The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster

This is a brief overview of the making of the 1931 "Frankenstein," which comes in video collections of the Universal film, so it's not a significant waste of time, and it's probably interesting for those who aren't seeking an abundance of information on the subject. For me, however, I've re-read Mary Shelley's novel, read various books and articles about it and the film adaptations and seen near 50 such Frankenstein films by now, so this little documentary wasn't particularly rewarding.

Yet, I did learn something, but it's regarding the 1910 Edison company short "Frankenstein," which the video explains took its Jekyll-and-Hyde-like doppelgänger theme of the scientist and creature being reflections of each other from stage versions of the story. Otherwise, David J. Skal and company spend the 45-some minutes mostly praising the 1931 film, citing individual contributions from the likes of Dwight Frye, Boris Karloff, Jack Pierce, Ken Strickfaden and James Whale, and briefly mentioning Shelley's novel and its theatrical adaptations. A few clips are shown from other Universal movies, from the original monster movies to the Whale biopic "Gods and Monster" (1998), which has the unfortunate appearance of them trying to sell us more home videos. A brief montage of the Hammer Frankenstein series is also given, although Universal has been involved in distributing at least some of those films, as well. An exception to the parade of praise are some slight criticisms by film historian Paul Jensen of some plot contrivances.

I'm not sure if I prefer this video's attempts to ingratiate "Frankenstein" or Skal leading the charge to degrade the English-language 1931 "Dracula" in "The Road to Dracula" (1999).