James Whales

Mark Hensley

Professor: Patricia Vazquez

Eng 272

27 November 2013

Who is he?

• James Whale was involved in the directing of Frankenstein with Universal Pictures.

• He was a prominent director during his time and was openly homosexual.

• During his prime as a director, he could direct however he wanted.

Working Class Origins

- Born on 22 July 1889 in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, it was a very industrial town. -Sixth child of seven children by William and Sarah Whale. - Had to work all the time and he occasionally went to college part-time for a degree in arts. - In 1916, Whales joined the 2nd battalion of the 7th Worcestershire regiment in France.

Start in Theater

- Whales got captured and was a prisoner of war, but while he was there, the prisoners set up a theater and they had amateur theatrics. - Afterwards, he joined Barry Jackson’s Birmingham Repertory Company near Dudley.

Because of his poor upbringing, he wanted something more. He changed his speech and made himself more into a gentleman.

James Whale

• First big break was when he got to direct a play no one wanted called Journey’s End. It was a major success.

• It was wasn’t a success at first, mostly because theaters didn’t find war plays profitable.

R. C. Sherriff - Writer

• Both gay, with an age difference of 14 years, James Whales and David Lewis lived together. David Lewis being 26 while James 40 when they first met.

David Lewis

James Whale and David Lewis were an item for the longest time. Obviously, people started talking about them, but that didn’t really affect James Whale’s career.

• Whales traveled to America to bring Journey’s End to Broadway.

• Got started in the film business because of his expertise in English plays; signed a contract with Universal Pictures.

Helped create Hell’s Angels

Movies by James Whale

Frankenstein

• Created from the novel from Mary Shelley of the same name.

• Some people may think that Frankenstein is the name of the monster, but the monster didn’t have a name. It’s actually talking about the main character and creator, Victor Frankenstein.

• Colin Clive, A.K.A. Dr. Frankenstein. He was a big alcoholic. Some say the drinking made his acting better because he was stark and high-strung.

• James Whales started him in Journey’s End and later brought him in for Frankenstein.

Boris Karloff, the monster from Frankenstein.

He was a big figure in the horror genre of movies because of his role as Frankenstein’s monster.

Colin Clive and Boris Karloff on the set of Frankenstein

Homosexual Themes

• The Bride of Frankenstein was said to have homosexual subtexts.

• Ernest Thesiger, who was gay, played as Dr. Pretorius during the film.

• In the film, Ernest Thesiger wanted to take Dr. Frankenstein and lead him to perversity, taking him away before his marriage.

Other themes…

• Artificial procreation

• Monster castigated for being created and was an outsider

• Science vs. religion

Decline

• He was to create a war-film called The Road Back, a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front.

• Completed the film over-budget, but there was a lot of interference because of Nazi Germany.

• Universal butchered the film; he still worked after, but his work wasn’t as well budgeted and he had less power to direct movies.

Death

• Regrettably, when he was 67 years old, he committed suicide in his own pool. He couldn’t take the pain because of his age.

• Right before here died, he found out that his family history had people in it that were successful; they had money and land. He was satisfied right before he died. (Gatiss, 1995)

This movie (left) was made up to detail James Whale’s life before he died. The movie consisted of him (Ian McKellen) lusting after some young man (Brendan Fraser). This was mostly out of rumors so it was fictitious (maybe).

Works Cited

• Gatiss, Mark. James Whale: Biography. N.p.: Cassell, 1995. Print.

• Bride of Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Prod. Carl Laemmle. By William J. Hurlbut. Perf. Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, and Colin Clive. Universal Pictures Corp., 1935. DVD.

• "James Whale - Directing "Horror" With Style." Articles James Whale. Key Light Enterprises, LLC, 2004. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.