Gods and Monsters (film, 1998)

Gods and Monsters is a dramatic film based on the final days in the life of James Whale, director of Frankenstein(1931) and its 1935 sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein. Director Bill Condon also wrote the screenplay, adapted from Christopher Bram's biographical novel, Father of Frankenstein, and derived the title from a scene in Bride in which Dr. Frankenstein's colleague and former mentor Dr. Pretorius toasts their new collaboration, "Here's to a new world of gods and monsters!"  The cast featured Sir Ian McKellen as James "Mr. Jimmy" Whale, together with Lynn Redgrave and Brendan Fraser.  Horror and fantasy novelist Clive Barker served as executive producer. The film is set during Whale's final days in 1957.  Shunned by Hollywood for his open gayness and with his once brilliant creative abilties destroyed by a series of strokes,  Whale lives alone in his Hollywood home with his German housekeeper Hannah (played by Redgrave) and his memories, shown through periodic flashbacks.  A friendship develops between him and new gardener Clay Boone (Fraser), who becomes enthralled with "Jimmy" Whale once he learns he was the director of Universal's first two Frankenstein flicks.  Through the course of the movie, Whale makes numerous ploys of seduction, which Fraser later learns are not intended to obtain sex but to provoke him into attacking Whale.  James Whale wants to die, and he wants Clay to be his executioner.  The morning after Clay learns Whale's secret and refuses to help him, Clay and Hannah find Whale floating in the pool, a suicide.  After Clay pulls Whale's body from the water, Hannah tells Clay to go, knowing that he will be charged with Whale's death if he remains.  After Clay points out that Hannah will have to explain how she managed to pull Whale out of the pool, she relunctantly agrees to let Clay return the body to the pool, floating face up.  The film thus gives its own explanation for one of the questions surrounding Whale's death.  If his death was indeed a suicide, why was his body found in a manner not consistent with typical suicides by drowning?  The movie ends years later, with Clay now happily married and a father, reflecting back on his brief friendship with the man who created Frankenstein. Gods and Monsters played to considerable financial and critical success when it first opened.  Sir Ian McKellen won the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review, while Lynn Redgrave won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.  Bill Condon received the Academy Award for  Best Screenplay Adaptation.  The movie is currently available on video and DVD. Outside Links: Gods And Monsters Movie Official Homepage Internet Movie Database - Gods and Monsters CNN - The 'Gods and Monsters' of James Whale Photos: Gods and Monsters Queer Horror - Gods and Monsters

Entry updated 30 April, 2004