Sound and "Frankenstein" (1931)

In Robert Spadoni’s The Uncanny Body of Early Sound Film, he talks about the belief that with the introduction of sound in film, there came a loss or a “shrinking” of the personality (12). A wall seemed to come between the audience and the actors. Viewers were not able to feel as strong of a connection to the actors because of what Bakshy calls “mechanical sound” (12). This wall was not a result of speech and sound itself being introduced to film, but a result of the artificiality of the sound. A sound that made them even more aware of the medium. 

Let’s touch on the shrinking of the personality in film. From a more modern perspective (or at least my perspective), this shrinking personality might be seen as less overacting. In Frankenstein (1931), the audience feels Frankenstein’s glee and excitement over his creation when he shouts “It’s alive!” rather than from a series of waggling eyebrows, shots of his gaping mouth, and an excessively writhing body with the intertitle “It’s alive!”. That line has become iconic. The monster’s groans and roars bring more personality to the character than could be achieved in a silent film. The music may change to reflect his emotions, but when the windmill is engulfed in flames,

how could the emotion in his anguished, high-pitched shriek be captured? Instead of viewing it as a loss of personality, it comes off less like putting on a show and more like a performance. 

While this is not related to the personality of the characters, the use of sound does create interesting scenes that would be difficult with silent films. Before Frankenstein’s wedding, they hear the monster’s groans and run throughout the house looking for him. The use of sound gives the monster a more ominous vibe. He could be anywhere! If this were a silent film the characters would have to say things like, “I hear the monster upstairs!” which would allow the scene to play out as it does, but without the same anticipation for the whereabouts of the monster. 

For the film Frankenstein (1931), sound is incredibly important for many reasons. Whale’s decision not to use any sort of soundtrack adds to the more blatantly unnerving elements of the film (like a creature created from dead people’s body parts). The audience can hear the undiluted murder of the doctor. The moment seems to drag on because there is no buffer between the audience and the monster’s hands around the doctor’s throat. The audience can shield their eyes from the act, but they cannot fully escape the scene. Sound also works to allow for events to happen offscreen. When Fritz screams, the audience knows that something horrible must be happening to him and when we arrive on the scene he is dead. The audience can use their imagination to figure out what happened between Fritz antagonizing the monster and his death. This could have been achieved in a silent film, but the screaming heightens the senses of the audience as well as makes it very clear that Fritz was not put down gently.

This works in the scene between Elizabeth and the monster. He climbs in through the window, the audience is allowed to escape before anything nefarious happens, then her screams act as an indicator of the assault that took place.