Books Into Film: 19th Century Horror/Sci-Fi Novels and the Films They Inspired

One of the themes I hope to explore in this blog is what happens when filmmakers attempt to craft movies out of classic books. The novel and the motion picture are two distinct mediums that convey narrative very differently. and turning books into film has produced mixed results over the last hundred years or so to say the least. We'll explore the reasons why in this and upcoming entries. For our purposes on Halloween, let's have a look at a handful of classic scary books and the earliest Hollywood incarnations of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Invisible Man.

Like most people my age, I came to the film versions of these novels first. I remember watching them on public television every Saturday night with my dad when I was twelve years old. I would be in college before I first encountered Shelley's Frankenstein. (Interestingly, the class also included Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, so similar in tone that those two books are forever entwined in my mind). It would be many more years before I finally read Dracula and The Invisible Man. In a way, I think seeing the movies first was the best way to approach these works. The iconic images of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains are still in my head like everyone else's, but a whole new world opened itself to me when I read the novels that was in some ways deeper and more engrossing.

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818) by Mary Shelley 
Discovering how vastly different book and movie versions of Frankenstein really are is almost a rite of passage for young adults. In the novel, an ambitious, tortured 18th century scientist with a keen interest in arcane science and a hunger for glory and fame creates a hideous but intimately sentient beast. Upon the success of his experiment, he promptly abandons his creation in disgust and horror, leaving the monster to fend for itself. While not much to look at, his progeny is incredibly strong, intelligent, articulate and cunning. He hides in the shadows, learning how to survive and how to speak while secretly observing a peasant family and pursues and torments his creator to the far ends of the earth, murdering his friends and family in retribution for his creation and abandonment.

This novel combines Gothic and Romantic elements into what many consider to be the first science fiction story. It is a short novel that deals with grand themes. Dr. Frankenstein is utterly self-involved and given to hysterical outbursts. As the selfish cruelty he unleashes upon his creation and in turn on those he loves causes his fortunes to darken, modern readers my lose patience with his pathetic inability to own up to his actions. Yet this is a novel that should be read. Its subject matter is groundbreaking, evokes a tangible darkness and terror through its prose and raises many pertinent questions about the limits of our ability to control our own technological destiny at a time when the Industrial Revolution was thoroughly transforming society. Of all people, twenty first century readers should have no difficulties relating to the book's premise. But there are many interpretive angles to this story--scientific, political, philosophical, ethical--take your pick. That's why it continues to be read and analyzed. It is a novel very much of its time in that it accurately reflects the cultural discourse of its day, and very much relevant to our time in what it foreshadows in the last 200 years of human history. Literature doesn't get any better than that.

Download Frankenstein from Project Gutenberg


Frankenstein (1931) Directed by James Whale
In the film, the name of Frankenstein has become synonymous with the monster itself rather than its creator. James Whate's movie is entirely different from the novel that inspired it and it would be a perfect example of how Hollywood routinely eviscerates great works of literature for the screen, except for one thing: It's an absolutely brilliant film that stands on its own. Adapted from Peggy Webling's play instead of Shelly's novel, Whale and screenwriters Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort narrowed the focus of the story by changing the time period, adding and removing a few characters and throwing out most of the original storyline. In so doing, the film shifts the horror of the story from its moral implications to the monster itself. Boris Karloff's performance and the extensive makeup that created the image of the monster so permanently etched in our subconscious minds may have upstaged Shelly's novel, but this film is a work of art in its own right. Students would be advised to actually read the book because watching the movie the night before exams won't help you at all.

Watch Frankenstein on You Tube


Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker
Irish author Bram Stoker's horror novel literally speaks volumes (well, three volumes, anyway) about British imperial unease with a rising tide of Eastern European immigrants. Count Dracula is a wealthy, handsome, resourceful foe with an unsettling interest in London real estate who tries to ensnare a young lawyer and his friends in his plot to…well...overwhelm England by drinking the blood of innocents and buying investment property. The epistolary structure of the book is sometimes awkward and the plot takes a few leaps of faith, but suspending disbelief with the aid of a glass of wine should clear that up. This is really an adventure story with a dramatic climax, a bit of action and plenty of sexual tension--none of which can be said for the film that bears its name. 

Download Dracula from Project Gutenberg


Dracula (1931) Directed by Tod Browning
Despite a few nicely directed scenes and some interesting scenic design and cinematography, this film version of Dracula is everything that the novel isn't--ponderous, overwrought, slow, a bit boring, not particularly scary and unintentionally funny. Bela Lugosi's performance as the Count is pure camp, and the story has nothing to do with Bram Stoker's creation. But yet, Lugosi's image is the first thing we think of when Dracula's name is mentioned.

The film was a big hit, but it is the novel's influence that has had the greater impact on popular culture--just the opposite of what happened with Frankenstein. The current vampire craze takes its cues from Bram Stoker's story and has little or nothing to do with Bela Lugosi's incarnation of the character, iconic as it may be in a cartoonish kind of way. Again, cramming with this film before exams will yield disappointing results.

Watch the Dracula trailer on You Tube

 
The Invisible Man (1897) by H.G. Wells
This novella is sci-fi/horror personified with a twist of Plato. Wells' tale of a young, surly and frankly unpleasant scientist whose experiment with optics results in his becoming invisible and quite insane was based on the "Ring of Gyges" parable in Plato's Republic. In that story, a shepherd finds a ring that makes him invisible and uses his new power for personal gain at the expense of his moral reasoning. In Welles' story, the scientist Griffin terrorizes the southern English countryside with thieving, violence, extortion and other wholesome pastoral pursuits before meeting with his comeuppance. He is, in short, a complete jerk who, despite being seriously crazy, inspires none of the reader's sympathies. This book is all about terror, and Griffin in the novel is quite a bit more malevolent and sinister than his film counterpart. The Invisible Man is well crafted, succinct, provides plenty of thrills and suspense and is lots of fun.

Download The Invisible Man from Project Gutenberg


The Invisible Man (1933) Directed by James Whale
Again, James Whale created another masterpiece inspired by, yet distinct from, a literary classic that stands on its own. The screenplay doesn't strictly adhere to Welles' storyline and characters, but he does uncannily capture the spirit of the original work with a fine cast, state of the art special effects and an incredible performance from the great British stage and screen actor, Claude Rains. Like Lugosi and Karloff before him, Rains' performance actually defines the character in the consciousness of Western culture. It's actually pretty scary, which is not bad for a film that's eighty years old.

Watch The Invisible Man on You Tube


Here are a couple of links to books also mentioned in this post:

Download The Sorrows of Young Werther from Project Gutenberg

Download Plato's The Republic from Project Gutenberg


Happy Halloween!