Released - December, 1933 

Directed By - Roy Del Ruth

Starring – James Cagney (Dan Quigley), Mae Clarke (Myra Gale), Margaret Lindsey (Lois Underwood), Leslie Fenton (Duke).

Description – Theater usher Dan Quigley has just been fired from his job. With little to offer in the way of job skills he decides to get involved with a life of crime. After getting involved with a group of criminals, Dan realizes that he has a certain knack for this type of business.

It’s only a matter of time before the police begin to close in on him and he takes off for Los Angeles to hide. While in LA, he stumbles into a movie opportunity, and as luck would have it, soon becomes a star.

Back in the old neighborhood, his former criminal pals get word of his success as a movie star and a comedic blackmail plan is hatched. 

NOTABLE: James Cagney and Mae Clarke are reunited in this film having starred together in the very successful 1931 gangster classic Public Enemy.

Lady Killer

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Released – November, 1931 

Directed By - James Whale

Starring – Colin Clive (Dr. Henry Frankenstein), Mae Clarke (Elizabeth), John Boles (Victor Moritz), Boris Karloff (The Monster), Dwight Frye (Fritz).

Description – Loosely based on the Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein is probably the most recognizable monster in the history of the horror genre.

Ambitious scientist Dr. Frankenstein and his hunch-back assistant Fritz have been collecting and reassembling human body parts in an effort to create life. With a loud crack of thunder and lightening igniting Dr. Frankensteins’s electrical machines the monster comes alive.

Unknown to the Doctor is the fact that his assistant Fritz has collected the brain of a criminal for the experiment and his new life form knows only hate and murder. The rest of the story is horror genre history.

NOTABLE: In 1991 this film was selected for the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress.

The role of Frankenstein was originally offered to Bela Lugosi who rejected the part because is was a non-speaking role. Actor John Carradine also turned the part down because he felt he was too highly trained an actor to be reduced to playing a monster.

What have commonly been referred to as bolts in the monster’s neck are actually electrodes.

The original release of the film was banned in Kansas because they felt it depicted “cruelty and tended to debase morals”.

Personal Comment: In spite of the production limitations, both Frankenstein and Dracula are immortalized in the minds of horror genre movie lovers; including myself.

There were a string of sequels to this film including what is commonly considered to be the best of the series – ‘Bride of Frankenstein,’ starring Elsa Lanchester.

Talk about typecasting – Enjoy the creepy performances of Dwight Frye as Fritz the hunch-back assistant in this film, and as Reinfield in Dracula.

Frankenstein (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series)

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