Gods And Monsters

UK / USA, 1998. Directed by Bill Condon. Ian McKellan, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, David Dukes, Rosalind Ayres.

Thoughtful and at times very moving film which explores the final days of British director James Whale, who went to Hollywood and became the man who made Universal’s Frankenstein and The Bride Of Frankenstein in the 1930s but was later shunned and largely forgotten by the film community. An elegant homosexual in poor health and in his 60s, he befriends the young, handsome Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser) who has been employed to work in his garden. The attraction for Whale is complex – we understand it to be in part sexual, but in fact it is more than that. In his head we see a connection is made between Clayton and the friendless, misunderstood Monster in Whale’s famous picture. As Whale, Ian McKellan is superb in a part which could have been made for him and Brendan Fraser acquits himself well, hitting just the right note of naiivety and vulnerability. As Whale’s housekeeper, a virtually unrecognizable Lynn Redgrave almost steals the show in a brilliant supporting role performance and Rosalind Ayres is also notable for her spot-on impersonation of the Bride herself, Elsa Lanchester. A quality film.