Early '30s Favorites

In the Sound era of the early ‘30s,novels which I have never considered to really have been that well written ,DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, did form the basis for some wonderful movies. Bela Lugosi as the title character in the movie DRACULA gave us another iconic image and ,though nowhere near as creepy as the earlier NOSTRATEAU , endures as the best re-telling of the tale so far. Atmospheric and paced, the movie has a certain Continental languor. It is not so much a tale of horror per se but of decadence as represented by the refined, worldly Count.
FRANKENSTEIN is not about the Monster as it is about the title character or , rather, family.Dr. Baron Von Frankenstein and his son,are men so consumed by their ambition as to be absolutely blind to all other considerations. IT is not their creativity which is evil….man, created in the image of The Creator, must himself be creative. It is the MISUSE of creativity that brings down destruction . Not only on the House of Frankenstein in the three movies: FRANKENSTEIN, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, which form a trilogy of great story-telling and images which stand even to this day, but on the hapless , pathetic creatures they build and bring to life as well as on ordinary folks, young and old, who get in the monster’s way.
There is also an original screenplay which I hold to be another great movie…KING KONG. Again, a very creative person, a movie-maker, Denham, brings down destruction because of his thoughtless exploitation not only of the Beast, but of all who land in its path. Again, single-mindedness leads to evil…odd this lesson should fill the screen in the era of great single-minded dictators like Stalin and Hitler and their ilk all of whom conspired to bring the world horrific war.