Reviews

Since most film students today would probably not recognize the name of James Whale, this biography of the director of the groundbreaking film Frankenstein comes just in time. Growing up in the bleak industrial center of Britain, Whale rose to prominence early in the century as a set designer and director for the London stage. He emigrated to California just as Hollywood started making talkies and joined Universal Studios. Whale almost single-handedly created the previously unknown horror-film genre in the United States with his 1931 masterpiece of the tragic monster, starring a then-unknown Boris Karloff. Whale went on to direct The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Show Boat, among others. Despite the critical praise for these subsequent films, he was never able to surpass his early success, and he retired in 1940, a forgotten footnote in cinematic history. This well-researched film biography is an exhaustive study of the man's work, though not of his life, and is thus recommended for larger and academic collections, especially collections dedicated to arts and the cinema.‘Jeff Ingram, Newport P.L., OR