JAMES WHALE
A GOD AMONG MONSTER MAKERS
(From the Universal Studios Monsters page.)
James Whale directed 24 motion pictures in a career that spanned from 1929 to 1948. He was one of the first directors in Hollywood who demanded and received full creative control over the films he directed. He directed intimate dramas, comedies, a musical (the first screen version of Showboat). However, his reputation rests squarely on four of the most literate horror films ever made. Those four films are the horror films he made while working for Universal and span the years 1931 to 1935 - a timespan that covers the beginning of the Golden Age of Horror and reaches through to its mid-point. Three of the films are undeniable giants of the genre - and the fourth, while not exactly on the same level, is still worthy of classic status.
The films are FRANKENSTEIN (1931); THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) (the classic out of the four!); THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933); and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935). These films rank amongst the most intelligent, witty, and striking films ever made - imbued with a class, humanity, and a sense of timelessness that has not yet gone out of date. These movies are representative - interestingly enough - of both Hollywood at the time and of James Whale himself.
James Whale was born on July 22, 1889 in the small town of Dudley. He was born into a working class family that made its home in an industrial area England. Whale struggled his entire life to overcome this perceived stigma of poverty - a poverty that severely limited his educational upbringing. Whale - even in the spring of his youth - rebelled against the strict cultural and formal mores that divided the classes in England at that time. It was not his desire, nor was it in his makeup, to enter into the life of a common laborer, so - to the dismay of his family and the ridicule of his neighbors - he began to cultivate the demeanor of a gentleman. If he was destined - as he thought he was - not to be the same as his peers, then he would go out of his way to celebrate those differences.
These "differences" found expression in his rather foppish manner of dress, manners, his speech and his physical bearing. He detached himself emotionally from those around him and fostered an aura of skepticism and artistic snobbery that drove in deeper the wedge between him and his peers. The biographical records are unclear as to when Whale fully accepted his homosexuality - some pinpoint it at around 1925 when Whale was an adult and working in the theatre. This critic would move it to a much earlier date - it seems unlikely that an individual as sensitive as Whale would not deal with that aspect of his life until so late in his development as a person. However, accept it he did - and it further alienated him from the balance of society. In England, at that time, homosexuality - if practiced openly - would invariably result in a severe beating at the least, and arrest by the police at the most.
This contributed to Whale being an isolated and contradictory individual. He was a loner who would often be combative in the company of people. He longed to be in a higher social strata than that which fate had hitherto placed him in - yet he would ridicule and deride those of that higher class. His outward appearance was elegant, refined and bespoke of self confidence - a self confidence that was projected but rarely felt. Whale had to subliminate his own personal and physical desires - even after making the move to Hollywood. Such things were never spoken of - much less acted upon in those days, no matter where you were.
Unlike many of today's "directors" who have been reared without a sense of cinema history, literature, the arts, and theatre and who are hired because of the sheer number of smash cuts they can achieve in sixty seconds, Whale began at the bottom and worked his way up. During the First World War, Whale served his country and wound up a prisoner of war. While interred, he would take to drawing charcoal portraits of life around him and became an accomplished artist. He would also take it upon himself to organize theatrical entertainment for his fellow prisoners. At war's end, he did manage to place several cartoons in various periodicals, but found himself more and more drifting towards theatre.
It was at this crucial stage of his life that he met Doris Zinkisen - a set and costume designer. The two enjoyed a very close personal and professional relationship for several years, but parted ways in 1925 for reasons that are still very much unclear. Interestingly enough, they did remain on friendly terms because he did use her services as costume designer on Showboat, and later remembered her in his will.
However, this much is certain: Whale at this point became embittered and highly distrustful of humanity - and he would remain so for the rest of his life. These qualities would become most apparent in his films - most specifically, his horror films. The years from 1925 through 1927 saw Whale work in a variety roles in theatre, and eventually he made his directorial debut in 1927. Whale had the uncanny good fortune to work on rather successful productions which eventually toured and wound up on Broadway. During the twenties and thirties, the film studios maintained a high visible presence on both East and West coasts with an eye towards raiding the talent that was on display on Broadway. Whale's name came up as a successful director and he was summoned to Hollywood. He was signed to direct the dialogue sections of THE LOVE DOCTOR (1929) and soon began to work rather steadily.
His attention to detail and his manner of handling actors brought him to the attention of Carl Laemmle Jr at Universal, who promptly signed Whale to direct FRANKENSTEIN -a somewhat problematic project at the time. Robert Florey and Bela Lugosi were originally assigned to this follow up to DRACULA - but Lugosi declined the part because of the makeup and lack of dialog. Florey was replaced as both screenwriter and director because his vision of the project was far too dark and removed any sympathy that one would have for the monster.
FRANKENSTEIN appealed to Whale's sensibilities - the idea of someone who by circumstances beyond his control is different, and is shunned because of that difference. The creature is abandoned by his father (the creator of his being) and is left to his own devices to make it through a hostile world. There is no one to show the creature the difference between right and wrong - the creature meets only hostility - a hostility that is based sole on outward appearance.
Whale was never secure financially - even though he was working under contract and was, in fact, making very good money. Fear continued to dog his heels, and this fear was expressed in THE INVISIBLE MAN. Jack Griffin, a young chemist states quite blatantly, "I was so pitifully poor - a poor, struggling chemist. I had nothing to offer you, Flora." The title character, essentially, wants to rise above his existing conditions, to do something grand that will give him wealth, fame, and power - qualities a successful film director has. However, with typical Whale irony, Griffin is caught sleeping in a barn - not even a house - and is shot down. It is only at the end of the film as he lies dead do we actually "see" Griffin. Once again, no one is able to fully see and accept Griffin for who he is - they literally look right through him. He is "visible" in the film only when he is wearing bandages - an apt metaphor for such a wounded soul.
THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was a project that Whale was against from the very beginning, and fought quite hard against accepting the project. But, accept it he did and created one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. Blazingly theatrical and operatic at the same time, it is a film that, like its creator, is filled with contradictions. There are moments of intense seriousness - yet he allows Una O'Connor to play the buffoon. The serious side of madness and obsession is portrayed magnificently well by Colin Clive - and the lighter side of madness is played by Ernest Thesiger with an undercurrent of repressed homosexuality lacing through his performance. The monster is once again played to perfection by Boris Karloff - and once again is the perfect stand in for James Whale - the tortured outsider.
Intense ambition; sarcastic wit; helpless persecution; characters on the fringe forever followed by the twin shadows of doom and death - all of his characters were representative of Whale the person. In his THE OLD DARK HOUSE, one of the characters is literally locked in the closet because he is different - and as such, he is dangerous and to be feared. Once he finally appears, he is small and helpless - so much less threatening than the ape like Morgan.
Whale retired from filmmaking when it was clear he was no longer going to be able to exercise the total control he had under the Laemmle regime. Lonely and embittered, he retired to his house and lived there until he finally sought release from his loneliness.
James Whale was found dead in his swimming pool. Before he died, he wrote a note explaining his actions stating that for him, "The future is just old age and pain..... I must have peace and this is the only way." James Whale died as he lived - privately. And yet, most ironically, the identity of this most private and enigmatic man is on display in his four horror films - the high point of his talented career.
Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Memory, Niche #20076.
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