Frankenstein (1931) is a well composed film that established a lot of classic horror film tropes - the dark grainy texture, the electric atmosphere, the gothic castles and the cackling mad scientist - but it does the novel a complete disservice. The characters are reduced to caricatures acting out a now overdone monster of the week plot. The monster is purely monstrous without any hint of humanity (not even the ability to speak!), moaning and groaning to signal a superhuman threat and nothing more. The scenes are brilliant and tense, from the suspenseful resurrection to the fiery lynching, but the characterisation is just too shallow to back it up beyond stock stereotypes and innocent townsfolk.
Review of Frankenstein
