Frankenstein

NEW 35mm PRINT! ► “It’s alive! It’s alive!” Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic tale had been brought to the screen before, and would be many times again, but Universal’s creepy 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein is without doubt the enduring cinematic version. Colin Clive plays the titular mad genius, seeking to play God; Boris Karloff, giving a remarkably nuanced performance underneath Jack Pierce’s now-iconic makeup, is the misunderstood, misshapen monster, assembled from various cadavers and jolted to life in truly spectacular fashion. The film made Karloff a star; British expat James Whale, here making his first horror film, directs with great Expressionist flair. Whale would go on to make several other stylish movies in the genre, including Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. Universal planned Frankenstein as its follow-up to the sensationally, and surprisingly, popular Dracula; the curious prologue — a warning about the film’s frightening content — indicates that the studio was still less than certain about audiences’ tolerance for the macabre. “The film has a weird fairytale beauty not matched until Cocteau made Beauty and the Beast ... Karloff gives one of the great performances of all time” (Tom Milne, Time Out). B&W, 35mm. 71 mins.