#Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein

[darkness-and-books]

Anyone else have an unhealthy soft spot for unstable/semi-insane (sometimes it’s not an ‘or’ but an ‘and’), morally questionable (sometimes at best), and emotionally unavailable, fictional men? Or did your parents love you?

edit: if anyone has suggestions for more movies like the ones in the tags I’d love to hear them

[cowboycannibalism]

//Bride of Re-Animator (1989)//F.L.Y., Ice Nine Kills//Frankenstein (1931)//

[bwanadevilart]

Happy Birthday to Colin Clive! The amazing Dr Frankenstein! These brand new Frankenstein art prints are now available in the shop! www.bwanadevilart.bigcartel.com

[comic-art-showcase]

Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein by Wilfredo Torres

part of Torres' doctor themed Doctober

[cuartoretorno]

Frankenstein  1931

William Pratt (Boris Karloff) 

[streda]

"The bride of Frankenstein"

On stage we saw Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson i Ernest Thesiger. The film is a continuation of the 1931 film titled "Frankenstein" in which most of the same actors appeared.

The film is not one of my favorites, but it is important in cinematography. Elsa's appearance in the film has become iconic for creators of comics and fairy tales. "The Bride of Frankenstein" is finally another one of Universal's unique and important monsters.

In the first scene of the film we can see Mary Shelley who, encouraged by her friend, begins to tell the sequel to her book.

of course, this part of the Frankenstein story also had a sequel titled "The Son of Frankenstein", in which Béla Lugosi appeared.

Dwight Frye appeared in the film, who in the first part, in which he played Fritz, died after being murdered by Frankenstein, but in Frankenstein's Bride, he played Karl, who was also killed by the monster. I don't think Dwight gets a happy ending in any movie.

The same people worked on the film as on the first part.

"The Bride of Frankenstein" was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 greatest films in history in 2005.

It is also interesting that Colin Clive, the film's Doctor Frankenstein, had a broken leg during the filming, which forced him to sit in most of the scenes in the film. this is called sacrifice.

The scene where Karl kills his aunt and uncle in a monster style was deleted from the film.

time for a summary.

The monster created by Dr. Frankenstein survives the mill disaster that took place in the movie Frankenstein. Meanwhile, its creator leads a quiet life with his beloved wife, Elizabeth. He does not know that at the same time another scientist, Dr. Pretorius, is conducting experiments on reviving human corpses. He wants to create a woman who will be a partner for the monster.

Worth watching (wait for the entry about nosfertu, I will be refreshing my film today, so I will write an entry soon).

[brokehorrorfan]

The Universal Classic Monsters Collection will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Digital) in digibook packaging on October 3 via Universal. Designed by Tristan Eaton, the eight-disc set is limited to 5,500.

It includes 1931's Dracula, 1931’s Frankenstein, 1932’s The Mummy, 1933’s The Invisible Man, 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, 1941’s The Wolf Man, 1943’s Phantom of the Opera, and 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon.

All eight films are presented in 4K with HDR10. The Spanish version of Dracula is also included. Special features are listed below, where you can also see more of the packaging.

Dracula is directed by Tod Browning (Freaks) and written by Garrett Fort (Frankenstein), based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, and Edward Van Sloan star.

Dracula special features:

Alternate score version by Philip Glass

Dracula (1931) Spanish version directed by George Melford

The Road to Dracula

Lugosi: The Dark Prince

Dracula: The Restoration

Dracula Archives

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.

Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (The Indivisible Man) and written by Garrett Fort (Dracula) and Francis Edward Faragoh (Little Caesar), based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, and Boris Karloff star.

Frankenstein special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Audio commentary by historian Sir Christopher Frayling

The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made A Monster

Karloff: The Gentle Monster

Universal Horror

Frankenstein Archives

Boo!: A Short Film

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.

The Mummy is directed by Karl Freund (Dracula) and written by John L. Balderston (Dracula). Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, and Arthur Byron star.

The Mummy special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Paul M. Jensen

Audio commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns, and Brent Armstrong

Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy

The Mummy Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Carl Laemmle Era

Trailer gallery

An Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes is his long-lost princess.

The Invisible Man is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by R.C. Sherriff (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), based on H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel. Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains, William Harrigan, Dudley Digges, and Una O'Connor star.

The Invisible Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters

Trailer gallery

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

The Bride of Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by William Hurlbut. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, and Elsa Lanchester star.

The Bride of Frankenstein special features: 

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

She’s Alive! Creating The Bride of Frankenstein

The Bride Of Frankenstein Archive

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

The Wolf Man is directed by George Waggner (Operation Pacific) and written by Curt Siodmak (I Walked with a Zombie). Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. star.

The Wolf Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Monster by Moonlight

The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth

Pure in Heart: The Life and Legacy of Lon Chaney Jr.

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

The Wolf Man Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

Larry Talbot returns to his father's castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman. One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where they meet a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.

Phantom of the Opera is directed by Arthur Lubin and written by Eric Taylor (The Ghost of Frankenstein) and Samuel Hoffenstein (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, and Edgar Barrier star.

Phantom of the Opera special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Theatrical trailer

An acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy’s career.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by Jack Arnold (The Incredible Shrinking Man) and written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross. Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva, and Whit Bissell star.

Creature from the Black Lagoon special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Back to the Black Lagoon

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

A group of scientists try to capture a prehistoric creature luring in the depths of the Amazonian jungle and bring it back to civilization for study.

Pre-order Universal Classic Monsters Collection.

[tavoit]

British actor Colin Clive

Is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Frankenstein in the 1931 movie Frankenstein.

[officiallordvetinari]

Below are 10 articles randomly chosen from Wikipedia's Featured Articles list. Brief descriptions and links are below the cut.

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein. The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the bride.

Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the affluent Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about 8 miles (13 km) south of Bristol and 10 miles north of Wells. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the Bristol and Bath green belt.

David Hillhouse Buel Jr. (July 19, 1862 – May 23, 1923) was an American priest who served as the president of Georgetown University. A Catholic priest and Jesuit for much of his life, he later left the Jesuit order to marry, and subsequently left the Catholic Church to become an Episcopal priest.

Denbies is a large estate to the northwest of Dorking in Surrey, England. A farmhouse and surrounding land originally owned by John Denby was purchased in 1734 by Jonathan Tyers, the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens in London, and converted into a weekend retreat. The house he built appears to have been of little architectural significance, but the Gothic garden he developed in the grounds on the theme of death achieved some notoriety, despite being short-lived.

Courbet was the lead ship of her class of four dreadnought battleships, the first ones built for the French Navy. She was completed shortly before the start of World War I in August 1914.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate dietary therapy that in conventional medicine is used mainly to treat hard-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

The football match between Manchester United and Ipswich Town played at Old Trafford, Manchester, on 4 March 1995 as part of the 1994–95 FA Premier League finished in a 9–0 victory for the home team. The result stands as the joint record, with Southampton having subsequently lost by the same scoreline at home to Leicester City in 2019 and away at Manchester United in 2021, while Bournemouth also lost 9–0 to Liverpool in 2022.

M-185 is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan that circles Mackinac Island, a popular tourist destination on the Lake Huron side of the Straits of Mackinac, along the island's shoreline. A narrow paved road of 8.004 miles (12.881 km), it offers scenic views of the straits that divide the Upper and the Lower peninsulas of Michigan and Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Santa María de Óvila is a former Cistercian monastery built in Spain beginning in 1181 on the Tagus River near Trillo, Guadalajara, about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Madrid. During prosperous times over the next four centuries, construction projects expanded and improved the small monastery. Its fortunes declined significantly in the 18th century, and in 1835 it was confiscated by the Spanish government and sold to private owners who used its buildings to shelter farm animals.

Sarcoscypha coccinea, commonly known as the scarlet elf cup, or the scarlet cup, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae of the order Pezizales. The fungus, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia.

[barkingbonzo]

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film Frankenstein. As with the first film, Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karloff as the Monster and Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein. The sequel features Elsa Lanchester in the dual role of Mary Shelley and the bride. Colin Clive reprises his role as Henry Frankenstein, and Ernest Thesiger plays the role of Doctor Septimus Pretorius. Oliver Peters Heggie plays the role of the old blind hermit.

[arctic-shard]

Combs doesn’t get paid enough for the bs he puts up with.

Dr Combs just wanted to do some direct research instead of everybody's labwork. He signed up to research 049. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.

Trivia about Combs - while Victoria West is named for Victor Frankenstein and Herbert West, Colin Combs is named for Colin Clive and Jeffrey Combs, the actors who originally played Frankenstein and West. So West is named for fictional characters and Combs is named for humans. West grew up sheltered in a suburb and her entire adult life has been working for the Foundation, Combs spent his life in the real world ( well, the 'real world' of the SCPverse ) and joined the Foundation when he was older - metawise, the names are a hint that Combs is more human and grounded than West, who never had much contact with the real world.

[pandoramsbox]

Sci-Fi Saturday: Frankenstein

Week 7:

Film(s): Frankenstein (Dir. James Whale, 1931, USA)

Viewing Format: DVD

Date Watched: June 25, 2021

Rationale for Inclusion:

Science fiction is like a reality of sexual reproduction: while the father may not be readily known, the mother is always evident. Before any of the men competing for the title "Father of Science Fiction '' were born, Mary Shelley had lived, died, and in between wrote one of the most influential works of Western literature: Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus. Born a Gothic horror novel, it is now recognized as the first true science fiction story.

Like other popular novels of its era, Frankenstein was adapted first as plays and later as a one reel motion picture by the Edison company in 1910. However, the work's lasting legacy in popular culture and the public imagination would not become firmly established until 1931 when Boris Karloff shambled on screen in James Whale's Frankenstein.

Wanting to further cash in on the public's interest in adaptations of literary horror, Universal Studios green-lit Frankenstein after the record breaking success of Dracula (Dir. Todd Browning, 1931, USA). Originally slated to be a Bela Lugosi vehicle directed by the established Robert Florey, the project ended up under the direction of up and comer James Whale, who cast Karloff, a bit-player with 81 film credits to his name, as the Monster.

The film was a commercial and critical success in 1931. It spawned imitators, more literary horror adaptations, sequels, spoofs, and a host of pop culture references. In fact, when you hear the word "Frankenstein" you likely pictured Karloff as the Monster: green skinned, square headed and sporting neck bolts.

Reactions:

For all its cultural influence, Frankenstein is not a faithful adaptation of Shelley's original novel. The script was adapted from a stage play adaptation of the novel by Peggy Webling, and along the way the novel's setting was updated to the present day and most key elements were greatly changed or discarded. Yet, the most profound difference between Whale's film and the novel is that the Monster is an inarticulate golem with a "criminal" brain, instead of an intelligent, articulate creature of horrible visage.

Given the influence of silent horror cinema on Universal's cycle of 1930s horror films, it follows that the criminal brain plot element was likely inspired by the foundational body horror film The Hands of Orlac (Dir. Robert Wiene, 1924, Austria), in which a concert pianist believes the hand transplant he received also included inheriting the donor's criminal tendencies. I am uncertain if the bad brain justifying why the creature was considered flawed and/or was prone to rampage originated in the Webling play, or in drafts of the screenplay when Florey was in charge of Frankenstein. At any rate, it was under Whale that the sympathy and innocence of the Creature in the novel was semi-restored.

In fact, for all the concern expressed by Henry Frankenstein's (Colin Clive) former teacher Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan) about the criminal brain, as the story progresses it becomes clear to the audience that his brain is not the reason for violent acts committed by the Monster. Two of the three murders that the Monster commits over the course of the film are in self defense. The third, the infamous drowning of the little girl, is a terrible accident. Despite taking a different path to get there, Frankenstein still arrives at a core aspect of Shelley's original novel: the Creature is not inherently monstrous, but becomes so in response to the abuse and mistreatment he receives because of his grotesque appearance.

The concept of evil brains and a person's badness carrying over to transplanted pieces of their body persists in horror sci-fi. As previously noted, Frankenstein did not originate this trope, but it aided in popularizing it.

One thing Whale's film did originate is the common process by which the Monster comes to life. In Shelley's novel, the exact method of how Victor Frankenstein animates his creation is kept intentionally vague (so that the experiment cannot be repeated), though it is implied via a notable episode in his childhood that lightning, or rather electricity, plays a role. 

Harnessing electricity via spectacular laboratory equipment had previously been introduced in cinema via the set-up for giving the Maschinenmensch the likeness of Maria in Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927, Germany). Likely inspired by that sequence as well as Kenneth Strickfaden's work on the recently released Just Imagine (Dir. David Butler, 1930, USA), Whale hired Strickfaden to design Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Building off of what he had created for Just Imagine, Strickfaden created additional machinery, including a colossal Tesla coil, to give the impression of advanced, experimental technology at work. Even for people who have not seen Whale's Frankenstein, machinery with dials and meters and a sparking Tesla coil have come to define the stereotypical aesthetic of a mad scientist's lab, along with the crash of thunder, flash of lightning and screams of "it's alive!"

Yet, the Monster is frequently inaccurately referred to as "Frankenstein" for a reason: he more than his creator is the main attraction. Of all the essential contributors to Frankenstein I would be remiss if I closed out this post without discussing the marriage of Jack Pierce's effects make-up with Karloff's performance. It took four hours of Pierce building up cotton, collodion and gum, then applying a green greasepaint that would render Karloff's skin tone pale on the black and white film stock, to get the actor into character. Despite the primitive yet bespoke process, the final result did not inhibit Karloff's ability to deliver a performance that ranges from stoic to delighted to panicked, and allowed for nuanced as well as broad facial expressions. Pierce and Karloff's combined work remains a benchmark of artistic collaboration.

It seems hyperbolic to call Frankenstein a perfect film, but movies like it, where a blend of outstanding collaborators and serendipity produce something enduring and iconic, are rare. Whale's Frankenstein also represents, at least on this survey, the first time an adaptation innovated beyond its source material to become influential and noteworthy in its own right. I am not sure we will encounter another film where that is true until we get around to Blade Runner (Dir. Ridley Scott, 1982, USA).

[mathieuauclair]

The madness of Dr. Frankenstein. Color pencils on black paper. 2023.

Colin Clive plays Dr. Henry Frankenstein as a man on the edge of sanity. His creature is far more sympathetic.

[phantom-tastic]

Hi if you have me on other social media youve already seen this lol, but this year I recreated the Colin Clive 1931 version of Dr Frankenstein and Im soo proud of how it turned out... gotta post it everywhere >:)

Okay Happy Hallow Weenie, thanks bye

[signalwatch]

Frankenstein (1931)

Watched:  10/24/2023

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Every year during the spooky season I try to give Frankenstein (1931) a watch.  The past several years, I've double-billed Frankenstein with Bride of Frankenstein, usually the night before - or night of - Halloween.  

But this year I wanted to give the movie a bit more time to percolate and watch it as its own thing.  

It's a movie I've seen *a lot* and so I can spot the places where the dolly shot bounces on the tracks, and I can see the literal creasing in the backdrops used in the forest scenes.  I laugh with anticipation at the jokes and know which bits work best as scares.

I make a lot of notes about how Dracula movies don't match the novel, because there's usually some adherence to the book and seeing where and why they diverged is a curiosity.  But by the time you get from the publication of Mary Shelley's novel in 1818 to the play and the movie, this story was well over 100 years old, and folks were going to do their own thing.*  There's barely any of the novel left in this film.  Themes.  Some names.  Some settings.  A wedding.

So I tend to separate them and consider them their own thing, and it's usually in subsequent adaptations that I look for whether they're borrowing from this film or from the novel or doing something entirely new.  

Even if the film is nearing the century mark, it still plays.  The creatures' pathos is as real as the novel, if reduced to a child-like state of confusion rather than a sort of existential crisis of existence.  The performances are of their time but would absolutely put fire in a modern adaptation.  You simply won't beat Colin Clive going mad in the moments of success after the monster is lowered from the tower.  

The look is borrowed from German Expressionism, and between the Gothic horror of Dracula's settings and this film, we get a language for how the best sets and scenes should look in horror that will be endlessly copied, parodied, stolen from and refracted for the next 90 years.  That's not to say this was the final word, but the starting line and the thing to which everything else can draw comparison.

Further, the themes of "who is the real monster?" would echo throughout horror and science fiction, and are often the best part to chew on in a film (and something zombie movies picked up and ran with).  But I think this movie does the best job of bringing a Dr. Frankenstein to life who really thinks he shut the door behind himself and his experiments, only to have it come roaring back.

I'm now curious to read the play upon which the movie is based.  Curiously, next year sees the publication of the script for what I believe to be the first time.  

Some time I will write a much longer bit on this movie, it's sequel and the novel and why I keep coming back to them, but not today, kids!

But for the best Halloween spookiness for the whole family, I humbly submit this classic.

*worth noting, this film will be 100 in just 8 years

[byneddiedingo]

Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye in Dracula

Dwight Frye, Colin Clive, and Boris Karloff in Frankenstein

Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)

Cast: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Herbert Bunston, Frances Dade. Screenplay: Garrett Fort, based on a play by Hamilton Dean and John L. Balderston adapted from a novel by Bram Stoker. Cinematography: Karl Freund. Production design: John Hoffman, Herman Rosse. Film editing: Milton Carruth.

Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)

Cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Frederick Kerr, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Lionel Belmore, Marilyn Harris. Screenplay: Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh, based on a story treatment by John L. Balderston of a play by Peggy Webling adapted from a novel by Mary Shelley. Cinematography: Arthur Edeson. Art direction: Charles D. Hall. Film editing: Clarence Kolster. Music: Bernhard Kaun.

Tod Browning's Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein have a lot in common. Both were based on stage plays adapted from celebrated novels; together they established the Universal studios as specialists in horror movies, the way gangster movies seemed to characterize Warner Bros. and musicals became identified as an MGM specialty; both launched the careers of actors known almost exclusively for their roles as monsters -- a millstone around the neck of the very talented Boris Karloff, an alternate identity for the less-gifted Bela Lugosi. There are some other incidental similarities: Both feature performances by Dwight Frye, a rather ordinary looking character actor who became a specialist in creepy roles. In Dracula he's the vampire's stooge, Renfield, marked by a wheezing laugh that sounds like a cat trying to heave up a hairball. In Frankenstein he's the hunchbacked Fritz, stooge to the titular scientist. Both feature Edward Van Sloan as professorial types: the vampire expert Van Helsing and the ill-fated Dr. Waldman. Both have ingenues preyed upon by the monsters and handsome juveniles who try to be their stalwart defenders but mostly just get in the way. But Frankenstein is by far a better film than Dracula. It may be that James Whale was a more gifted director than Tod Browning, although Browning had a long career in silent films. including some standout Lon Chaney features, before Whale made his mark in Hollywood. Or it may just be that Dracula was made first, so that everyone working on Frankenstein could learn from its mistakes. Browning, I think, hadn't quite gotten used to making talkies, so that the pacing of Dracula is off: Scenes and speeches seem to halt a little longer than they need to. Dracula also betrays its origins on the stage more than Frankenstein. Apart from the spectacle of the storm at sea, there's little in Dracula that couldn't have been put on stage, whereas Frankenstein is loaded with spectacle: the opening funeral and grave-robbing scene; the sparking and flashing laboratory equipment and the thunderstorm; the murder of Little Maria; the torch-bearing villagers and the burning of the old mill. One thing they don't have much of is actual scary stuff, especially as compared to today's blood-and-gore horror movies. To contemporary audiences, Dracula and Frankenstein seem bloodless and gutless, and Dracula in particular has been deprived of its shock value by Lugosi's lack of sex appeal -- vampirism is a sexual threat, given its preoccupation with the exchange of bodily fluids, which is why vampires have gotten hotter over the years. The monster in Frankenstein on the other hand elicits sympathy: It's alone in a world it never made, which is why some think Whale, a gay man, betrays an identification with the character.