1931, 70 minutes
Directed by James Whale
Not the first, but the iconic film version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” novel from 1818, featuring the unforgettable performance of Boris Karloff as the Monster.
Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several dead bodies. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it escapes into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc, trying to find its place in the world.
Karloff had acted in eighty-one films before before being cast here, yet was far from stardom...until the Monster. His incredible nuance and charisma bleeds through the piles of makeup, showing the innocence of the Monster, creating a character imitated for decades to come.