Frankenstein (1931) (Universal)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-The Frankenstein Files Audio Commentary-Rudy Behlmer Gallery-Frankenstein Archives Featurette-Boo! Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1931
Running Time	67:09
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:38)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	James Whale
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Boris Karloff Colin Clive Mae Clarke John Boles Edward Van Sloan Frederick Kerr Dwight Frye Lionel Belmore Marilyn Harris
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Bernhard Kaun

    Frankenstein is another of those classic movies that has seen countless re-releases and transformations over the years. The first stage production of Frankenstein took place in 1823 shortly after Mary Shelley wrote the book in 1816, but this particular movie is more closely aligned with the play written in 1927 by Peggy Welding. One deviation that is quite evident is the manner in which the creature is brought to life. Mary Shelley was quite vague about the actual events, as those familiar with the book would know, but Universal Studios, in true Hollywood fashion, used lightning to bring him to life. Since then, lightning, sparks and large electrical equipment have become synonymous with the movie in its cinematic versions.

    For its original release, Universal Studios were very concerned about how the audience of the Great Depression era would handle such a scary film. To overcome this, they added a prologue to the film and it has been left intact on this DVD release for all to see.

    For those who have never heard the story of Frankenstein, it is about a scientist, Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive). His life-long ambition is to bring a creature he has made from spare body parts back to life. He finally pulls it off one night using the power from an electrical storm to surge life into his creation, played by Boris Karloff. The hitch is that the good doctor has used the brain of a deceased criminal rather than that of a sane mind. This is where the doctor's well-laid plans start to fall apart and his creation turns on him and his accomplices, including Fritz (Dwight Frye), his assistant.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is therefore not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer has a certain level of softness about the image and there are no instances where you will see crisp definition. Shadow detail is poor with several instances where the transfer is almost completely dark with no definition on the actors. There is low level noise present throughout.

    This feature is entirely in black and white. There is an average level of shading between the different greys, but on several occasions there are not enough levels of grey to differentiate dark objects from black.

    There are a few instances of MPEG artefacting. There are also sections where the film has faded which causes a flash of brightness across the image which is rather distracting. However, the majority of problems are to do with reel change markings and film artefacts. The reel change markings can be seen at 8:53, 17:49, 36:58, 45:13, 54:06 . . . and so forth, appearing on average every 10 minutes rather than the more common 20 minute intervals. The film artefacts are mostly black and consist of hairs or dust. They appear from the very first frame up until the last. There are several films of a similar age that have been given a better restoration. Unfortunately, this feature suffers for it. Without seeing the original it is hard to say exactly how much restoration this film has or hasn't received. Aliasing is surprisingly rare and mild when it does occur.

    There are a large number of subtitles available. The English subtitles that I checked were close to the spoken word.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed between Chapters 12 and 13, at 55:38. Whilst it was noticeable, I felt that it was already placed in the best possible position for a layer change. There was no audio at this point and only a brief motion pause was noticed. Either side of this point would have been worse.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue was muffled at times but for the majority of the film it was easy to hear and understand. Audio sync was not a major problem.

    The musical score was eerie and typical of the era in which it was made. Due to its age, background scoring is rare during the film itself - this is something that did not become standard practise in films until much later. The title music was written especially for the film by Bernhard Kaun.

    Being a mono audio track there is no surround activity at all.

    Likewise, the subwoofer is not used by this audio track.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

The Frankenstein Files (44:52)

Feature Commentary with Rudy Behlmer

Frankenstein Files (9:25)

Boo! (9:07)

Theatrical Trailer (1:41)

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

• Nothing

    Frankenstein is a very old film and one that people of all ages have heard of.

    The film's age was its main downfall with a glaring number of film artefacts and contrast issues.

    The audio is the original mono and is acceptable for this type of feature.

    The extras were very rewarding and I certainly enjoyed the commentary track pointing out which scenes contained a mixture of paintings and real furniture. The history of Frankenstein and the immense detail offered up about its creation were also of interest.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall