This under-an-hour documentary, premiering in the states on Turner Classic Movies after apparently traveling from France, "The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein" offers a good if brief investigation into Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" in relation to its cultural legacy from theatrical and cinematic adaptations, mainly the 1931 "Frankenstein" and its sequel "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), although the Japanese atomic giant monster clash "Frankenstein Conquers the World" (1965) and a couple films from the Hammer series are mentioned, as well as the non-Frankenstein-film "Metropolis" (1927). Perhaps, even of more interest, especially for one who already knew most of the information contained here, are the way the filmmakers edited together clips from films that mostly seem to have no connection to "Frankenstein," which helps to alleviate the usual scenes of talking-head experts and invites the classic-film buff to try to spot the origins of the black-and-white footage. The corridor shot from "The Cat and the Canary" (1927) and another moment from "Nosferatu" (1922) were easy ones for me since I've recently seen both.
The program is divided into six chapters (Mary Shelley's biography, "Dr. Frankenstein," "The Monster," "The Plea," "The Monster's Bride" and "The Prophecy") and an epilogue regarding polar exploration in the book. As members of The Classic Horror Film Board will attest, "Dr. Frankenstein" is a misnomer, as Shelley's protagonist wasn't a doctor, but also that this is one of the points of the doc--how this character, through the adaptations, has become part of the mad doctor trope. Likewise, her eloquent creature became renowned as a grunting monster. There's a lot more to Shelley's story, but with less than an hour to work with, this program does well--even going so far as to mention Rousseauian philosophy of innate goodness corrupted by society, as well as the novel's relation to the "Year Without a Summer," galvanism, electricity and surgery. Automatons to artificial intelligence and even the atom bomb are examined. While some of this seems far fetched in its connection to the book, I found the parts about the surgeon and eugenicist Alexis Carrel and the clips of head transplants by Vladmir Demikhov and Robert J. White to be especially intriguing and disturbing.
It's not a bad way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Shelley's story, and I'm surprised such a short doc held my interest after I've already spent much of the year re-reading the novel and reviewing 46 Frankenstein films--and I even skipped "Frankenstein Conquers the World." Guess I'll make that 47 films soon.
The program is divided into six chapters (Mary Shelley's biography, "Dr. Frankenstein," "The Monster," "The Plea," "The Monster's Bride" and "The Prophecy") and an epilogue regarding polar exploration in the book. As members of The Classic Horror Film Board will attest, "Dr. Frankenstein" is a misnomer, as Shelley's protagonist wasn't a doctor, but also that this is one of the points of the doc--how this character, through the adaptations, has become part of the mad doctor trope. Likewise, her eloquent creature became renowned as a grunting monster. There's a lot more to Shelley's story, but with less than an hour to work with, this program does well--even going so far as to mention Rousseauian philosophy of innate goodness corrupted by society, as well as the novel's relation to the "Year Without a Summer," galvanism, electricity and surgery. Automatons to artificial intelligence and even the atom bomb are examined. While some of this seems far fetched in its connection to the book, I found the parts about the surgeon and eugenicist Alexis Carrel and the clips of head transplants by Vladmir Demikhov and Robert J. White to be especially intriguing and disturbing.
It's not a bad way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Shelley's story, and I'm surprised such a short doc held my interest after I've already spent much of the year re-reading the novel and reviewing 46 Frankenstein films--and I even skipped "Frankenstein Conquers the World." Guess I'll make that 47 films soon.
