Classic Films in Focus: SUPERNATURAL (1933)

As you might expect from its title, Supernatural (1933) is a spooky Pre-Code horror story, full of restless spirits, murderers, and over the top atmosphere that plunges the viewer into a fever dream semblance of a plot. It boasts notable stars, with Carole Lombard and Randolph Scott as the young couple endangered by a pair of sinister characters straddling both sides of the grave, but, honestly, it's the sheer giddy weirdness of the movie that makes it so entertaining. I can't tell you that Supernatural is a great movie, or even a good one, but I can say that I had a lot of fun watching it, and sometimes that's more than enough. If you're looking for more female monsters to add to your annual round of Halloween classics alongside Dracula's Daughter (1936) and Cat People (1942), Supernatural offers up a doozy with its ghostly femme fatale.

Carole Lombard stars as pretty heiress Roma Courtney, whose twin brother (Lyman Williams) has recently died. In her grief, Roma makes an easy target for sham medium Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart), who claims that her brother's restless spirit wants to speak to her. At the same time, Roma's family friend, Dr. Houston (H.B. Warner), has a theory about the malevolent souls of evil people remaining active after death, and to test it he conducts experiments with the body of executed strangler Ruth Rogen (Vivienne Osborne). Unfortunately for Roma, Ruth's spirit manages to possess her in order to get revenge on the former lover who ratted Ruth out to the police, who is none other than Paul Bavian.

Pre-Code status lets Supernatural engage in more death, sex, and violence than a later production could have dared to include, which makes it fascinating to watch even when it falls apart as a narrative. It revels in its lady strangler's crimes, trial, and execution, all of which open the picture as a montage accompanied by a chorus of marvelously eerie wails. Later scenes involve onscreen murders with actors really making the most of their death scenes; my favorite is the conniving landlady (Beryl Mercer), whose early demise tells us a lot about her tenant's true nature. We also get some startling scenes of Ruth's corpse in Dr. Houston's laboratory, which aren't gruesome or gory but still not the kind of thing you'd be likely to see after 1934. There's little romance to speak of, as Randolph Scott mostly stands around in a tux like a handsome statue, but the intimate encounter between the possessed Roma and the unsuspecting Bavian is both racy and unsettling. 

Lombard draws attention as the most famous star with the biggest role, especially because horror is not her usual territory, but I'm more struck by Vivienne Osborne's performance as the murderess. She doesn't get as much screen time as Lombard, being dead and an invisible ghost through most of the movie, but when we do see her she really owns the role. She laughs, weeps, and rages with the abandon of the damned, as monstrous in her own way as Claude Rains' Invisible Man or Fredric March's Hyde. We don't often get female villains as unhinged as Ruth Rogen in classic movies, and we certainly don't see a lot of women who compulsively strangle their lovers with their bare hands. Although she started her career in silent films and successfully made the transition to talkies, I've only seen Osborne in one other picture, her swan song appearance in Dragonwyck (1946), and I thought she made the most of a small role there, as well. 

Director Victor Halperin also made the 1932 Bela Lugosi chiller, White Zombie, and Revolt of the Zombies (1936). Lombard, of course, would go on to make comedy classics like Twentieth Century (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and To Be or Not to Be (1942). Although Randolph Scott is best remembered for Western roles, you can also catch him in the very weird thriller, Murders in the Zoo (1933) and the 1935 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's She. Scott and Alan Dinehart both appear in the Shirley Temple picture, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), while Beryl Mercer makes her own appearance with Temple as Queen Victoria in The Little Princess (1939), a role she repeats in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939). 

Classic Films in Focus: SHOCKPROOF (1949)

Having already seen and enjoyed both Lured (1947) and Thunder on the Hill (1951), I decided to try Shockproof (1949), the third picture included in the Criterion Channel's recent collection spotlighting the film noir work of director Douglas Sirk. Of the trio, this romantic crime story is certainly the weakest, with a lot of unexamined issues in its subtext and an abrupt ending that prioritizes neatness over credibility, but it's still entertaining enough to be worth watching, especially for fans of leading man Cornel Wilde. Shock master Samuel Fuller injects his trademark style into the story, which gives the movie much of its appeal, and it's fascinating to see the onscreen chemistry between real-life spouses Wilde and Patricia Knight as the parole officer and recently released murderess who falls to his care.

Wilde plays parole officer Griff Marat, whose latest charge is the newly released Jenny Marsh (Patricia Knight), fresh from five years in prison for killing a man to protect her crooked boyfriend, Harry Wesson (John Baragrey). On parole, Jenny is supposed to follow a long list of rules, but she finds it particularly hard to stay away from Harry, even though Griff quickly becomes a romantic rival to the opportunistic gambler. Griff even brings Jenny into his own home, ostensibly as a caregiver for his blind mother (Esther Minciotti). Suspicious and resentful at first, Jenny falls for Griff and wants to extricate herself from Harry's influence, but her attempts only end up turning the lovers into outlaws.

Shockproof arrived near the end of Wilde and Knight's marriage - they would divorce in 1951 after 14 years together - but they heat up the screen when they share a scene. The straight and narrow Griff seems an unlikely admirer for the convicted killer, but Griff repeatedly insists that Jenny is different and better than his other parolees, perhaps because she's also younger and prettier. Jenny is a more ambiguous character in the early scenes, hardened by her prison time and rightfully skeptical of the parole officer's intentions given the extent of the power imbalance between them. Is his attention merely a test of her reformation or a trap designed to send her back to prison? The movie doesn't really address the underlying problems of power and consent here; it's too eager to show us what a good guy Griff is, with his blind mother and kid brother, to stop and wonder whether Jenny actually has the ability to turn him down. Griff, on the other hand, is too sure of himself to suspect that Jenny might be manipulating him for her own advantage or at the behest of Harry Wesson, who hopes to see the moral crusader brought down from his high horse. As Griff relaxes his own code of ethics, Jenny begins to reclaim hers, but their meeting in the middle only creates danger for both.

I don't normally like to spoil an ending, but it's difficult to pinpoint what goes wrong with the movie without addressing its sudden change in tone in the final scenes. Fuller's setup and the actors' performances write doom on the lovers' brows in the vein of Gun Crazy (1950), especially once they go on the run and experience real hardship as they constantly try to avoid capture by the authorities. Griff, his moral code undone by his love for Jenny, has that air of desperation one sees on Paul Muni's face in I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), while Jenny's loyalty to Griff has softened all the hard edges that probably ensured her survival in prison. We've already seen another parolee commit suicide rather than go back to prison in a dramatic moment that highlights the stakes for Jenny should the couple be caught. All of these elements point toward an apocalyptic finale that Fuller intended but rewrites by Helen Deutsch replaced with a completely unbelievable ending that hinges on one of the least plausible changes of heart you'll ever see in a movie. I like a happy ending as much as anyone, but in Shockproof it comes off as phony.

For more from Douglas Sirk, see Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), or the 1959 version of Imitation of Life. Samuel Fuller is both writer and director for noir classics like Pickup on South Street (1953), House of Bamboo (1955), Underworld U.S.A. (1961), and The Naked Kiss (1964). Catch Cornel Wilde in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Road House (1948), and The Big Combo (1955). Patricia Knight left Hollywood after her divorce from Wilde, having appeared in only five films, while Alabama native John Baragrey worked mostly in television.

Classic Films in Focus: ROPE (1948)

Rope (1948), Alfred Hitchcock's first color picture, is a twisting, carefully orchestrated thriller with a deceptively simple title, one that is as much about the killers as the murder weapon they wield in the film's opening shot. There's no air of mystery hovering over the claustrophobic confines of the single room where the action unfolds; instead, this story revels in the audience's full knowledge of the crime, tormenting us with information we possess but cannot share with the party guests drinking their champagne over the corpse of their murdered loved one. The film's gruesome appeal depends mainly on its theatrical visual style and the tightly wound performances of John Dall and Farley Granger as the handsome young killers, although James Stewart gets top billing as their former mentor and increasingly suspicious house guest.

The story opens with Brandon (John Dall) and Phillip (Farley Granger) strangling their classmate David (Dick Hogan) and then hiding his body in a large trunk in the middle of their living room. Eager to prove their intellectual superiority and gloat over the crime, Brandon insists on hosting a party immediately following the murder, with David's friends and family in attendance. David's father, Mr. Kentley (Cedric Hardwicke), and girlfriend Janet (Joan Chandler) grow uneasy over David's uncharacteristic absence, but only the boys' old house master begins to grasp the horrible truth.

Dall and Granger work the queer subtext of their relationship with tremendous skill, with Dall's Brandon very clearly the leader of the couple and Phillip only slowly coming to realize the nature of the monster he loves and obeys. Does Brandon love Phillip in return? Is Brandon capable of such a human emotion? Both actors are fascinating to watch as they reveal their characters' psychological states. The subtext implies that Brandon also has a particular connection to Rupert Cadell, presumably romantic in nature, but here the casting of James Stewart throws a spanner into the works. I've always felt Stewart to be miscast in the role, and that continues to be my view after my most recent return to the movie. Hitchcock's later collaborations with Stewart brilliantly evoke the actor's capacity for darkness, but this first outing shows the limits of Stewart's ability. Even Stewart felt he was out of place in the part, although he said he didn't think he was credible as an academic, not that he couldn't imagine himself as a closeted gay man who had indulged in a romantic tryst with one of his students. I think that an actor like George Sanders, Claude Rains, James Mason, or Cary Grant (who was Hitchcock's first choice for the role) would have made a more interesting and believable Rupert, but the role certainly had an impact on Stewart's later career. For more observations on that topic, read Chloe Walker's 2023 Paste article,  "Rope Was a Cruel, Prickly Turning Point in Jimmy Stewart's Career."

The single set and real-time pacing of the picture are the other noteworthy elements for discussion, with long takes that heighten the feeling of watching a stage play rather than a movie. These techniques intentionally make us feel trapped in the room; we can't get away from the chest and its terrible contents, and neither can Brandon and Phillip, as much as they might talk about their plans to leave town as soon as the party ends. Psychologically, neither of them will ever be able to leave that room, and when the truth comes out the other party guests will forever be haunted by it, as well. We might think, at the beginning, that the murder is the worst possible moment, but for everyone except David it's the aftermath that really turns the screws. Every time Phillip sees the rope again he comes a bit more unglued, but Brandon can't resist the urge to flaunt their crime, practically daring Rupert to confront them. Each reappearance of the rope symbolizes another bit of the crime being let out, until the murderers finally offer enough to hang themselves. It's both terrible and fascinating to watch, thrilling even though so little actually happens onscreen.

Hitchcock's later work with James Stewart in Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) would give the actor some of the most iconic roles of his long career, and Farley Granger also gets another outstanding role from Hitchcock in Strangers on a Train (1951). John Dall is particularly remembered as half of another murderous couple in Gun Crazy (1950), although his screen debut in The Corn is Green (1945) earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. If you enjoy the limitations of the single set approach, be sure to see Hitchcock's earlier film, Lifeboat (1944), which traps all of its characters at sea in a small, cramped boat.

Book Review: THE HITCHCOCK HOTEL (2024)

I recently devoured Stephanie Wrobel's new mystery novel, The Hitchcock Hotel, and, as its name implies, this is a fantastic book for fans of Alfred Hitchcock's films. I picked up the ebook based solely on its title and promo blurb, not having read anything by Wrobel before, and I was hooked as soon as I started reading. In addition to the titular hotel and its macabre collection of Hitchcock memorabilia, the novel features plenty of homages to the iconic auteur and his work, particularly Rope (1948), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). If you're looking for a twisty, character-driven thriller tailored to the tastes of classic movie fans, The Hitchcock Hotel should be your next read.

The novel alternates third-person perspectives between a group of former college friends reunited for a weekend at the Hitchcock themed hotel recently opened by Alfred Smettle, who was part of the tight-knit gang in school until a shocking event senior year tore them apart. More than fifteen years later, Alfred still blames his old friends for the downward turn of his life, and he envisions the weekend get-together as a way to settle some scores with the assistance of his elderly housekeeper, Danny, while also drumming up publicity for the hotel. Attending the gathering are overachiever Grace, alcoholic Zoe, peacemaker Samira, rich playboy Julius, and secretive bodyguard TJ, all of them nursing their own guilt and resentment. When old wounds are re-opened and old sins resurrected, the weekend goes violently awry.

I came for the Hitchcock connections, of course, and on that front I was not disappointed, from the aviary full of crows to the hotel decor and the way the plot wove through the plots of the films, especially the less familiar Rope. (If you haven't seen Rope before, watching it prior to reading the book will enhance your appreciation, but it's not absolutely necessary). A repeated tribute to Suspicion (1941) was also great fun, as was the creepy evocation of Norman Bates in Alfred's relationship with his late mother. Wrobel plays with favorite Hitchcockian themes like paranoia, surveillance, sexual frustration, revenge, and obsession, with particular emphasis on the idea of the perfect murder as presented in Rope, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and Strangers on a Train (1951). Reading the book reminded me of the delicious thrills of the films and made me want to revisit them, which I hope to do over the next several weeks.

Beyond the classic movie angle, however, I very much enjoyed the novel's exploration of the way time changes friendships and even forces people to question why they forged those relationships in the first place. The friend group in this story has not really kept in touch since graduation, and they mostly only know about each other's lives through their social media feeds, but when they reunite they quickly fall back into their old patterns of behavior with one another. Some of them harbor resentments, while others yearn for a return to the camaraderie they believe they shared in their youth. I'm still in regular communication with my group of college friends from 30 years ago, but it's not the same as it was in our school days, when we ate and lived and studied together. In the novel, dark secrets cloud the friends' reunion, but their nostalgia for their shared youth feels terribly familiar to me. I still think fondly of days spend reading Shakespeare on the quad and nights in the secret garden behind the library that we claimed as our private gathering space. Of course, as far as I know, none of us has ever been involved in a murder, but we did once end up in traffic court.

The Hitchcock Hotel is Stephanie Wrobel's third novel, following her debut, Darling Rose Gold (2020), and This Might Hurt (2022). You can learn more about her at her website. For more mystery novels with a classic movie connection, I recommend the Toby Peters series by Stuart M. Kaminsky, but if you like books that really play with a particular classic celebrity's legacy, you can revel in the love for Vincent Price that haunts Kate Racculia's 2019 novel, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts.

 

Looking for full reviews of Hitchcock's films? Here are a few!

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)

STAGE FRIGHT (1950)

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)

PSYCHO (1960)

VERTIGO (1958)

SUSPICION (1941)

Love in Disguise on the Criterion Channel

Every month brings a new set of themed collections to the Criterion Channel, and they're always a mix of classic, foreign, art house, and more mainstream fare. The collections for January 2025 kick off the new year with a typical mix, including Surveillance Cinema, Cast Against Type: Heroes as Villains, nine films starring Nicole Kidman, a trio of pictures from director Cameron Crowe, and five starring David Bowie, but my favorite group for this month is Love in Disguise. This set gets a jump on the Valentine's Day mood with 11 pictures from the 1930s and 40s, each featuring characters pretending to be someone they aren't. 

Here's the full lineup for Love in Disguise: 

MONTE CARLO (1930)

LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932)

THIS IS THE NIGHT (1932)

THIRTY DAY PRINCESS (1934)

DESIRE (1936)

THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS (1936)

MIDNIGHT (1939)

THE FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS (1941)

THE LADY EVE (1941)

THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR (1942)

FRENCHMAN'S CREEK (1944)

(Note: Several of these films are only available to stream in the US.)

While I'm thrilled to see some personal favorites in this set, including Midnight, The Lady Eve, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, I'm even more excited to find several movies I haven't had the opportunity to watch before. If you have any personal favorites in this list, let me know in the comments!

For even more classic movies about love in disguise, see The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), The Mark of Zorro (1940), The Court Jester (1955), and, of course, Some Like It Hot (1959).

2024 Movie Log in Review

It's time for my annual look back at the previous year's movie viewing! 2024 was another busy year for my family, and as usual my movie viewing was dependent on other people's schedules and preferences. My list for 2024 therefore represents a mix of old and newer movies, some chosen by the other members of the household. Many of these are films I have seen before, but I did manage to see some new-to-me pictures throughout the year, too.

Since the pandemic, my in-theater movie viewing has become almost non-existent, partly due to the closure of my favorite local theater but also because of ticket prices, audience misbehavior, and the long run times of modern movies with all of their attached ads and trailers. I don't live in a city with a real film culture or an indie theater/museum that shows a lot of classic films, so I watch most of those movies at home anyway, and these days I'm also watching newer movies from the comfort of my living room couch. Almost all of the movies in this year's list were either seen at home or shown by me to my lifetime learners and retirement community group. Thanks to my subscription to the Criterion Channel, I have access to some interesting new-to-me classics every month, but I've also leaned into physical media this year to expand my personal collection of films I want to continue to enjoy. I'll post later about the DVDs and Blu-rays I've recently added to my stash.

Here's the complete list of films viewed for 2024, with links to my relevant posts from this year on this blog and over at Classic Movie Hub.

January

Escape from New York (1981)

The Shadow of the Cat (1961)

The Cat Creeps (1946)

The Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)

The Pirate (1948)

Dumplin' (2018)

Nimona (2023)

Cat's Eye (1985)

Work It (2020)

Jezebel (1938)

We Have a Ghost (2023)

Burlesque (2010)

Lift (2023)

February

The Seventh Veil (1945)

My Name is Julia Ross (1945)

When Strangers Marry (1944)

Plus One (2019)

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Dark Victory (1939)

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Mad Love (1935)

Defending Your Life (1991)

The Frighteners (1996)

Hundreds of Beavers (2023)

March

Dodge City (1939)

Annie (1982)

Falling for Figaro (2020)

Damsel (2024)

The Ghost Goes West (1935)

Godzilla (2014)

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Damn Yankees (1958)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

April

Lured (1947)

Three Godfathers (1948)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Born to Be Bad (1950)

Hundreds of Beavers (2023) 2nd time this year

Them! (1954)

May 

Vera Cruz (1954)

What a Way to Go! (1964)

Three Amigos (1986)

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

The Fall Guy (2024)

Laura (1944)

June

Noises Off (1992)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Ladykillers (1955)

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Born Yesterday (1950)

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

July

Phffft (1954)

Jaws (1975)

Out of Sight (1998)

State and Main (2000)

You Can't Take It with You (1938)

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Artists and Models (1955)

The Big Sleep (1978)

August

Dangerous Crossing (1953)

Brighton Rock (1948)

The Last of Sheila (1973)

Inferno (1953)

Desert Fury (1947)

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

Kansas City Confidential (1952)

His Kind of Woman (1951)

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Blithe Spirit (1945)

Con Air (1997)

Hope Floats (1998)

Brats (2024)

Twisters (2024)

September 

My Cousin Vinny (1992)

The Awful Truth (1937)

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Spirit Halloween (2022)

Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Frankenweenie (1984)

October

Frankenstein (1931)

My Favorite Wife (1940)

Christine (1983)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

House of the Long Shadows (1983)

Viy (1967)

Fido (2006)

I Married a Witch (1942)

Addams Family Values (1993)

Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021)

The Monster Squad (1987)

November

Notorious (1946)

Ghost Rider (2007)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

This Gun for Hire (1942)

Year without a Santa Claus (1974)

Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)

Scrooged (1988)

December

White Christmas (1955)

Anything Goes (1936)

On Dangerous Ground (1951)

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Die Hard (1988)

It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)

Scrooged (1988) 2nd time this year

The Avengers (2012)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Hit Man (2024) 

 

Total for 2024: 111

Annoyingly, my total for 2024 is 19 fewer than I watched in 2023, with several months where I only got to watch 6 movies (April, May, and June). In my defense, I was spending a lot of time in early 2024 finishing up Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Sex and and Gender in Star Trek, and I was also finishing another novel manuscript that I will have to figure out what to do with in 2025. 

Happy New Year to all the classic movie fans and film fanatics! I hope your 2025 will be full of great movies and good fortune.

10 Classic Frankenstein Movies Worth Watching

This fall I taught a lifetime learning class about the history and cinematic legacy of Frankenstein, so of course I've had the iconic tale of gods and monsters on my mind throughout the Halloween season. One of the reasons for the story's enduring success is its adaptability; like Shakespearean plays, Frankenstein can change with the times to reflect an era's particular fears about life, death, science, and what it means to be human. Even from the early days, movie versions of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel have varied wildly from their source material, altering both story and meaning to suit their own aims. Here are 10 of my favorite Frankenstein movies, presented in chronological order, to make a frightful film festival for monster movie fans.

1) Frankenstein (1931)

The original Universal movie has to start this list because Boris Karloff and Colin Clive create indelible images with their performances as the Creature and his creator (inexplicably renamed Henry Frankenstein). I think it drags a bit when it leaves the laboratory to focus on Henry's domestic life and worried loved ones, but its influence over later adaptations continues to be felt, especially when we see Shelley's articulate, philosophical Creature reduced to a shuffling, undead thing.

2) The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

I prefer the sequel to the first Universal picture because it lets James Whale and his cast loose from the limitations of the first movie's roots in a stage play adaptation of the novel. It's wilder, weirder, and a lot more fun all the way through, especially with Ernest Thesiger, Una O'Connor, and Elsa Lanchester joining Karloff and Clive for this outing. If you only see one of the classic Universal entries, this is the one to watch.

3) Son of Frankenstein (1939)

The next generation succumbs to the family's penchant for reanimation in this follow-up, with Karloff returning as the Creature and Basil Rathbone stepping in as Wolf Frankenstein, the son of the original scientist. This one is also notable for its gorgeous German expressionist sets and for Bela Lugosi's appearance as Ygor, the first time that name refers to Dr. Frankenstein's assistant. This is probably the best of the later Universal films, although I do enjoy Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) for its revival of the long-suffering werewolf, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.).

4) Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

More treat than terror, this horror comedy is a Halloween favorite that pits Abbott and Costello against a ghoulish gang of classic monsters, including Glenn Strange as the Creature, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot, aka the Wolf Man. If you want to introduce kids to classic Universal monsters without scaring them too much, this movie is a great choice. You even get Vincent Price making a cameo "appearance" as the Invisible Man at the very end!

5) The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Hammer started its own series of Frankenstein films with this adaptation, which stars a very creepy looking Christopher Lee as the Creature and Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein. Scream queen Hazel Court also appears as Elizabeth, and the whole thing is rendered gorier because it's in color. Although Cushing's character is condemned to execution in the first movie, he survives to wreak more havoc with his experiments in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974).

6) Young Frankenstein (1974)

No list of Frankenstein movies would be complete without this comedy gem from Mel Brooks, with Gene Wilder starring as Frederick Frankenstein, the unwilling heir to his family's legacy who nonetheless ends up building a Creature of his own. The movie uses sets from the original Universal films and is stuffed with gags that work best if you've seen both the 1931 movie and the 1935 sequel. Often hailed as one of the best comedies of all time, it's still uproariously funny 50 years later.

7) Frankenweenie (1984)

Tim Burton has a long-standing love affair with the Frankenstein story, as evidenced by Edward Scissorhands (1990) and the 2012 stop motion remake of this 1984 live action short, but I like the short for its brevity and concentrated weirdness. Disney originally considered this version too scary for kids and fired Burton because of it, but Burton's later success caused Disney to reconsider the short's appeal. Kids today are unlikely to be phased by anything in Frankenweenie, especially those who have already seen any of Burton's other, later films.

8) The Bride (1985)

Fair warning that I haven't rewatched The Bride in a long time, but it makes the list for nostalgia's sake because I first saw it in the 80s and loved it then, partly for its focus on a female Creature (played by Jennifer Beals) and partly for its casting of rock god Sting as Dr. Frankenstein. The movie also stars Clancy Brown as the male Creature and Cary Elwes as another man with a romantic interest in the heroine. I won't pretend this is a brilliant movie, but it is very much a product of its era, and my inner teenager still regards it with affection.

9) The Monster Squad (1987)

Speaking of the 80s and nostalgia, The Monster Squad brings plenty of love for classic monsters and a Goonies sensibility to its horror comedy hijinks, with a group of kids who band together to fight the evil schemes of Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr) and his minions. Frankenstein's Creature, played by Tom Noonan, is supposed to be helping the vampire but turns out to be an ally to the kids, and his friendship with a little girl (Ashley Bank) makes a sweet counterpoint to the tragic scene with a different girl in the 1931 film. This one might actually be too scary (and too free-wheeling with its profanity and sexual references) for very young kids, but it's a perfect pick for tweens, teens, and adult monster kids.

10) Gods and Monsters (1998)

Although it isn't technically a horror movie or an adaptation of Shelley's novel, this fictionalized account of the last days of James Whale is an insightful look at the director's life and work, and it seems fitting to end this list here. Ian McKellen gives a brilliant and moving performance as the aging Whale, and the picture includes flashbacks to the making of Whale's most memorable films. Brendan Fraser costars as Whale's young gardener. Gods and Monsters earned three Oscar nominations, with nods for McKellen as Best Actor and Lynn Redgrave as Best Supporting Actress, and it won the award for Best Screenplay. 

See also: 10 Classic Movies Starring Boris Karloff and 10 Classic Movies Directed by James Whale