In the early days of the twentieth century, cinema was The New Hotness (Eegad—pictures which move!), however—yawn— silent. Musicians were therefore employed by theatres to accompany these hitherto silent films on pianos, pipe organs, or, later, impressive Band Organs. When onscreen armies marched, automated percussion thundered their approach. When onscreen lovers cooed, sentimental pianos tremolo'd their lovemaking. When sound reproduction came along, and with it, "talkies", fillmmakers abandoned this maudlin practice in favor of something more theatrical: dialogue and sound effects. The early 1930s saw many of these new sound films without music— and just as boring as any play. Within a few years, the public grew weary of these unbelievably quiet exercises in tedium, and Hollywood decided to give them a little razzamatazz in the for of music. Unfortunately, many of these early talkies survived, cursed by the lack of musical score to remain solely items of curiosity fit only for museums or ridicule.

In order to save a classic film from the depths of cinematic purgatory (you're welcome), and in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, or "National Novel Writing Month", (nanowrimo.org/about-nano), I made the month of October 2021 my Personal Film Score Writing Month (or PerFiScoWriMo!) by writing a complete score for James Whale's 1931 film "Frankenstein", starring Boris Karloff in the non-eponymous, but confusingly, title role. The conflation of Dr. Frankenstein and his creation has a long history following the release of the film, not unsurprisingly, as the film itself conflates the man and the monster through repeating back-and-forth shots of the two as well as the muddying levels of responsibility for the monster's destructive behaviors.

One reading of the film is a message of accountability. Frankenstein is a neglectful fiance, an abusive employer, jealously ambitious, and a classic example of Dr. Ian Malcolm's adage "...scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." Keeping in the theme of conflating Frankenstein and his monster, Frankenstein effectively is the monster of the film. When the time comes for Frankenstein to own up to his responsibility in creating the creature but then abandoning it, he takes the road of abandoning and locking up his fiance in order to lead a charge to destroy the creature, mainly for the purpose of assuaging his own guilt. The creature he creates, in contrast, is hardly innocent of, but largely blameless for, his own violence.

The creature is introduced first as a lumbering lump of nonsentience before being exposed to sunlight for the first time, upon which he discovers the first lesson of existence: impermanence and awe. Immediately afterward, he is confronted by Frankenstein's horrified, screaming assistant waving a torch in his face, to which he responds like a frightened dog, attacking anyone who tries to subdue him. After being tackled, shackled, isolated in a dungeon, and terrorized by a whip and a torch, he exacts his own revenge on his abuser; after all, the only thing he has been taught in his short life is fear, subjugation, and violence.

Abuse begets abuse.

Later in the film, the first kind act anyone has ever shown him is repaid with inadvertent violence, perpetrated in hulking, puppy-like enthusiasm for the simple game of throwing flowers into a lake to watch them float.

My approach to the score, therefore, was to engender sympathy for Frankenstein's creation and to support the narrative that an abused child will very likely become an abusive adult without guidance and love, as well as to underscore the tragedy of the loss of the creature's innocence.

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I do not own the copyright for the film, therefore the soundtrack is presented in such a way that you may watch the film alongside the recording and experience the score as it was meant to be experienced.

Tracks 1-4 are intended to sync with the film when playback of the film and the tracks begin simultaneously (It is also recommended to mute the film during the opening and end credits if you don't wish to hear the original score playing underneath mine)

Downloading tracks 1-4 for syncing is recommended, as inconsistencies in streaming may put the music out of sync.

Tracks 5-30 are mixed and presented in album format, and will not sync with the film.