As usual, Tom Hardy shined brightly. Overall a good cast as well.
I was just talking about Desperate Journey this weekend, but could not remember the name of the film. I've got that as part of an Errol Flynn war movie set.
Exactly the part I was talking about!That is probably my favorite scene. And then his line after he clocks the Nazi commander: "The iron fist has a glass jaw."
And? I've been debating seeing this movie for months. Gimme a hand will ya?
Moore plays every role the same way.
Wouldn't happen. A stunt double would've been brought in for the run.
Thanks for sharing all of that. Well thought through and written.I believe that really depends on whether you watch the original American version of the movie or the restored version, and how you interpret what you see.
For anyone who doesn't know, in the original version as filmed (now referred to as the "restored" version) there is a scene in which the "Monster" has escaped and is wandering through the wilderness, where he encounters "Little Maria" playing by the side of a lake. She sees him, approaches him unafraid, takes his hand, and leads him to the lakeside where she shows him the wildflowers growing nearby will float if you toss them into the lake. She hands him a couple of flowers, and he mimics her actions by tossing the flowers into the lake one by one, smiling when he sees they float just like hers. When he realizes he's run out of flowers, he picks up Little Maria and tosses her into the lake. When she disappears below the surface, the Monster steps into the lake and begins pawing at the water trying to find her. When he can't find her he walks out of the lake confused, then goes back into the woods still confused and visibly distraught.
Unfortunately, the censors objected to the violent end of Little Maria, so Universal edited the American version of the movie so that the scene ends with the Monster reaching for Little Maria, leaving the audience to assume he tossed her into the lake. In a subsequent scene Little Maria's father is seen carrying her wet and lifeless body through the center of the village, and it's very noticeable that her stockings have somehow been pulled down to some degree. This scene verifies that she drowned but, more importantly, without seeing what actually happened it implies the Monster molested her as well, which to me is far more offensive than the way the scene originally played out.
It's also important to remember that the Monster at this point has the mental development of an abused child. He is born/re-animated, almost immediately chained to a wall in a dark dungeon where he's abused by Dr. Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant Fritz, and when he's finally taken out of the dungeon he's rejected by his "father" and, moments later, assaulted simply because he reacted in fear to the fire on Fritz' torch. He seems to understand when spoken to, but otherwise shows no signs that his brain has retained any of the memories from it's previous life. Yes, he kills Fritz and Dr. Waldman before he escapes the castle, but that was in response to their violence towards him. Little Maria is the first person he meets who responds to him with kindness instead of brutality, so his act of throwing her into the lake isn't malicious--it's an act of ignorance because he doesn't know better. This doesn't excuse him from being responsible for her death, but it does explain his actions. He didn't intend to kill Little Maria, he simply thought she would float like the flowers did.
As for his brain, the responsibility for that rests on Dr. Frankenstein. He sends his somewhat incompetent assistant Fritz to steal the brain from the University, and fails to notice (before putting it into the Monster's skull) that the brain Fritz returned with is clearly labeled "abnormal".
And, yes, perhaps I have put too much thought into this. But Frankenstein is my favorite "classic horror" movie and I long ago lost count of the number of times I've seen it, so I've had plenty of time to think these thoughts.
