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FRANKENSTEIN – Review

Director Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN does a startling thing: it goes back to the original Gothic novel written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.” While there have been seeming endless numbers of screen versions of the Frankenstein story, generally in some form all are based in James Whale’s classic 1931 film and its sequel, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Whale’s film has thrilled countless film fans and inspired many future filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro. but the story the 1931 movie tells departs greatly from Mary Shelley’s terrifying but more philosophical novel about the hubris of a man playing God.

Now, to be clear, del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN is not a faithful screen adaptation of the novel, but something more based on it. or in parts even, “inspired by” it. In truth, the director of Oscar-winning films PAN’S LABYRINTH and THE SHAPE OF WATER makes this story his own, stamping it with his own unique signature style, using the parts of the original novel that suit his purpose in building his own creation. That creation includes plenty of references to various Frankenstein versions.

Still, this return to Shelley’s Gothic tale makes the film much more strikingly unusual, in a gripping way that other Frankensteins iterations have not. And the director takes full advantage of that fresh approach to what could otherwise be overly familiar.

Like the book, the film starts at the end of the story, with Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) in an Arctic wasteland. He tells his tale, in this case, to the captain of a ship searching for the North Pole. How the doctor got there and why is part of his story. But del Toro then does something else startling in this film: after we see and hear Dr. Frankenstein’s story, the director turns things around and allows the Creature (Jacob Elordi) to tell his version. Yes, the Creature in this one, like the original novel, is intelligent and articulate, although not at first.

FRANKENSTEIN is Guillermo del Toro’s dream project, long planned. The film has the director’s distinct style and many of the same themes that run through other del Toro films, such as man as the real monster, sympathy for the creature, father and son issues, and good versus evil. Visually, the film is very much in the director’s bold style, color-drenched, creepy, and filled with striking cinematic images. The dramatic creation moment, when the creature comes to life, takes place in a huge, strange, foreboding building, one that looks like it was built as some kind of waterworks or water-driven factory, but with echoes of James Whale’s 1931 film. The reference to the link between water and life is inescapable, while the imposing structure itself, visually, is dramatically gothic.

Instead of the frenetic Dr. Frankenstein of James Whale’s classic, Oscar Isaac plays the doctor obsessed with building a man as a brooding, cold, dark, and even heartless fellow, with a huge ego and few ethics constrains. The social commentary on unlimited ambition and power is there.

Mia Goth plays Elizabeth, but in this telling she is not the fiancee of Victor but his younger, sunnier brother William (Felix Kammerer). Elizabeth is both beautiful and intelligent, with a keen interest in science and nature. She is very close to her wealthy uncle (Christoph Waltz), who offers to fund Victor’s experiments in reanimating dead tissue with the aim of creating life. The uncle gives no reason for this decision but hints that he does have an agenda in mind.

Although inspired by the novel, del Toro still references various versions of the the Frankenstein story, in movies and even comics. including the 1931 classic film that so riveted the director as a young child. Those references are sprinkled throughout the film, and it even has a glancing reference to ROCKY HORROR, a kind of Frankenstein tale, in the early appearance of the Creature himself but without the camp.

The cast all turn in fine performances, although the story and its vivid telling is the really strength of the film. Oscar Isaac plays Dr. Frankenstein as a very dark, hard character, an unlikable person who becomes less appealing as we see what he does. The story begins with his childhood to help us understand the character, in a brooding, gothic tale in a world of with funeral black and winter white, splashed with dramatic touches of blood red. The doctor makes himself the hero of his own story but we will hear another version next. The Creature is like a newborn in a grown body at first but grows up quickly, with his innocence turning to resentment and more toward his “father.”

The director caused some uproar by casting handsome Jacob Elordi as the Frankenstein;s creation, but it is worth noting that in the original novel the creation has more the appearance of a man, albeit a large one, than Karloff’s monster. Del Toro doesn’t quite do that, as the creature is a patchwork of sewn-together skin but, like in the book and others versions, of monstrous strength, if not size.

Speaking of monsters, director del Toro makes it clear at the very start of the film who the “monster” is, and it is not the creature. The creation here has more the enormous strength than size, which allows us to see him as a young man, even a big child at the start, the son of the doctor who built him.

Art direction is one of the real stars of this film. The visual side is eye-popping and very effective in creating a sense of awe and terror. The set, costumes and visual effects are all bold, often color-drenched and sometimes massive, a Gothic look on steroids which feels perfect for this film.

One of the most striking sequences is the one where the Creature is brought to life, a process that involves lightning like the 1931 classic film, but taking place in a weird, water-themed building of tile and smooth spouts, ducts, and channels, set on the edge of a cliff plunging into the sea.

Although Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN is not a faithful adaptation of the original novel, going back to that groundbreaking book, and some of its themes, does open the door for some other filmmaker to do that full adaptation. Hopefully that will happen, but until then we have this wonderfully creative new retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic novel.

FRANKENSTEIN opens Friday, Oct. 24, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

Guillermo Del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN Coming To Netflix And Stars Oscar Isaac, Christoph Waltz And Mia Goth

Netflix is bringing FRANKENSTEIN to the popular streaming service.

Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro will adapt Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Jacob Elordi (Priscilla, Saltburn), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) and Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front) join Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth in FRANKENSTEIN. Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher), David Bradley (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) and Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) also join the ensemble.

FRANKENSTEIN continues Netflix’s partnership with del Toro, including the Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature Film, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and the animated films Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.

POOR THINGS – Review

*Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in POOR THINGS. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.*

Smart, clever and inventive, POOR THINGS is described by the filmmakers as “the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life from the brink of death by the brilliant, daring scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).” Based on the novel by the late Scottish author Alasdair Gray, director Lanthimos and scriptwriter Tony McNamara also reference Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” making this off-beat coming-of-age fantasy a kind of “feminist Frankenstein” that is part dark comedy, part adventure thriller and pure smart entertaining fantasy with an uplifting message.

POOR THINGS is a wild science fiction coming-of-age tale set in an alternate Victorian world that is part steam punk and part anachronistic fantasy from the writer/director who gave us THE FAVORITE and THE LOBSTER, Yorgos Lanthimos. It is also a whole lot of fun and an eye-popping visual treat, in which a young innocent meets a villain but it upends melodrama rules by essentially rescuing herself. The film is somewhat in the vein of a coming-of-age sexual romp like “Tom Jones” but flips the script on that male-centric sexual adventure by putting a young woman on that rule-breaking journey, making it a rollicking feminist adventure tale. Some of those adventures are bawdy, as they would be if the lead character were a young man, and the whole tale relishes breaking the rescue-the-maiden rules of melodrama.

Lanthimos and McNamara also collaborated on THE FAVOURITE, and audiences familiar with that fantasy retelling of Queen Anne’s real relationship with her closest friend, and with Lanthimos’s darker THE LOBSTER, know that this director can skillfully balance dark humor with thriller and even horror themes, turning from one to the other on the proverbial dime but without audience whiplash.

Set in a Victorian fantasy world that is part steam punk and part Merchant-Ivory film, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone ) is the creation of brilliant, eccentric scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Curious, energetic Bella has the body of a beautiful young woman but the brain of a baby, the result of Dr. Baxter’s experiment to save two lives by reviving a recently-dead body. We watch as Bella quickly grows from precocious as a curious child to an intellectually questing, sexually curious as a young woman eager to learn about the wider world.

Bella longs to explore the world beyond her sheltered home with her protective father-creator Dr. Godwin Baxter, whom she calls “God.” When the inquisitive woman-child also shows sexual curiosity, the doctor arranges for his medical student protege Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef) to become engaged to her. While Bella likes her new fiance, she is tempted by tales of the wider world told by crafty, unethical cad Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and runs off with the villain.

While Dr. Baxter and Bella’s fiance are in frantic pursuit of the runaways, Ruffalo’s serial exploiter plans to seduce the innocent Bella and then discard her, of course. But Bella herself turns the tables on this familiar plot,” rescuing” her herself in her own way, while embarking on a grand tour combined with intellectual, philosophical and feminist coming-of-age journey.

This old-fashioned melodrama set-up is played for both drama and tongue-in-cheek comedy, with scenes sometimes mixing both serious and humorous. Bella embarks on an adventure that has a strong elements of “Tom Jones,” a continent-spanning journey that is a sexual adventure and intellectual/philosophical exploration, with a definite feminist twist. Who is exploiting who becomes the question.

Emma Stone gives an outstanding performance as the brilliant, irrepressible Bella, perhaps Stone’s career best so far, creating a character who is constantly surprising yet irresistible. Mark Ruffalo is also excellent as the villainous abductor, who more than gets his just desserts. Willem Dafoe’s doctor looks like an experiment gone wrong but turns out to have a heart of gold and Ramy Youssef makes his sweet, loyal assistant more than we expect too. The film is peppered with other memorable characters, with striking performances by Christopher Abbot , Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, and Margaret Qualley particularly.

POOR THINGS is a visual banquet, thanks to cinematography by Director of Photography Robbie Ryan, and production designers James Price and Shona Heath, and costume designer Holly Waddington. The colorful, creative costumes signal that we are in a very different world. From the waist up, Bella looks the picture of Victorian modesty, with high collars, ruffles, and puffy shoulders, but below the waist, she is dressed in mini-skirts, shorts, or skirts of gauzy fabric. Everyone else is dressed in proper Victorian attire, yet no one notices Bella’s wild, revealing outfits. The gorgeous sets are all lush Belle Epoque, Beaux-Arts architecture and plush velvet furniture, but with unexpected little visual twists to remind us we are in the realm of the fantastic.

This mix of dark humor, sexual adventure and feminist empowerment means POOR THINGS adds up to a very entertaining, smart movie, with both a brain and a heart, and topped by an uplifting message that will leave you bouncing out of the theater.

POOR THINGS opens Friday, Dec. 22, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER – Review

(L-R) Boris Karloff with fellow horror star Vincent Price, in a publicity photo. BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER is a documentary about the career and life of Karloff. Courtesy of Abramarama and Shout Studios

BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER is a gloriously enjoyable retrospective of the legendary actor, who is forever tied to the horror genre and the monster role of Frankenstein’s monster, which first brought him fame. The film, directed by Thomas Hamilton, is thoroughly enjoyable but, despite its subtitle, it is less a personal biography than a review of this career, with an emphasis on how his work influenced future filmmakers and the horror genre. Karloff fans and serious film history buffs will find little that was not already known about the man but it is a wonderful introduction and retrospective on Boris Karloff.

If ever there was an iconic Hollywood figure who deserves a biopic, it is Boris Karloff. Everyone knows his name, whether as the star of the classics FRANKENSTEIN or THE MUMMY, or the voice narrating HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. Despite his fame, Karloff has been long dismissed as only character actor, the result of having primarily worked in horror genre films. But Karloff’s is more complicated story, with acting experience grounded in the theater, a story that warrants a new, deeper look at the man and his work. Something this documentary touches on is Karloff’s ethnicity and what that meant in an earlier, more racist era and in early Hollywood.

Boris Karloff was not Russian nor was that his real name, but an Englishman named William Pratt, the youngest of nine children of a Anglo-Indian man, who had been in civil service in Indian, and his much younger wife. Young Billy Pratt was well-read and well-educated. but he and his brothers faced racism comments at school. Family expectations were that he would follow his older brothers into the diplomatic service, yet he fell in love with theater. Leaving college early, he immigrated to Canada, adopting the stage name Boris Karloff. His partly East Indian heritage gave him a darker complexion and led to him being often cast in ethnic roles. He had appeared on stage and in over 80 silent and sound movies by the time he was cast as the Monster in James Whale’s ground-breaking FRANKENSTEIN.

It is an intriguing story and the above details are among the personal background offered by the documentary. However, the documentary’s greater focus is on Karloff’s career. This fine, long-overdue documentary has admiring commentaries from such name directors as Guillermo Del Toro, along with John Landis, Roger Corman and Peter Bogdanovich. Del Toro in particular, speaks at length about the influence Karloff’s films had on him. Interviewees are a mix of directors, actors and film historians, including Christopher Plummer, Stefanie Powers, Lee Grant, Sir Christopher Frayling and Kevin Brownlow. There are also interview footage with Karloff’s only child, daughter Sara Karloff, and a few who knew him or worked with him. Not many of the latter left, given that Karloff died in 1967.

Besides the interviews, there is plenty of footage from Karloff’s many films, and analysis by critics and film historians. The footage include Karloff’s biggest hits and most iconic roles, FRANKENSTEIN with director James Whale, and THE MUMMY with director Karl Freund. There are insightful discussions of the films, tidbits on their filming and an examination of performance details. The discussions often turn on how Karloff’s performances, which gave the monsters a sympathetic aspect, riveted audiences, shaped the genre and influenced films and directors far beyond that role itself.

But the documentary also offers footage and discussions of perhaps less famous but influential films Karloff appeared in, like THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE BODY SNATCHER, and an appreciation of his skill in lesser-known films and dramatic roles. These discussions are among the most intriguing for serious film buffs.

The footage, and the film-by-film analysis, are the best parts of the film, putting Karloff’s work in perspective of the times and tracing his mix of work, with included silent and sound films, stage performances, radio, and television. A highlight is the focus on the way HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS re-vitalized Karloff’s career and introduced him to a new generation of fans, as did “monster movie” archival TV shows of the ’60s and ’70s. The documentary covers Karloff’s hit Broadway debut in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” winkingly playing a crook who is angry that botched plastic surgery left him looking like Boris Karloff. The role led to a return to other stage roles, and, as the e documentary highlights. Karloff’s role in “The Lark,” which won him a Tony nomination.

All the old film footage and career highlights are delightful. Where the documentary falls a bit short is in the biographical, where the information is thinner and often leaves the audience with questions. Serious fans will already know the details but the less well-informed are left to wonder when the actor actually adopted the stage name Boris Karloff, and exactly when he arrived in Hollywood. Of course, like many actors of his era in particular, Karloff had a tendency to re-write his own history, which makes uncovering his past a bit difficult. One re-writing of the past the film does note is that Karloff used to tell people his parents died when he was very young, which was not true, to avoid questions about them. Partly this may have been to conceal his Anglo-East Indian heritage, in an era rife with open racism, but perhaps it was partly to save his family, all respectable members of the diplomatic corps or other professions, from embarrassment over having an actor in the family.

Another unexpected detail of the actor’s life is how many times he was married, at least five (there may have been more) but only some of the wives even get a mention. Despite all the marriages, Karloff had only one child, Sara. The story of her birth during the filming of one of the Frankenstein movies and on his birthday, along with still photos, provides some of the best moments in the documentary. Sara Karloff herself is a great asset to the film, often giving those personal insights the subtitle promises.

This enjoyable documentary is an fine introduction to Boris Karloff and particularly his career, which reaches beyond his most familiar roles and deepens appreciation of his work.

BORIS KARLOFF opens Friday, Sept. 17, at theaters in select cities, expanding to others over the coming weeks.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“It’s Alive!” The Original FRANKENSTEIN Screens Sunday Night October 11th at the Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield, Illinois

“The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands!”

The Original FRANKENSTEIN (1931) screens Sunday Night October 11th at the Sky View Drive-in in Lichtfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66) This is part of the Sky View’s ‘Throwback Sundays’. The second Sunday of the month, they screen a classic movie. Admission is only $7 (free for kids under 5). The movie starts at 7pm. The Sky View’s site can be found HERE.

The classic and definitive monster/horror film of all time, director James Whale’s FRANKENSTEIN (1931) is the screen version of Mary Shelley’s Gothic 1818 nightmarish novel of the same name (Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus). The film was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. for Universal Pictures, the same year that DRACULA, another classic horror film, was produced within the same studio – both films helped to save the beleaguered Universal. The film’s name was derived from the mad, obsessed scientist, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), who experimentally creates an artificial life – an Unnamed Monster (Boris Karloff), that ultimately terrorizes the Bavarian countryside after being mistreated by his maker’s assistant Fritz and society as a whole.

Seventy-two years after its release, FRANKENSTEIN still leaves an impact. Ahead of its time both cinematically and thematically, the horror it’s not only relevant, but remains topical. Considered shocking and daring when it was first released, the film went through some major revisions before reaching American’s theaters. References to Dr. Frankenstein comparing himself to God and a scene where the monster drowns a little girl never saw the light of day, and when the film finally made its way to television, those scenes were gone forever. Fortunately, they didn’t disappear in a black hole. They were locked away, and lucky for us, those scenes have been reinstated on the “restored version” that’s been available on DVD now for a while and of course they’re on the Blu-ray that Universal issued in October of 2012.

Filled with memorable characters and performances, not to mention director James Whale’s rather unique European look he brought to the film, FRANKENSTEIN remains a classic. Boris Karloff is simply brilliant as the mute monster who goes in search of himself, only to upset the local villagers. Mae Clark is radiant as Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s fiancée, a woman remains faithful to the mad doctor. Colin Clive delivers the crazed goods as Dr. Frankenstein, whose slow descent into madness provides the actor with several powerful scenes.

The Sky View Drive-In in Litchfield, Illinois Announces its ‘Throwback Sundays’ Schedule

” Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, IT’S ALIVE! Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God! “

The Sky View Drive-in in Lichtfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66) has announced its line-up for this year’s ‘Throwback Sundays’ schedule and it’s quite the movie geek’s dream (whoever schedules the St. Louis Art Museum’s Art Hill summer movies series should take some tips from these guys) . I never thought I’d see the original FRANKENSTEIN from 1931 at a Drive-in, but now I will go to my grave having done so. Ditto GONE WITH THE WIND (!!!). I’ve never even seen REVENGE OF THE CREATURE on the big screen! Not a huge fan of CLUELESS but this is really a heck of a great line-up. The Sky View Drive-in is an easy one-hour drive from St. Louis and it’s only five bucks (free for kids under 5). The movie starts at dusk (8:00-ish). The Sky View’s site can be found HERE.

Here’s the line-up:

May 10th – DAZED AND CONFUSED

June 14th – GONE WITH THE WIND

July 12 – BULLITT

August 9th – CHRISTINE

September 13th – CLUELESS

October 11th – FRANKENSTEIN

October 17th – REVENGE OF THE CREATURE

Check out We Are Movie Geeks for more coverage and congrats to the Sky View Drive-in and their terrific choices here!

Boris Karloff in FRANKENSTEIN Screening at Webster University This Thursday – ‘Grave Tales’

“Look! It’s moving. It’s alive. It’s alive… It’s alive, it’s moving, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!”

The ‘Grave Tales’ Horror film series continues at Webster University Thursday January 31st with a screening of the groundbreaking horror classic FRANKENSTEIN (1931) starring Boris Karloff. The screening will be at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts at 7:30. A Facebook invite for the event can be found HERE. Look for more coverage of the ‘Grave Tales’ Horror film series here at We Are Movie Geeks in the coming weeks.

Dr. Henry Frankenstein, played by Colin Clive, and his assistant Fritz, portrayed by Dwight Frye, stalk the graveyards at night. They dig up the fresh corpses of the recently deceased in order to fulfill a mad scientist’s dream. They seek to give life to a dead, stitch-quilted chimera of a man. In their quest to play God they create something “…The Modern Prometheus” author, Mary Shelley describes as “supremely frightful.” After all “any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the creator of the world” would be a terrifying marvel. Boris Karloff’s version of the Frankenstein Monster doesn’t kill because he has the brain of a murderer but due to his childlike ignorance. The Monster does not understand the consequences of his actions.

FRANKENSTEIN was even more successful than DRACULA, also from 1931 (and last week’s ‘Grave Tales’ film), and ushered in the “Golden Age” of horror. Though it owes more to the Peggy Webling stage play than Shelley’s novel, this film certainly gave horror the boost it needed to become a cornerstone genre..Director James Whale would go on to display his genius in three more horror films for Universal, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE INVISIBLE MAN< and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Whale never wanted to be dubbed a “horror director,” but these are his most famous works and allfour have stood the test of time. There would be many sequels to FRANKENSTEIN, even after Karloff abandoned the role after the third film. Karloff became a star after the release of Frankenstein, and had to have back surgery from the rigors of the makeup and costume. FRANKENSTEIN is a true classic and one that no horror fan can go without seeing.

dmission is:

$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.

Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.

Cartoonist Jack Davis dies at age 91

So, wise reader, you may have heard of the passing of this giant in the world of cartooning, and are now wondering what he has to do with the world of motion pictures. Well, Mr. Davis did have one screen credit, which we’ll discuss in a bit. No, more importantly John Burton “Jack” Davis, Jr. has added to the fun, or to use an old term “ballyhoo”, of promoting movies for well over fifty years. It’s difficult not to think of his work when recalling so many classic films.

First, a little bio background. He was born on December 2, 1924 in Atlanta Georgia. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Jack landed several cartooning gigs including a stint with the newspaper comic strip based ion the classic character “The Saint”. Then in 1950 he joined the staff of the legendary comics publishing company Entertaining Comics (EC). Jack produced amazing art for titles like “Frontline Combat” and “Two Fisted Tales. But the big sellers at EC were the horror anthologies, and Jack was one of the most popular artists, helping to design the host character, the Cryptkeeper, for “Tales From the Crypt” (some of its stories were adapted into films by Britain’s Amicus Studios in the 1970’s in TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR). But the work that truly showcased Jack’s incredible talent was his contribution to the then color comic book “Mad” in 1952. He led his penchant humor run wild with memorable pieces like “The Lone Stranger” and “Hah Noon”. Soon Jack was doing lots of work outside the comics: advertising, magazine covers, record albums, bubble gum cards, and movie posters. His most famous movie poster wasn’t his first, but this one established him as the “go to” guy for promoting comedy films. Behold the majesty of…

Jack’s art promised zany mayhem which the film nearly delivers. But most flicks couldn’t truly present the stunning spectacle of Mr. Davis’s designs. I recall buying that record album and just staring at that beautiful cover literally for hours. From the 60’s, Jack kept producing masterpieces of mirth into the 1970’s as the perfect match for another comedy master….

Perhaps you noticed the tribute to this poster in the recent film WIENER-DOG. A character played by Danny DeVito is depicted in a poster for the flick, “Apricots”. In 1973, Jack drew up a movie poster similar to his work in Mad Magazine for Robert Altman’s take on the classic private eye….

The flick’s a lot darker than that. Still Jack nails the likenesses of Gould and company. Another iconic image was seen in 1976 with one of the greatest sports comedies of all time….

Okay, about that screen credit. In the mid 1960’s , Jack did character sketches and model sheets for TV cartoons “King Kong” and “The Jackson Five” from the Rankin/Bass Studios, the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” folks. When R/B decided to make a feature-length stop-motion animated comedy starring the classic movie monsters, Jack was tapped to design them, including one voiced by Karloff himself. Here’s the trailer for MAD MONSTER PARTY…

…and the model sheet sketches of Count Dracula…

Now his most famous monster art may be this nifty poster offered in the back of Warren magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland back in the 60’s. How many lucky “monster kids” had this taped to the inside of their bedroom door? Sorry, the coupon’s been invalid for fifty years…

So, here’s a big movie geeks thank you, Jack D! And there’s a lot of his art floating around out there that many of his biggest fans (like yours truly) have never seen! This prolific master is the gift that just keeps on giving! We’re sad that he’s left the art studio at age 91 and we extend our sympathies to his family, but hey, aren’t we all unbelievably lucky to have had nearly a century of Jack Davis?!

Watch Thomas Edison’s FRANKENSTEIN – A look Back at 1910

FRANKENSTEIN, starring Boris Karloff and directed by James Whale in 1931, is usually referred to as the ‘original’ movie version of Mary Shelly’s 1818 novel, but, as any real horror movie buff knows, the Karloff/Whale version of FRANKENSTEIN was not the first time Shelly’s story was filmed. Inventor Thomas Edison filmed his own 14-minute take 21 years earlier.

The story behind the first FRANKENSTEIN is a fascinating one. Thomas Edison had been the leading pioneer of the first kinetoscopes, an early motion picture viewing device, and then projected motion pictures. His FRANKENSTEIN was filmed in 1910 at Edison Motion Picture Studios located in the Bronx, New York, one of several dozen movies the studio produced that year. The studio was built between 1906 and 1907 in response to the growing demand for films.

Here’s how the March 15, 1910 edition of The Edison Kinetogram, the catalog that the Edison Company would send to distributors to hype their new films, described FRANKENSTEIN:

“To those familiar with Mrs. Shelly’s story it will be evident that we have carefully omitted anything which might be any possibility shock any portion of the audience. In making the film the Edison Co. has carefully tried to eliminate all actual repulsive situations and to concentrate its endeavors upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale. Wherever, therefore, the film differs from the original story it is purely with the idea of eliminating what would be repulsive to a moving picture audience. To those familiar with Mrs. Shelly’s story it will be evident that we have carefully omitted anything which might be any possibility shock any portion of the audience. In making the film the Edison Co. has carefully tried to eliminate all actual repulsive situations and to concentrate its endeavors upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale. Wherever, therefore, the film differs from the original story it is purely with the idea of eliminating what would be repulsive to a moving picture audience.”

The part of the monster in the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN was played by actor Charles Ogle. He joined the Edison Stock Company Players in 1909 and had portrayed Scrooge in a 1910 Edison production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and George Washington in a series of films on the history of the United States. Since actors at the time were responsible for their own wardrobe and makeup, it was likely Ogle one who developed the monster’s wild-eyed, nightmarish appearance, with its shrieking grimace, straw-like hair and clawed hands. FRANKENSTEIN premiered on Friday, March 18, 1910, a mere two months after it had finished shooting (such a quick turnaround was not uncommon at the time). The film was well-received by critics.

The New York Dramatic Mirror wrote:

“This deeply impressive story makes a powerful film subject, and the Edison players have handled it with effective expression and skill.”

However, FRANKENSTEIN did not find an audience in 1910. There are several possible reasons that may have contributed to its box-office failure. FRANKENSTEIN was the first horror movie and audiences unaccustomed to such a weird story may not have known what to make of it. Also, movies were already becoming more sophisticated. Directors were using close-ups and editing within scenes so it’s possible that audiences found director James Dawley’s stagey wide shots to be old fashioned. Or perhaps audiences were offended by the blasphemous content of the film with its theme of man creating man, especially during the creation scene, one where Dr. Frankenstein’s success is more through alchemy than science. Whatever the reason, FRANKENSTEIN quickly faded from the public’s minds. In those days, Edison Studios would only strike a few dozen prints of each of their films, which would then be sent out for distribution. After the films had circulated for a few months, they were returned where they were stripped for their silver content. It’s hard to comprehend today but films in the early silent days were considered a quickly disposable medium and no thought was given to preserving them after their initial money making run. Film then was made with a chemically unstable silver nitrate that deteriorated and even spontaneously combusted if not stored correctly. It is for these reasons that it is estimated between eighty and ninety percent of all silent films are irretrievably lost.

Film preservationist Robert A. Harris has said: “Most of the early films did not survive because of wholesale junking by the studios. There was no thought of ever saving these films. They simply needed vault space and the materials were expensive to house.”

Edison’s 1910 FRANKENSTEIN was for many decades though lost with not as much as a single still of its production surviving. In1963 a film historian discovered the March 15, 1910 edition of the aforementioned The Edison Kinetogram with its picture of Charles Ogle in full Frankenstein make up on its cover in the Edison archives in New Jersey. That photo was published in numerous books and magazines, including Famous Monsters of Filmland, sparking a renewed interest among horror film buffs. In 1980, the American Film Institute declared the 1910 production of FRANKENSTEIN to be one of the top ten most “Culturally and historically significant lost films.”

Enter Wisconsin-based film collector Alois Dettlaff. When Detlaff heard the of the film’s placement on the AFI’s list, he announced, to the shock of the film world, that he indeed was in possession of a print of the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN. The sole surviving print had originally belonged to his wife’s grandmother who used to screen the film and other silent shorts as part of a stage show. The film was passed down and eventually landed in the hands of Detlaff. However, Detlaff was originally stingy with his treasure. In the early ‘80s he had allowed a few minutes to be shown as part of a BBC documentary, later released to home video. These snippets would later wind up in various silent cinema video compilations without attribution or payment made to Dettlaff. Feeling slighted, Dettlaff became guarded in allowing the film to be screened. In 1986, he donated a “copyright protected” version of the film, with a copyright notice that scrolled across the center of the film making viewing difficult, to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Dettlaff died in 2005 and finally, in 2010, exactly 100 years after its production, BearManor Media released the film on DVD without the scrolling copyright.

So what can one expect when finally seeing Edison’s FRANKENSTEIN? Detlaff ‘s print was in somewhat deteriorated condition, especially the first few minutes. But it is viewable and complete with intertitles and the color tints as seen in 1910. The film is accompanied by a decent synthesized music score. With a running-time of only fourteen minutes, FRANKENSTEIN is necessarily a much abbreviated version of Mary Shelley’s story, yet what remains is a lively and efficient condensation of the novel’s plot.There are some fascinating elements in the film. The special effects of the monster gradually forming before our eyes are extremely primitive by today’s standards but were unprecedented for 1910. The monster is created through chemicals in a large cauldron in a long sequence that employs puppetry and reverse motion and it is both eerie and effective.The use of mirrors is also interesting, with the monster visible in several scenes through the door-sized looking glass in Frankenstein’s bedroom, implying that the creature may be simply a reflection of its own creator.

Watch the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN in it’s entirety Here:

Alchemy Acquires U.S. Rights To FRANKENSTEIN Thriller

Film House Germany (FHG) announced today that Alchemy has secured the US rights to horror legend Bernard Rose’s (CANDYMAN, IVANSXTC) FRANKENSTEIN, from Summerstorm Entertainment following it’s highly acclaimed World Premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival where it was awarded the grand prize, the Golden Raven Award.

FRANKENSTEIN is produced by Gabriela Bacher for Summerstorm, Heidi Jo Markel for Eclectic Pictures, Jennifer Holliday Morrison for Bad Badger, and Summmerstorm’s parent company, Film House Germany’s Christian Angermayer and Klemens Hallmann. Conor Charles is co-producing for Eclectic Pictures. Avi Lerner is executive producing and Nu Image is handling international sales.

On confirming the sale, producers Gabriela Bacher and Heidi Jo Markel said: ‘Alchemy is the perfect partner to bring this modern take on a timeless story to American audiences. Alchemy’s acquisition is testament to the worldwide demand and hunger for new, contemporary visions and well-crafted filmmaking – audiences have never seen a monster quite like this.’

The modern-day adaptation of the classic thriller was written and directed by Bernard Rose and stars Xavier Samuel (TWILIGHT, FURY), Carrie-Ann Moss (THE MATRIX TRILOGY), Tony Todd (CANDYMAN), and Danny Huston (BIG EYES, AMERICAN HORROR STORY).

FRANKENSTEIN is set in present day Los Angeles, and is told entirely from the perspective of The Monster. Artificially-created and left for dead by a husband-and-wife team of eccentric scientists, Adam is faced with nothing but hostility and aggression as he comes to grips with the horrific nature of humanity, and the violence of those that made him.

The deal was negotiated by Jay Cohen at Gersh on behalf of the filmmakers, and Steve Break, VP of Acquisitions for Alchemy.

FRANKENSTEIN is one of a number of projects from Film House Germany’s robust slate, joining the likes of Jalmari Helander’s BIG GAME starring Samuel L. Jackson and THE DEVIL’S VIOLINIST, also directed by Bernard Rose.

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