Directed by:
James WhaleComposer:
Bernhard KaunCast:
Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Edward Van Sloan, Frederick Kerr, Dwight Frye, Cecilia Parker, Arletta Duncan, Pauline Moore, Jack Curtis (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
In a prologue, an announcer steps from behind a curtain to warn the audience of the horrifying nature of the film they are about to see. In the main story, at a funeral, Fritz, a dwarf, and young scientist Henry Frankenstein dig up a freshly buried body, claiming that the corpse is waiting for a new life. They also remove a man hanging from a gibbet, but his broken neck requires that a new brain be found. After Doctor Waldman's lecture at Goldstadt Medical College, Fritz sneaks in and, after dropping a bottle containing a normal brain, leaves with one containing the brain of a criminal. Meanwhile, in Henry's hometown, Victor Moritz visits Elizabeth, whom he loves. She has received a strange note from Henry her fiancé, who writes that his experiments preclude her from joining him. Concerned, Victor and Elizabeth visit Waldman, Henry's former professor, who explains that Henry had left the college to pursue a mad dream of recreating human life. Together the three go to Henry's laboratory, a watchtower in the mountains. There, Henry and Fritz are preparing to use the power of lightning to charge their electrical mechanisms and give life to a body they have pieced together. Henry agrees to let his friends observe and explains his scientific theories as his creation comes to life. Later Victor and Elizabeth attempt to pacify Henry's doubting father, Baron Frankenstein, who is only interested in promoting the date of his son's wedding. At the laboratory, while Waldman tells Henry of the monster's criminal brain, Fritz torments the monster and the monster kills him. After a fight, Henry and Waldman sedate the monster just as the baron approaches the lab. The exhausted Henry is taken home after Waldman promises to destroy the monster, but instead Waldman is killed by the escaping monster. As the wedding of Elizabeth and Henry is celebrated, the monster drowns Little Maria, a village child who plays with him, then menaces Elizabeth. Ludwig, Maria's father, carries his daughter's body into town, and an angry search party is formed. They go through the mountains by torchlight until Henry finds the monster, and the two engage in a struggle that continues in an abandoned mill, where the monster has fled. The mob sets the mill ablaze, and the monster hurls Henry to the ground before being engulfed by flames. Later, the baron celebrates the wedding of his recovered son with a toast to a future grandchild. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
![Colin Clive](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/386/386766_6e08d3.jpg)
Colin Clive
France
Best movies:
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
History Is Made at Night (1937)
Mad Love (1935)
![Mae Clarke](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/271/271152_846c14.jpg)
Mae Clarke
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
The Front Page (1931)
![John Boles](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/271/271151_a5d597.jpg)
John Boles
USA
Best movies:
The Last Warning (1929)
Frankenstein (1931)
King of Jazz (1930)
![Boris Karloff](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/522/163522520_00c5a5.jpg)
Boris Karloff
UK
Best movies:
The General (1926)
Scarface (1932)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
![Edward Van Sloan](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/496/496859_16c0c1.jpg)
Edward Van Sloan
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
The Phantom Creeps (1949) (TV movie) - a.f.
![Frederick Kerr](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/878/160878228_5d24fa.jpg)
Frederick Kerr
UK
Best movies:
Frankenstein (1931)
Waterloo Bridge (1931)
![Dwight Frye](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/496/496853_0da6c9.jpg)
Dwight Frye
USA
Best movies:
The Invisible Man (1933)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
![Cecilia Parker](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/496/496846_4a8136.jpg)
Cecilia Parker
Canada
Best movies:
Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Frankenstein (1931)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
![Arletta Duncan](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/158/003/158003890_07ab50.jpg)
Arletta Duncan
USA
Best movies:
Frankenstein (1931)
![Pauline Moore](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/000/159000083_6c115c.jpg)
Pauline Moore
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Love Is News (1937)
Frankenstein (1931)
![Jack Curtis](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/964/159964759_41a7d2.jpg)
Jack Curtis
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Citizen Kane (1941)
It Happened One Night (1934)
![Lionel Belmore](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/457/160457513_663c01.jpg)
Lionel Belmore
UK
Best movies:
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
If I Were King (1938)
Three Ages (1923)
![Paul Panzer](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/234/161234217_c990b9.jpg)
Paul Panzer
German Empire
Best movies:
Casablanca (1942)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
![Ellinor Vanderveer](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/976/160976151_b31dee.jpg)
Ellinor Vanderveer
USA
Best movies:
Casablanca (1942)
Flesh and the Devil (1926)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
![Carmencita Johnson](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/308/163308222_d3a21d.jpg)
Carmencita Johnson
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
The Wind (1928)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Seessel Anne Johnson
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
The Wind (1928)
Frankenstein (1931)
![Margaret Mann](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/998/160998250_f92ef7.jpg)
Margaret Mann
UK
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Scarlet Letter (1926)
Robert Milasch
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Ted Billings
UK
Best movies:
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Michael Mark
Russian Empire
Best movies:
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
Casablanca (1942)
City Girl (1930)