Return: 4580% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: Frankenstein (1931)

Part of

Frankenstein (Universal) Collection

A Universal Production film series beginning with Frankenstein in 1931 and followed by four sequels up to 1944.

Also by

James Whale

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dsnake12018-10-04
★ 8/10
Frankenstein, a movie primarily about how Doctor Henry Frankenstein deals with the fallout of his monster actually coming to life, holds up very well almost ninety years from its release. Starting with the monster itself, we find a fantastic character. Without any lines of dialogue, the filmmakers and Boris Karloff had to use actions and emotions to display the motivations of the monster, and they did a fantastic job of it. The fear, confusion, and longing that the novel describes are evident in the monster's actions, to the point of pushing the audience to root for him. The rest of the characters are also a bit of fun. Baron Frankenstein, played by Fred Kerr, was also a hoot. He played a no-nonsense character that functioned well in the comic-relief role needed with Edward Van Sloan's Dr. Wladman and Mae Clarke's Elizabeth being quite serious, even dramatic. Colin Clive, the man who played Doctor Henry, did a decent job in his role as well, pulling off the role of being consumed by his work, even when he desired to be free from it. The acting, overall, was a touch more theatrical than I would prefer in a horror movie, but it wasn't so distracting that it pulled me out of the film. The film is a ton of fun to watch, but I do have to say it isn't exactly terrifying. The atmospheric creepiness is somewhat lacking compared to modern-era horror, even going back fifty years. That being said, the movie, if thought about and rewatched, does a good job of displaying how the fear of the unknown, and letting that fear take over, can be the real monster.
John Chard2019-10-26
★ 9/10
Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God! We will always see debates about which of the original wave of Universal Monster movies is the most important. With Dracula being released just under a year before Frankenstein, that tends to give the vampire crowd a sense of justifiable cause for a trumpet fanfare. Perhaps the more pertinent question is which is the better movie? Surely the most hardened of Dracula fans have to bow their heads in acknowledgement that Frankenstein quite simply is superior on every level - even if it itself is not as good as its sequel... Narrative doesn't quite follow Mary Shelley's original source material (what a brain that lady had!), but the core essence of a tragic tale holds tight. Directing was one James Whale, who here was in his directorial infancy, he himself up for debate about greatest horror genre directors, but his masterful sense of theatrical staging, and that of the terror incarnate for the era, is sublime to the point that come 100 years after its release this will still be held up as a timeless horror classic. The thematics of the story pulse with brilliance, the advent of berserker science, the alienation and confusion flow of the creature grips and stings the heart equally. The later camp of Whale's horror ventures is mostly absent here, instead we have a dark almost miserably bleak tone, which exists right up to the end title card which brings closure after the brilliant and iconic finale has made its mark. Jack Pierce's marvelous make-up and the birth of Karloff as a genre legend seals the deal on what is without doubt one of the genre's most important films. 9/10
Gimly2019-12-22
★ 5/10
Not a totally faithful adaptation of the Mary Shelley book, still extremely important for not just horror movies, but movies as a whole. I thought about coming at this review from the perspective of what 1931's Frankenstein meant for the future of cinema, and how it was still essentially in its infancy and doing anything even close to what Frankenstein did, changing the culture forever and remaining in the zeitgeist even now, almost a hundred years later, is a monumental achievement and should be viewed as such. But that's never really been my jam. Frankenstein might have been great for the time, I don't know, I wasn't there, but I personally only ever found it to be okay. Re-watching it this Halloween was, I think the fourth time I've given it a go, and it's really not as enthralling as people seem to give it credit for. My roommate fell asleep. It's not that it's black and white either, it just doesn't have as clear a philosophical intention as the book, nor as gripping an output as more modern offerings. Final rating:★★½ - Not quite for me, but I definitely get the appeal.