Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code horror film directed by James Whale and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.. It is adapted from the 1927 play Frankenstein: An Adventure in the Macabre by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston, while the screenplay was written by Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.

Plot

In a village in the Bavarian Alps, scientist Henry Frankenstein and his hunchbacked assistant Fritz piece together a human body. Some of the parts are from freshly buried bodies, others from recently hanged criminals. Henry desires to create a human, giving this body life through electrical devices. He still needs a brain for his creation. Henry's former teacher Dr. Waldman shows his class the brain of an average human being and the corrupted brain of a criminal for comparison. Henry sends Fritz to steal the healthy brain from Waldman's class. Fritz accidentally damages it, and so brings Henry the criminal brain.