Boris Karloff\u2019s daughter and composer Michael Shapiro, whose musical score for the 1931 film is finally coming to London, talk about how it became a much-loved classic<\/p>\n
Once seen, never forgotten \u2013 the 1931 Frankenstein is 95 years old, but still one of the most instantly recognisable of classic horrors. Whether it\u2019s the sight of lanky Boris Karloff lumbering into the frame with his squared-off head, neck bolts and oversized leaden shoes, or the sound of a thunderclap and Colin Clive exclaiming \u201cIt\u2019s alive!\u201d as the monster comes to life one stormy night in the laboratory \u2013 the film still raises hairs on the back of the neck.<\/p>\n
However, this classic has arguably long been missing one element: a continuous musical soundtrack \u2013 the original movie had dialogue but no music. In 2001, the American composer Michael Shapiro<\/a> wrote a full-length score, which he will be conducting alongside the film for the first time in London next month, at Cadogan Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. \u201cIt becomes one artistic expression, one artistic experience,\u201d he says. \u201cThe film and the music, together, and the audience forgets that I am there.\u201d Shapiro says his music emphasises what is already up on the screen. \u201cSuddenly the film jumps out in a way it never did before.\u201d<\/p>\n
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