Monday, March 09, 2015

Play review - "Frankenstein" by John Balderstone (1930)

John Balderston had a big success rewriting the play version of Dracula for US audiences but was unable to make lightning strike twice re-doing a less popular version of the Shelley classic. It was an influential though because Robert Florey relied on it when writing his first screenplay of Frankenstein (which became the 1931 film).

It's not a bad play - Balderston was a good dramatist and breaks the action down well. Act One involves creating the creature (here actually called "Frankenstein), at two the creature goes on his rampage, act three Henry Frankenstein gets his comeuppance. There's dull Victor, Henry's rival in love, and duller Dr Waldman who walks around whining "you can't play God" a lot. Still the drama is extracted, there are some jolts like the death of Henry's sister.

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