Universal Monster Movies In The 1930's

Following the Great Depression, movie studios in the 1930’s were forced to alter their filmmaking practices in order to conserve money and turn a profit. During this period a series of films from Universal Studios dubbed the “Universal Monster Movies” made their way into theaters and began to shape the Horror genre in America. These films, which were based on classic literature, featured foreign stars, had low budgets, and saw influence from German Expressionism, were met with financial success and audience approval. The Universal Monster Movies display a significant era in film history where a genre was shaped, not necessarily through intention, but as a result of a financial crisis. Although popularized in American cinema in the 1930’s, horror had existed in media for centuries before. The elements and ideas associated with horror are prevalent throughout history, one of the earliest eras being during the 18th Century. This period saw the birth of ‘Gothic fiction” with novels such as The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, and Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, both of which contained elements of the supernatural. Then, in the 19th century, a new era of horror highlighting “monsters, murderers, demons and beasts” (Filmmaker IQ “A Brief History of Horror”) was born with authors such as Marry Shelly, Edgar Allan Poe, H.G. Wells, and towards the end of the century, Bram Stoker. All of these are significant examples of authors who had a lasting impact on horror and will be expanded upon later. The idea of horror continued into the 20th century and, as film grew, made its way to the big screen. A prominent example of horror’s influence in early film can be clearly seen in German Expressionism. This style, which made its way into German film-post World War I, was somewhat unintentionally created. Due to economic recession, German film studios were forced to cut back on costs in order to produce films. As a result of this crisis, sets were painted with stylized lighting on them and were openly unrealistic in order to portray the interior of the character’s minds on the exterior. Largely acknowledged as the original German Expressionist film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene 1919) utilized these techniques to tell an unsettling story and pave the way for a new style of cinema. While Dr. Caligari and other films created during this period did contain horror aspects, “[their] terrors were those of morbid psychological states and troubled dreams, rather than the more concrete horrors that Hollywood’s Universal Studios was to offer in the 1930’s” (Cook 75). Even still, the influence of German Expressionism is noticeably seen in Universal’s Monster Movies. The films created during the 1930’s which have been dubbed the ‘Universal Monster Movies’ were largely based on gothic literature from the 18th and 19th centuries. Dracula (Tod Browning 1931), Frankenstein (James Whale 1931), Werewolf of London (Stuart Walker 1935), The Invisible Man (James Whale 1933), The Mummy (Karl Freund 1932), are some of the most popular films of this era. All were either based on or inspired by gothic literature, with Frankenstein being directly adapted from Mary Shelly’s novel of the same name, Dracula from Bram Stoker, and Invisible Man from H.G. Wells. Although it could be argued that …show more content…
Forced to rethink production methods in order to maximize profit, Universal introduced “B Pictures” which accompanied higher budget films in theaters with double features. Universal drew inspiration from German Expressionist films when creating their monster movies, which relied heavily on gothic atmosphere in sets, makeup, and general mise-en-scene. Since sound had been introduced, these films also relied heavily on dialogue to progress their stories, unlike their German relatives which were silent films. These elements were repeated within the monster movies and are what separated them from German Expressionist films. Frankenstein, which followed Dracula, was chosen not just because of this formula, but also because “[its] theatrical rights were much cheaper to acquire, and the literary rights were in the public domain and thus free of charge” (Edwards 29). There is still a significant parallel between the two in terms of how financial crisis caused the creation of a new