Frankenstein
1931
****
Director: James Whale
Cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Dwight Frye, Edward van Sloan, Frederick Kerr, Dwight Frye, Lionel Belmore
With the help of his assistant, Henry Frankenstein builds a man from various body parts and brings it to life, but the abnormal brain makes his creation dangerous and unpredictable. James Whale's iconic horror movie was adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which is based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This origin story tells a classic cautionary tale of a man's attempt to play God, and it features a monster who is one-dimensionally monstrous. The film's visuals still look wonderful.
