Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

As a companion work to “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” Francis Ford Coppola custom-made (as producer) “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” released in 1994, and offered the directing job to lead actor Kenneth Branagh. Peter Canavese said in his review, “By making somewhat of a Wellesian splash on stage and film, Branagh had gained popularity as the premiere film interpreter of Shakespeare in the late eighties and early nineties. In addition to films of Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing, Branagh had, by 1994, put out an ambitious, gregarious neo-noir called Dead Again, and so the thought of the director tackling a classic thriller made sense.” Even though Branagh’s film “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” was met with anger, its over-the-top Gothic majesty was a bold and not entirely unsuccessful attempt to bring back Shelley’s original story.

Canavese noted, “Branagh's is the rare film version of Shelley's 1818 novel to preserve most of its shape and content.” Starting with a Shelley quotation about the story’s attempt to delve into “the mysterious fears of our nature,” Branagh’s version moves on to the novel’s framing device involving Captain Robert Walton, played by Aidan Quinn, an obsessive explorer “the dawn of the Nineteenth Century” who risks the lives of his team during an expedition to the North Pole. Freezing, Walton finds Dr. Victor Frankenstein, played by an occasionally overripe Branagh, who asks Walton, “Do you share my madness?” Canavese said, “Frankenstein means the obsessive pursuit of greatness and fame, a theme developed in the cautionary tale he tells Walton about hubris and an uncontained "lust for knowledge." Traumatized by the apparent unfairness of death, young Frankenstein resolves to unlock the secrets of life so that he can bring back close ones who have passed. The definitive story of a man playing God, the Father, Frankenstein details the experiment that goes wrong because of the end product of his creation of “The Creature,” played by Robert De Niro (intense and effective).

Canavese mentioned, “Branagh wisely preserves the post-Shelley tradition of having Frankenstein create his creature from spare human parts stitched together and shot through with electricity; Shelley's vague description of the monster's creation wouldn't do on film, and the rooting in pseudo-science underlines the story's critique of humanity's unchecked technological advance during the Industrial Revolution.” The screenplay by Steph Lady and Frank Darabont (who said this was the best script he ever wrote but the worst movie he ever saw) showcases Frankenstein’s household background in Geneva (with his father, played by Ian Holm) and his influential years spent alongside his girlfriend, Elizabeth, well played by Helena Bonham Carter. Frankenstein goes off to the University of Ingolstadt med school (motto: “Knowledge is power only through God”), where the great Robert Hardy and John Cleese compete for Victor’s work, at least where it is about medical morality and ethics. It is also here that Victor makes friends with loyal Henry Clerval, played by Tom Hulce.

Canavese noted, “Tragedy, scientific fervor, and self-aggrandizing drive lead Victor to piece together the Creature, whose spare parts derive from a great mind and an crazed homicidal malcontent (also De Niro). Truly the sum of his parts, The Creature has a poetic soul yearning to understand its existence—what he is and why he was created—but also a volatile killer instinct.” “You gave me these emotions. But you didn’t tell me how to use them,” he tells Frankenstein. “Who am I?” As in the novel, The Creature studies a human family and, despite the generosity of a kind blind man, played by Richard Briers, quickly becomes a victim of disrespect and abuse. Recognizing that Victor has punished him to a tragic life in the shadows, The Creature demands but one thing of his creator: a bride. Canavese said, “In following this train of thought beyond the source novel, the film compounds the tragedy by extrapolating the consequences of "father" and "son"'s shared desire for a lifelong mate.”

Canavese continued, “Branagh's ambitious take succeeds as a cautionary tale about true monstrosity: hubris and man's inhumanity to man. But one man's operatic style is another man's unintentionally comical excess, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein certainly tempts fate with its dizzying camerawork (the cinematography's by Roger Pratt, who shot Brazil), heart-pounding energy (a tip of the hat to composer Patrick Doyle), and theatrical, grand-scale sets (thank production designer Tim Harvey) and costumes (James Acheson).” Still, if the worst one can say about the film is that it tries too hard, that isn’t all that bad. After all, it is, arguably, the famous Gothic horror story and Branagh and team are smart enough to put in every bit of its intense, durable importance (Canavese noted, “literally sticky in the case of the amniotic fluid Frankenstein uses as a birthing solution”). Truly it can be said of Branagh’s version, “It’s alive. It's alive!”

You could probably have mixed feelings about this film, which I understand. I had heard about this movie for quite some time and I was thinking of seeing it. Then, I think, last year I saw this film on Hulu. If you have a premium subscription, you can see this on Hulu. This is a good movie to see as it does stick to the book for the most part. Don’t listen to all the bashing critics gave it. Just see it and judge for yourself, as I think it is worth seeing. I did read the book when I was in college, so this does capture the madness. However, it would be debatable if this or the made-for-television film got the book right. Both are good in their way.

Next Monday I will be looking at a Stephen King adaptation that I didn’t find scary but sad. I think you know which one I’m talking about. All will be revealed on Monday in the continuation of “Halloween Month 2023.”