Directed by: James Whale
Staring: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff
Staring: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff
The structure of the film is a non-linier narrative. The film does not show how Henry Frankenstein got the idea to bring life to a lifeless body, it just shows you the collection of the body parts. The film later explains why Henry Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz were acquiring fresh dead bodies, the film follows a linier way to tell the story but it starts in the middle causing the film to be a non-linier film.
At the beginning of the film a man walks out from behind curtains to give a greeting and a warning to the audience, his 'friendly warning' is: "We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to uh, well, we warned you." this gives the film a theatrical feel to it so you feel as though instead of watching a film you are watching a play it also sets the scene and puts a degree of suspense and anticipation to the audience. In the opening credits to the film Boris Karloff's name was not shown, in place of his name by the monster's character was a '?'. Again this adds a degree of suspense and mystery to the character.
The images created in the film give it a different look to other films made at the time, because the sets used in the film look more like a set for a play rather than a film. There is very little camera movement in the film, when it is used it is to give an air of suspense the camera moves at the beginning of the film to show the surroundings then to show Henry and Fritz hiding, waiting to dig up the grave. The only camera movement in the film is designed purely to build up suspense. The sound of the thunder during the build up to the lightning scene, shows each crack of thunder getting louder, and the gap between them shortens, this is another way of intensifying the suspense. The most famous line from the Frankenstein films "It's alive", is not interrupted by thunder because it is the most important line in the film, the films mise-en-scene gives it a dismal look which makes the film seem even darker in a true gothic sense.
The characterisation of society in the film is shown through the use of the towns people in the film when they all go to hunt and kill the monster as a result of the murder of a small girl by the monster. The town all rally together when the father of the young girl who the monster killed walking into the town as the festivities are going on for the Frankenstein wedding, as the father walks up to Baron Frankenstein and explains the murder of his daughter, Baron Frankenstein then organises the town to go and search for the monster they split into three groups and search in the mountains, forrest and lake. They find Henry Frankenstein and the monster running into a windmill where they surround and kill the monster. This shows the fear of the towns people towards the monster and for all that it stands. They view it as an abomination of nature and "un-godlike".
Legal and ethical constraints on the film Frankenstein caused a few scene cuts, cutting out parts of the film because of the disturbing nature of some of the scenes. The scene where the monster throws the girl into the river was cut out at the point when the monster outstretches his arms then it cuts to the next scene. This was deemed as too much for an audience to accept, even now in modern films scenes showing the murder of children are rarely shown as they are deemed to disturbing for audiences. Other parts of the film that were cut out in the film were the start of Frankensteins line which was "Now I know what it feels like to be God!" this was viewed as being blasphemous and far too controversial, the line was overdubbed by the sound of thunder on the soundtrack and therefore shortened the line to "It's alive". In the scene where they are sedating the monster, there was a close up of the needle going into the skin that was taken out of the film, as it was felt that the audience would be too squeamish and horrified by the scene. The last cut was some of the footage that showed Fritz taking pleasure in tormenting the monster, this it was felt, would possibly enrage the audience. The reason there were cuts in the film were down to the film restrictions at the time, in the 75th anniversary it showed the scenes which were cut in the original.
At the time of the release of this film, audiences had never seen films such as this with such graphic scenes and subject matter. When this film was released there were no age restrictions as to who could and could not view this film, so censorship played a large part in the editing, and most censorship was left with the studio who were the arbiters of taste and morality. Most censorship was imposed to ensure maximum viewing attendance, thus ensuring maximum profit for the studio. Now the restrictions on editing and censorship have changed drastically.
The images created in the film give it a different look to other films made at the time, because the sets used in the film look more like a set for a play rather than a film. There is very little camera movement in the film, when it is used it is to give an air of suspense the camera moves at the beginning of the film to show the surroundings then to show Henry and Fritz hiding, waiting to dig up the grave. The only camera movement in the film is designed purely to build up suspense. The sound of the thunder during the build up to the lightning scene, shows each crack of thunder getting louder, and the gap between them shortens, this is another way of intensifying the suspense. The most famous line from the Frankenstein films "It's alive", is not interrupted by thunder because it is the most important line in the film, the films mise-en-scene gives it a dismal look which makes the film seem even darker in a true gothic sense.
The characterisation of society in the film is shown through the use of the towns people in the film when they all go to hunt and kill the monster as a result of the murder of a small girl by the monster. The town all rally together when the father of the young girl who the monster killed walking into the town as the festivities are going on for the Frankenstein wedding, as the father walks up to Baron Frankenstein and explains the murder of his daughter, Baron Frankenstein then organises the town to go and search for the monster they split into three groups and search in the mountains, forrest and lake. They find Henry Frankenstein and the monster running into a windmill where they surround and kill the monster. This shows the fear of the towns people towards the monster and for all that it stands. They view it as an abomination of nature and "un-godlike".
Legal and ethical constraints on the film Frankenstein caused a few scene cuts, cutting out parts of the film because of the disturbing nature of some of the scenes. The scene where the monster throws the girl into the river was cut out at the point when the monster outstretches his arms then it cuts to the next scene. This was deemed as too much for an audience to accept, even now in modern films scenes showing the murder of children are rarely shown as they are deemed to disturbing for audiences. Other parts of the film that were cut out in the film were the start of Frankensteins line which was "Now I know what it feels like to be God!" this was viewed as being blasphemous and far too controversial, the line was overdubbed by the sound of thunder on the soundtrack and therefore shortened the line to "It's alive". In the scene where they are sedating the monster, there was a close up of the needle going into the skin that was taken out of the film, as it was felt that the audience would be too squeamish and horrified by the scene. The last cut was some of the footage that showed Fritz taking pleasure in tormenting the monster, this it was felt, would possibly enrage the audience. The reason there were cuts in the film were down to the film restrictions at the time, in the 75th anniversary it showed the scenes which were cut in the original.
At the time of the release of this film, audiences had never seen films such as this with such graphic scenes and subject matter. When this film was released there were no age restrictions as to who could and could not view this film, so censorship played a large part in the editing, and most censorship was left with the studio who were the arbiters of taste and morality. Most censorship was imposed to ensure maximum viewing attendance, thus ensuring maximum profit for the studio. Now the restrictions on editing and censorship have changed drastically.
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