With such memorable tunes as "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend," and "Puttin' on the Ritz," "Young
Frankenstein" is a monstrously fun night of entertainment.
As an aside, the real
Frankenstein castle is in Germany, and Mary Shelley had visited it in her teens.
Frankenstein quite literally shines a light on the pressures that affect society today, from social media, to appearance, to bullying.
He went on to star in 1930s movies Bride Of
Frankenstein and Son Of
Frankenstein and in comedy spoof Abbot And Costello Meet
Frankenstein in 1948.
His big acting break came when he was 44 and he was cast in Universal's 1931 movie,
Frankenstein, and was listed in the credits with a question mark, instead of a name.
Mary Shelley recalled later that the seed for
Frankenstein had come to her in a vision deep in the night: "I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together.
Strange Star mixes established facts about Mary Shelley's life, creative license where the facts become murky, and reimagined story elements of
Frankenstein. The characters receive role, gender, and racial reassignments which allow the original themes of appearance, science, family, lies, compassion/forgiveness, etc.
Deucalion's path will lead him to cool, tough police detective Carson O'Connor and her devoted partner, Michael Maddison, who are tracking the slayer but will soon discover signs of something far more terrifying: an entire race of killers who are much more (and less) than human and, deadliest of all, their deranged, near-immortal maker: Victor Helios--a scientist who was once known as
Frankenstein. A riveting read and an impressive homage to the
Frankenstein novel of Mary Shelley, "
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son" is deftly narrated by Christopher Lane.
CONCEIVED AND WRITTEN 200 years ago by the 19-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley during a dreary summer sojourn to Lake Geneva,
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus is the story of a scientist who, seduced by the lure of forbidden knowledge, creates new life that in the end destroys him.