このレッスンの実行方法

レッスン17は8本のビデオレクチャー（レクチャーのテキストがビデオレクチャーの下に記載されています）と7本の動画で構成されています。
このレッスンは、ページをスクロールダウンしながら最初から順番に動画を見たりテキストを読んでください

Part 3 – By far the most colorful addition in the film is the character Dr. Pretorius, played brilliantly by James Whale’s friend and former teacher, Ernst Thesinger. Before we discuss Thesinger’s Pretorius, I should say a word about Colin Clive at this point. James Whale had worked with Clive in a film called Journey’s End which was a serious drama about World War One. Whale respected Clive’s acting for the seriousness he brought to the part he played in that film so when it came time to cast the lead in Frankenstein, Whale turned to this actor to bring a similar seriousness to the Frankenstein character. Clive does this in the first film wonderfully (remember him talking about discovering the mysteries of the universe?). Clive is the star of Frankenstein…until Boris Karloff walks through the door and walks off with the movie. Few actors could have held their own with Karloff in the role of the monster. Clive’s Frankenstein was a serious character, but Karloff’s monster was a tragic one. Tragedy trumps seriousness. Is there anything that trumps tragedy? We will soon see.

Part 4 – Pretorius is as much a seeker after the mysteries of the universe as Frankenstein, but while Frankenstein does so out of high-minded seriousness, Pretorius’ curiosity seems to be more that of a mischievous schoolboy. The two men are a series of contrasts. Frankenstein is the son of a baron and lives in a castle, while Pretorius is obviously poor. Pretorius is an old, disgraced professor, while Frankenstein is a young, brilliant student. As a German nobleman, Frankenstein’s family would naturally be a Christian (though, as we know, Frankenstein, does not respect the rules of religion). Pretorius appears to be Jewish because he is wearing a traditional Jewish skullcap. But obviously the biggest contrast between them is that Clive’s Frankenstein continues to be serious while Thesinger “camps it up” (to act with exaggerated speech or gestures or behave in an affected manner) throughout the film. This scene is pure camp with Frankenstein even commenting “this isn’t science” …it also isn’t horror, it’s pure camp comedy.

But what has become of the monster? He has been captured by the villagers but manages to escape only to be shot and badly wounded. He wanders into the forests where he eventually finds someone who will change his life.

Part 5 – The scene with the blind man in which both he and the monster are in tears is also camp, but there is an underlying seriousness to what is happening. Like Maria, the little girl who gave the monster a flower and taught him how to play, the blind man does not judge the monster by his ugliness. Like little Maria, the blind man is lonely and wants a companion. He recognizes the loneliness of the monster because of his own loneliness. It reminds us again that the monster always reacts to how he is treated by others. Because the blind man treats him as a friend, the monster returns his friendship. Just as Maria taught the monster how to play, the blind man teaches the monster how to speak and also teaches him that it is bad to be alone. These two probably could have been together for many happy years, but again, the monster is misjudged by those who are frightened of him and he loses his friend. He wanders for a time and then finds himself back in the very same cemetery where Frankenstein and Fritz stole the body in the first scene of the first film. He breaks into the underground catacombs to hide from the villagers chasing him, but he finds someone else already there.

Part 6 – Dr. Pretorius is busy having his men steal dead bodies from the tombs beneath the cemetery but decides to stay and have a picnic, (this guy is really weird). The monster approaches him, but Pretorius, like Maria and the blind man, is completely unafraid of the monster. In a way, Pretorius is almost as innocent as either Maria or the blind man because he refuses to take anything very seriously, including the danger from the monster. Playing the part of Pretorius, Ernst Thesinger gayly camps his way through this scene and it answers our question; “does anything trump tragedy?” Yes, camp does. It is impossible for us to feel the monster’s tragedy while Pretorius is busy feeding him cigars and gin. By playing Pretorius as a camp character, Ernst Thesinger was able to do what Colin Clive was unable to do in either of the films, hold his own with Boris Karloff. Boris Karloff never once steals a scene from Thesinger…in fact, it is actually the reverse in this scene.

Part 7 – You can think of the relationships between Frankenstein, Pretorius, and the monster as being like rock, paper, and scissors: Frankenstein refuses Pretorius’s demand for help with his experiment, Pretorius gains control over the monster, and the monster forces Frankenstein to assist Pretorius with his experiment.

Clearly, the monster relishes telling Frankenstein to “sit down”. The shoe, as they say, is on the other foot. But Frankenstein cannot be intimidated by the monster’s direct threats. It is only when Elizabeth (by the way, you noticed they changed the actress playing Elizabeth, didn’t you?) is kidnapped that Frankenstein agrees to Pretorius’s demands. They then set about assembling the new monster in Frankenstein’s old laboratory (which has been considerably upgraded since the first movie). As you will see in the next excerpt, the creation of the second monster involves even more fun than it did in the first movie. James Whale uses every weird angle and shadow that he can to create a scene which, while camp, is also an expressionist tour de force (a particularly adroit maneuver or technique in handling a difficult situation). It is magnificent.

Part 8 – As I said earlier, what adolescent has not felt the need for romantic love? Similarly, what adolescent has not had to deal with the heartbreak of rejection? After all the trouble Frankenstein and Pretorius go to in order to create a female monster to be his mate, as soon as the new woman monster sees the monster she rejects him! Rejected by his own creator, rejected by society, and now rejected by his one prospect at love, the monster now chooses to commit suicide taking Pretorius and the monster with him, but curiously letting Frankenstein go.

In the first film, Whale and his writers ended the film by showing the monster dying in the windmill, which made him seem to be a Christ figure, but in the second film, the monster is shown to be much more like the rest of us with all our troubles getting along with other human beings and trying to find someone we can love and who will love us in return.