Tonight on Svengoolie was the original 1931 remastered print of Universal Studio's Frankenstein. It was so good and I can't believe I had never seen it before. I was stumped as to where I knew John Boles (he was Franky's BFF, Victor) from until iMDB came to the rescue (as it so often does!) and I remembered he was in Curly Top with Shirley Temple! Oh but was he handsome...and Boris Karloff was his usual perfection, making you love the monster and loathe the creator.
I was immediately struck by the bad set at the cemetery. And by bad I mean that it was so very clearly a set and not based in reality. However, it was this that I found so fitting for the story and it really is absolutely gorgeous, eerie as hell and otherworldly, extremely bleak with the juxtaposition of crosses and the most terrifying grim reaper ever. Just stunning.
(photo kidnapped from diariodeunaaburrida)
This month it will pretty much just be me and Pax watching good ole Sven, since Bishop is busy each Saturday. It was so nice to just chit chat together on the commercial breaks and I'm telling ya, Pax is just beyond funny. When Mae Clarke as Frankenstein's sweetheart appears in that fur collared coat and incredible hat he said, "You could bring that look back. You really could! That coat with the fur and the hat." I agreed 100% and mentioned that I'd need to go the fake fur route. Then he took the daydream to the next level with, "We could sell a line of those coats to the millennials and market them as non-GMO, cruelty free." Maybe gluten free and plant based? I'm on board already!
(photo kidnapped from ebay)
All in all it was a fantastic film and I'm looking forward to next Saturday night's The Bride of Frankenstein! I'm definitely going to check out more of James Whale's films as well. I love discovering new films that are nearly a century old.
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