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Frankenstein [DVD] [1931]
 
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Frankenstein [DVD] [1931]

DVD ~ Colin Clive
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Product details

  • Actors: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, John Boles, Edward Van Sloan
  • Directors: James Whale
  • Writers: Francis Edward Faragoh, Garrett Fort, John L. Balderston, John Russell, Mary Shelley
  • Format: Black & White, PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Universal Pictures UK
  • DVD Release Date: 1 Nov 2005
  • Run Time: 69 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00006RHV0
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 15,105 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #49 in  DVD > Classics > Horror & Suspense

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

"It's alive! Alive!" shouts Colin Clive's triumphant Dr. Frankenstein as electricity buzzes over the hulking body of a revived corpse. "In the name of God now I know what it's like to be God!" For years unheard, this line has been restored, along with the legendary scene of the childlike monster tossing a little girl into a lake, in James Whale's Frankenstein, one of the most famous and influential horror movies ever made. Coming off the tremendous success of Dracula, Universal assigned sophomore director Whale to helm an adaptation of Mary Shelley's famous novel with Bela Lugosi as the monster. When Lugosi declined the role, Whale cast the largely unknown character actor Boris Karloff and together with makeup designer Jack Pierce they created the most memorable monster in movie history: a towering, lumbering creature with sunken eyes, a flat head, and a jagged scar running down his forehead. Whale and Karloff made this mute, misunderstood brute, who has the brain of a madman (the most obvious of the many liberties taken with Shelley's story), the most pitiable freak of nature to stumble across the screen. Clive's Dr. Frankenstein is intense and twitchy and Dwight Frye set the standard for mad-scientist sidekicks as the wild-eyed hunchback assistant. Whale's later films, notably the spooky spoof The Old Dark House and the deliriously stylised sequel The Bride of Frankenstein, display a surer cinematic hand than seen here and add a subversive twist of black comedy, but given the restraints of early sound films, Whale breaks the film free from static stillness and adorns it with striking design and expressionist flourishes. --Sean Axmaker


Special Features

English
Region 2
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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 (6)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to see why it's a classic, 28 Jan 2005
By Elise (Southend on Sea, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Frankenstein is so well known that even if you haven't seen the film, you will know the cadaverous image of Boris Karloff as the monster. Karloff as an icon of cinema history is probably why there have been relatively few remakes of the film - you cannot think of anyone who could actually BE the monster.

Basically we all know the outline of the story, it has become ingrained in our culture. Henry Frankenstein in convinced that he can create a living being from dead bodies, and does so with the help of an assistant (who surprisingly, for me at least, is called Fritz not Igor in the film - though he is an ugly hunchbacked dwarf). Then, the story goes, the monster goes on a rampage. This, like Igor, is also not fully true, Frankenstein's monster kills Fritz only after being tormented by him, and then inadvertently kills a little girl, who he has been playing with by trying to float her on the lake, the way the two of them have been doing with flowers. We are led to what Mary Shelley wanted us to see, that the monster is an innocent who did not ask Frankenstein to create him, rather than a "real" monster. Generally the creature invites compassion rather than fear, and it is his treatment by others that is the real horror of the film.

Karloff's is the really memorable performance of the film. It was made only a few years after the advent of sound and in this film many of the actors are either ex-silent film actors or ex-stage actors. Whatever their background there is a slight tendency to ham things up a little. This is never a big drawback in a horror film, but it is Karloff's understated, silent performance which makes this film a true classic.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars seventy years on and still solid gold, 23 April 2003
By tony mac (Dunfermline) - See all my reviews
Though inevitably dated and primitive by modern standards, Frankenstein remains a tremendously impressive film and a tribute to its still somewhat under-rated director, the eccentric Englishman James Whale.

Where so many early talkies were static and wordy, Frankenstein skips unnecessary dialogue and exposition and drives through its plot at a speed that seems almost indecent nowadays. Compared to overblown remakes like Kenneth Branagh's 1994 version, Whale's work now seems like a masterpiece of brevity and minimalism. His constantly moving camera, incisive editing and dramatic use of close-ups are a mile ahead of anything far more prestigious directors were doing at the time. Expressionist photography and eccentric set designs lend atmosphere, menace and help augment some rather ripe performances; a foretaste of the paths Whale would tread in the sequel Bride of Frankenstein four years later.

And then of course there's Karloff. With comparatively few scenes and no dialogue he nonetheless manages to create a complex, intimidating, yet sympathetic creature - one of the great mimes in talking cinema and thanks in no small degree to the freedom given to him under Jack Pierce's iconic make-up.

A historic piece of cinema, and one that still stands the test of time as both art and entertainment.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars So Much of It Is Timeless, 24 Jan 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Frankenstein (VHS Tape)
Karloff's performance has gone down as one of the greatest of all time. The scene where he first sees the light is dazzling as he feebly clutches the rays. Dwight Frye is one of the most underrated actors of all time. I am shocked why no one appreciates this genius who is utterly terrifying. Colin Clive is, apart from Claude Rains, the definitive madman. Only Rains' Invisible Man and Rotwang from Metropolis can equal him. The mob at the end of the film is a bit uneven and lets the film drag slightly, but the final scene of the monster pulls it back up. A great film and a great bargain, buy it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 75th anniversary edition
As usual amazon has lumped reviews for everything but the edition shown in the graphics,the 75th anniversary edition(region 1),so i will tell you about the extras. Read more
Published 3 months ago by ciaran moore

4.0 out of 5 stars It might even horrify you...
James Whale's 1931 film of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of those `museum piece' movies that are still regarded as all-time greats, especially by more senior critics, but... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Matthew Mercy

5.0 out of 5 stars still a classic after all this time.
what better film for boris karloff to become a star than to be cast as the creature for "frankenstein. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2007 by Mr. A. E. Ward Davies

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Film, Bad Edit
Universal Studios was without question the most influential studio in the whole of the horror genre. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2006 by Mr. A. E. Hall

5.0 out of 5 stars Boris is Best!
Probably the best and most powerful adaptation of the Mary Shelley book, superbly acted by a virtual Hollywood unknown who made the part his own.
Published on 26 Oct 2003 by Amanda

4.0 out of 5 stars An influential yet imperfect horror classic
Although it does not pack the punch today that it did back in 1931, Frankenstein is a true horror classic that any real horror fan will appreciate. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2002 by Daniel Jolley

3.0 out of 5 stars Karloff, Clive and Frye Overshadow Its Faults
This film has repeatedly been called the greatest horror film of all time. Lavish praise has been bestowed upon it and acres of deep meaning can supposedly be found. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2000 by roderick.hall@telia.com

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