Long week? Feel like you’re coming apart at the seams? Kick off your elevator shoes and relax with an hour of music from Frankenstein films!
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll honor the legacy of Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale, “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” The influential novel first saw print in 1818 – 200 years ago. Although the film adaptations tend not to be very faithful to their alleged source material, there is no denying “Frankenstein’s” enduring appeal. We’ll hear music from just a few of the dozens of films that have been made in the hundred years or so since the Thomas Edison version, all the way back in 1910.
“The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) is the “Godfather Part II” of Frankenstein films. One of the greatest sequels ever made, “Bride” manages to deepen and expand elements of the Boris Karloff original. Both were directed by James Whale. Sporting a terrific cast, plenty of atmosphere, a wry sense of humor, and abundant pathos, it also happens to feature one of the finest music scores of the era, composed by Franz Waxman.
Say what you will about Hammer Studio’s more lurid approach to its monster franchises, with their Technicolor gore and false whiskers. What the films lacked in budget, they certainly made up for in creativity. In “Frankenstein Created Woman” (1967), Peter Cushing yet again plays the overweening doctor, who transplants the soul of his wrongly condemned assistant into the body of a suicide, his assistant’s lover. Together, soul and body, the two enact revenge on the young woman’s father’s actual murderers. Don’t try to figure it out; just go with it. The music was by Hammer house composer, James Bernard.
“House of Frankenstein” (1944) is the sixth film in Universal Studios’ “Frankenstein” franchise, a follow-up to “The Ghost of Frankenstein,” but also a sequel of sorts to “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.” A mad scientist (“Frankenstein” veteran Karloff) and his hunchback assistant resurrect “the monster,” Dracula, and the Wolfman, beating “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948) to the punch! The music is also a monster mash of sorts, co-composed by Hans J. Salter and Paul Dessau.
Mel Brooks’ super duper parody, “Young Frankenstein” (1974), plays with genuine affection on the Universal classics. The result is the richest comedy Brooks ever filmed. The love of detail extends even to the use of some of the authentic laboratory equipment from the original movies. Composer John Morris’ score reflects the underlying pathos of the monster, in brilliant counterpoint to the onscreen comedy. That’s FRANCKEN-SHTEEN!
Finally, “Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’” (1994) was promoted as the most faithful adaptation of the original novel – which it most certainly is not. It does retain the rarely-used framing device, and the creature, played by Robert De Niro, is intelligent and articulate, as he is in the book, but so rarely on film. However, director Kenneth Branagh and his team can’t resist juicing up the story with lurid thrills and plot twists that seem more like cast-offs from Hammer. Favorite scene: a bare-chested Branagh swings on chains while bringing life to De Niro through the use of electric eels(!). The equally over-the-top score is by Patrick Doyle.
“Frankenstein” has proven itself as indestructible as its alleged monster. Jump-start your weekend with revivifying music straight to the neck-bolts. It’s all-Frankenstein, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
