Fright Month: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Fright month ends, not with a bang or even a ghostly wail, but with a chuckle. I don't think this movie is supposed to be a comedy, but most of it sure passes for one in my book. Except for the scenes where I felt sorry for the monster.

My favorite part was when the old blind hermit taught Frankenstein how to drink wine and smoke cigars. The monster kept grunting, "Mmmmm, gooooood," which made me giggle. Then when he met up with Doctor Pretorius, the monster almost reminded me of Herman from an episode of The Munsters.

Looks like a remake is coming out next year. I wonder if it will actually be scary?

Her hair is buick. Wish I could get mine to do that.

Fright Month: Frankenstein (1931)

Yet another non-scary scary movie. I'd never seen this movie before, but I knew all of those bits and pieces that have been embedded in our cultural history--Dr. Frankenstein creates a monster out of old body parts and brings it to life, shouting "It's alive!" with his trusty hunchback (not Igor, but Fritz) at his side, and terror ensues.

I read the book just over a year ago, so I already knew that the original story differed quite a bit from those tidbits mentioned above. But I was hoping the movie would impart some thrills and chills, especially since not many of my other Fright Month flicks did.

Too bad my hopes were dashed. I found nothing creepy or frightening in this movie. But even though it was lacking in tension, it was still an interesting and entertaining film. Probably one that everyone should watch at least once. I mean, it's a classic, right? But now that I've seen it once, I'll probably be stopping there.

I must admit that, though it may not have scared me at all, this movie did create quite an iconic image of Frankenstein's monster. This is exactly the way everyone pictures it.

All About Eve

All About Eve won an Oscar for Best Picture (among other categories) in 1950. Sixty years later this film still resonates. It could just have easily been set in the present century, which is part of what makes it a classic. The snappy dialogue doesn't hurt, either.

I was surprised when Marilyn Monroe popped up in this movie. I had no idea (or recollection, anyway) that she was part of the cast. In fact when I first saw her and mentioned it to my husband, he didn't think it was Monroe. He said her face wasn't fat enough. (Actually I think his term was "butter-faced" or something like that, and I assumed he meant fat). But I knew it was her from the weird and affected way she moved her lips when she talked, which I guess was meant to be sexy, though it has no effect on me.

I loved the twist at the end when Phoebe showed up in Eve's apartment. That made the movie for me.

The 39 Steps

This movie was recommended to me by an old friend as one of his favorites. It's a movie I had never heard of, and if I hadn't heard about it from Chris it probably never would have come to my notice. I've seen the more well-known Hitchcock movies (Psycho, North by Northwest, and Vertigo), among others, but have never even really looked at the entire list of movies he directed until now--and I see a few more I'd like to watch. But back to this movie.

*SPOILER* I like that I did not guess that Mr. Memory's memory was to be the method of transporting the sensitive data out of the country. Looking back, I feel I should have known to attach some significance to his presence in the movie, but I suppose at the time I just assumed it was a way to establish that Hannay (played by Robert Donat) was Canadian (though I'm not sure now why that matters) and, more importantly, a way for Hannay to meet Annabella. But I always enjoy it when a movie keeps me guessing.

I found it to be an annoying plothole that the assassins were able to enter Hannay's apartment and stab Annabella in the back without waking (or killing) Hannay, especially as Hannay did not seem at all worried that the intruders could still be in his apartment. I guess it shouldn't be very surprising that any assassin worth his salt could pull this off without detection, and I suppose the fact that they left Hannay alive could be explained by the idea that, by leaving a dead woman in his apartment and thus framing him for murder, they both get Hannay out of their way and cover their own tracks. However, that still leaves the problem of Hannay being completely unconcerned that a killer could still be in his apartment. Plus... if you were an assassin and you didn't know how much information your mark had passed on to the man in whose apartment she was staying, wouldn't you kill him too, just in case? Oh well. It was still a fun movie to watch.

It was funny to notice what must have been really risqué back in 1935--in this movie they showed a woman's brassiere (no woman in it, of course) which I can imagine causing quite a scandal 74 years ago.

By the way, *I* know what causes pip in poultry.