Frankenstein

An intense personal subtext runs underneath the surface of this eloquent horror movie based on Mary Shelley's repeatedly-dramatised 1816 gothic novel. Briton James Whale, here making his film-directing debut, was not scared of courting controversy, making Henry (not Victor, as in the book) Frankenstein's monstrous creation (Karloff) the most sympathetic character in the movie and having the good doctor (Clive) spout the scandalously sacrilegious cry: "Now I know what it feels like to be God!" (the latter snipped by the censors in a fit of outraged morality).

There's no doubting that both his homosexuality and his experiences of fighting and being a POW in World War I contributed to Whale's interpretation of the story. These notions are explored to charming effect in the 1998 film Gods And Monsters. But the film was also shaped by the director's background in English theatre, where he'd worked as an actor, set designer and director before heading to Hollywood in 1930. The character of the film is defined by the effective two-hander of expressionist-influenced sets (designed by Herman Rosse), atmospherically, moodily shot, and an English thespianism imported through Karloff and, most overtly, the camp Clive.

Also not to be underestimated is the contribution of make-up artist Jack Pierce, whose design for the monster - replete with flat head and electrodes (not bolts as commonly presumed) defined the character for all time.

'Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus' has a long history in cinema - the Thomas Edison company in provided an early adaptation in 1910, Universal itself milked the characters for a franchise of dwindling interest through the 30s and 40s (notable for Whale's own celebrated sequel, 1935's Bride Of Frankenstein), much as Hammer milked the characters in the 50s, 60s and 70s; Kenneth Branagh even birthed a bloated bastard son in 1994 with the arrogantly and misleadingly titled Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. However, Whales' original, along with its sequel, continue to resound in the memory. Although the film cannot be deemed the definitive adaptation of the book it's arguably the definitive movie inspired by it.