James Whale James Whale ( 22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957 ) was an English film director , theatre director and actor . He is best remembered for his four classic horror film s : " Frankenstein " ( 1931 ) , " The Old Dark House " ( 1932 ) , " The Invisible Man " ( 1933 ) and " Bride of Frankenstein " ( 1935 ) . Whale directed over a dozen films in other genres , including what is considered the definitive film version of the musical " Show Boat " ( 1936 ) . He became increasingly disenchanted with his association with horror , but many of his non - horror films have fallen into obscurity . Whale was born into a large family in Dudley , in the Black Country area of the English West Midlands . Whale discovered his artistic talent early on and studied art . With the outbreak of World War I , Whale enlisted in the British Army and became an officer . He was captured by the Germans and during his time as a prisoner of war he realized he was interested in drama . Following his release at the end of the war he became an actor , set designer and director . His success directing the 1928 play " Journey ' s End " led to his move to the United States , first to direct the play on Broadway and then to Hollywood to direct motion pictures . Whale lived in Hollywood for the rest of his life , most of that time with his longtime companion , producer David Lewis . Including " Journey ' s End " ( 1930 ) , Whale directed a dozen films for Universal Studios between 1930 and 1936 , developing a style characterized by the influence of German Expressionism and a highly mobile camera . At the height of his career as a director , Whale directed " The Road Back " ( 1937 ) , a sequel to " All Quiet on the Western Front " . Studio interference , possibly spurred by political pressure from Nazi Germany , led to the film ' s being altered from Whale ' s vision and " The Road Back " was a critical and commercial failure . A run of similar box - office disappointments followed and , while Whale would make one final short film in 1950 , by 1941 his film directing career was over . Whale continued to direct for the stage and also rediscovered his love for painting and travel . His investments made him wealthy and he lived a comfortable retirement until suffering strokes in 1956 that robbed him of his vigor and left him in pain . Whale committed suicide on 29 May 1957 by drowning himself in his swimming pool . Whale was openly gay throughout his career , something that was very unusual in the 1920s and 1930s . As knowledge of his sexual orientation has become more common , some of his films , " Bride of Frankenstein " in particular , have been interpreted as having a gay subtext and it has been claimed that Whale ' s refusal to remain in the closet led to the end of his career . However , Whale ' s associates dismissed the notions that Whale ' s sexuality informed his work or that it cost him his career . Early years . Whale was born in Dudley , England , the sixth of the seven children of William , a blast furnace man , and Sarah , a nurse . He attended Kates Hill Board School , followed by Bayliss Charity School and finally Dudley Blue Coat School . His attendance stopped in his teenage years because the cost would have been prohibitive and his labor was needed to help support the family . Thought not physically strong enough to follow his brothers into the local heavy industries , Whale started work as a cobbler , reclaiming the nails he recovered from replaced soles and selling them for scrap for extra money . He discovered he had some artistic ability and earned additional money lettering signs and price tags for his neighbors . Whale used his additional income to pay for evening classes at the Dudley School of Arts and Crafts . World War I broke out in 1914 . Although Whale had little interest in the politics behind the war , he realized that conscription was inevitable so he enlisted in the Army . Considered because of his age a good candidate for officer training , Whale joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps in October 1915 and was stationed in Bristol . He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Worcestershire Regiment in July 1916 . He was taken a prisoner of war on the Western Front in Flanders in August 1917 and was held at Holzminden prisoner - of - war camp , where he remained until December 1918 . While imprisoned , he became actively involved , as an actor , writer , producer , and set - designer , in the amateur theatrical productions which took place in the camp , finding them " a source of great pleasure and amusement " . He also developed a talent for poker , and after the war he cashed in the chits and IOUs from his fellow prisoners to serve as a nest egg . During his imprisonment , Whale conceived an abiding hatred of Germany . Career . Theatre . After the armistice he returned to Birmingham and tried to find work as a cartoonist . He sold two cartoons to the " Bystander " in 1919 but was unable to secure a permanent position . Later in 1919 Whale embarked on a professional stage career . Under the tutelage of actor - manager Nigel Playfair , Whale worked as an actor , set designer and builder , " stage director " ( akin to a stage manager ) and director . In 1922 , while with Playfair , Whale met Doris Zinkeisen . The two were considered a couple for some two years , despite Whale ' s living as an openly gay man . The couple was reportedly engaged in 1924 but by 1925 the engagement was off . In 1928 Whale was offered the opportunity to direct two private performances of R . C . Sherriff ' s then - unknown play " Journey ' s End " for the Incorporated Stage Society , a theatre society that mounted private Sunday performances of plays . Set over a four - day period in March 1918 in the trenches at Saint - Quentin , France , " Journey ' s End " gives a glimpse into the experiences of the officers of a British Army infantry company in World War I . The key conflict is between Captain Stanhope , the company commander , and Lieutenant Raleigh , the brother of Stanhope ' s fiancée . Whale offered the part of Stanhope to the then - barely known Laurence Olivier . Olivier initially declined the role , but after meeting with the playwright agreed to take it on . Maurice Evans was cast as Raleigh . The play was well received and transferred to the Savoy Theatre in London ' s West End , opening on 21 January 1929 . A young Colin Clive was now in the lead role , Olivier having accepted an offer to take the lead in a production of " Beau Geste " . The play was a tremendous success , with critics uniform and effusive in their praise and with audiences sometimes sitting in stunned silence following its conclusion only to burst into thunderous ovations . As Whale biographer James Curtis wrote , the play " managed to coalesce , at the right time and in the right manner , the impressions of a whole generation of men who were in the war and who had found it impossible , through words or deeds , to adequately express to their friends and families what the trenches had been like " . After three weeks at the Savoy , " Journey ' s End " transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre , where it ran for the next two years . With the success of " Journey ' s End " at home , Broadway producer Gilbert Miller acquired the rights to mount a New York production with an all - British cast headed by Colin Keith - Johnston as Stanhope and Derek Williams as Raleigh . Whale also directed this version , which premiered at Henry Miller ' s Theatre on 22 March 1929 . The play ran for over a year and cemented its reputation as the greatest play about World War I . Early work in Hollywood . The success of the various productions of " Journey ' s End " brought Whale to the attention of film producers . Coming at a time when motion pictures were making the transition from silent to talking , producers were interested in hiring actors and directors with experience with dialogue . Whale traveled to Hollywood in 1929 and signed a contract with Paramount Pictures . He was assigned as " dialogue director " for a film called " The Love Doctor " ( 1929 ) . Whale completed work on the film in 15 days and his contract was allowed to expire . It was at around this time that Whale met David Lewis . Whale was hired by independent film producer and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes , who planned to turn the previously silent Hughes production " Hell ' s Angels " ( 1930 ) into a talkie . Whale directed the dialogue sequences . When his work for Hughes was completed , Whale headed to Chicago to direct another production of " Journey ' s End " . Having purchased the film rights to " Journey ' s End " , British producers Michael Balcon and Thomas Welsh agreed that Whale ' s experience directing the London and Broadway productions of the play made him the best choice to direct the film . The two partnered with a small American studio , Tiffany - Stahl , to shoot the film in New York . Colin Clive reprised his role as Stanhope , and David Manners was cast as Raleigh . Filming got underway on 6 December 1929 and wrapped on 22 January 1930 . " Journey ' s End " was released in Great Britain on 14 April and in the United States on 15 April . On both sides of the Atlantic the film was a tremendous critical and commercial success . With the Laemmles at Universal . Universal Studios signed Whale to a five - year contract in 1931 and his first project was " Waterloo Bridge " . Based on the Broadway play by Robert E . Sherwood , the film stars Mae Clarke as Myra , a chorus girl in World War I London who becomes a prostitute . It too was a critical and popular success . At around this time , Whale and Lewis began living together . In 1931 , Universal chief Carl Laemmle , Jr . offered Whale his choice of any property the studio owned . Whale chose " Frankenstein " , mostly because none of Universal ' s other properties particularly interested him and he wanted to make something other than a war picture . While the novel itself was in the public domain , Universal owned the filming rights to a stage adaptation by Peggy Webling . Whale cast Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein and Mae Clarke as his fiancée Elizabeth . For the Monster , he turned to an unknown actor named Boris Karloff . Shooting began on 24 August 1931 and wrapped on 3 October . Previews were held 29 October , with wide release on 21 November . " Frankenstein " was an instant hit with critics and the public . The film received glowing reviews and shattered box office records across the United States , earning Universal $ 12 million on first release . Next from Whale were " Impatient Maiden " and " The Old Dark House " ( both 1932 ) . " Impatient Maiden " made little impression but " The Old Dark House " is credited with reinventing the " dark house " subgenre of horror films . Thought lost for some years , a print was found by filmmaker Curtis Harrington in the Universal vaults in 1968 and restored by George Eastman House . Whale ' s next film was " The Kiss Before the Mirror " ( 1933 ) , a critical success but a box - office failure . Whale returned to horror with " The Invisible Man " ( 1933 ) . Shot from a script approved by H . G . Wells , the film was a blended horror with humor and confounding visual effects . It was critically acclaimed , with " The New York Times " listing it as one of the ten best films of the year , and broke box - office records in cities across America . So highly regarded was the film that France , which restricted the number of theatres in which undubbed American films could play , granted it a special waiver because of its " extraordinary artistic merit " . Also in 1933 Whale directed the romantic comedy " By Candlelight " which gained good reviews and was a modest box office hit . In 1934 he directed " One More River " , an adaptation of the novel of the same name by John Galsworthy . The film tells the story of a woman desperate to escape her abusive marriage to a member of the British aristocracy . This was the first of Whale ' s films for which Production Code Administration approval was required and Universal had a difficult time securing that approval because of the elements of sexual sadism implicit in the husband ' s abusive behavior . " Bride of Frankenstein " ( 1935 ) was Whale ' s next project . Whale had resisted making a sequel to " Frankenstein " as he feared being pigeonholed as a horror director . " Bride " hearkened back to an episode from Mary Shelley ' s original novel in which the Monster promises to leave Frankenstein and humanity alone if Frankenstein makes him a mate . He does , but then destroys the female without bringing it to life . The film was a critical and box office success , having earned some $ 2 million for Universal by 1943 . Lauded as " the finest of all gothic horror movies " , " Bride " is frequently hailed as Whale ' s masterpiece . With the success of " Bride " Laemmle was eager to put Whale to work on " Dracula ' s Daughter " ( 1936 ) , the sequel to Universal ' s first big horror hit of the sound era . Whale , wary of doing two horror films in a row and concerned that directing " Dracula ' s Daughter " could interfere with his plans for the first all - sound version of " Show Boat " , ( previously filmed as a part - talkie ) , instead convinced Laemmle to buy the rights to a novel called " The Hangover Murders " . The novel is a comedy - mystery in the style of " The Thin Man " , about a group of friends who were so drunk the night one of them was murdered that none can remember anything . Retitled " Remember Last Night ? " , the film was one of Whale ' s personal favorites , but met with sharply divided reviews and commercial disinterest . With the completion of " Remember Last Night ? " Whale immediately went to work on " Show Boat " ( 1936 ) . Whale gathered as many of those as he could who had been involved in one production or another of the musical , including Helen Morgan , Paul Robeson , Charles Winninger , and , as Magnolia , Irene Dunne , who believed that Whale was the wrong director for the piece . The 1936 version of " Show Boat " , faithfully adapted from the original stage production , is believed to be the definitive film version of the musical by many critics . but became unavailable following the 1951 remake . This was the last of Whale ' s films to be produced under the Laemmle family . The studio was now bankrupt , and the Laemmles lost control to J . Cheever Cowdin , head of the Standard Capital Corporation , and Charles R . Rogers , who was installed in Junior Laemmle ' s old job . Career in decline . Whale ' s career went into sharp decline following the release of his next film , " The Road Back " ( 1937 ) . The sequel to Erich Maria Remarque ' s " All Quiet on the Western Front " , which Universal had filmed in 1930 , the novel and film follow the lives of several young German men who have returned from the trenches of World War I and their struggles to re - integrate into society . The Los Angeles consul for Nazi Germany , George Gyssling , learned that the film was in production . He protested to PCA enforcer Joseph Breen , arguing that the film gave an " untrue and distorted picture of the German people " . Gyssling eventually met with Whale but nothing came of it . Gyssling then sent letters to members of the cast , threatening that their participation in the film might lead to difficulties in obtaining German filming permits for them and for anyone associated in a film with them . While the low volume of business conducted by Universal in Germany made such threats largely hollow , the State Department , under pressure from the Hollywood Anti - Nazi League and the Screen Actors Guild , stepped in and the German government backed down . Whale ' s original cut of the film was given generally positive reviews but sometime between preview screenings and the film ' s general release Rogers capitulated to the Germans , ordering that cuts be made and additional scenes be shot and inserted . Whale was furious , and the altered film was banned in Germany anyway . The Germans were successful in persuading China , Greece , Italy and Switzerland to ban the film as well . Following the debacle with " The Road Back " , Charles Rogers tried to get out of his contract with Whale ; Whale refused . Rogers then assigned him to a string of B movies to run out his contractual obligation . Whale only made one additional successful feature film , " The Man in the Iron Mask " ( 1939 ) , before retiring from the film industry in 1941 . Post - film life . With his film career behind him , Whale found himself at loose ends . He was offered the occasional job , including the opportunity to direct " Since You Went Away " for David O . Selznick , but turned them down . Lewis , meanwhile , was busier than ever with his production duties and often worked late hours , leaving Whale lonely and bored . Lewis bought him a supply of paint and canvasses and Whale re - discovered his love of painting . Eventually he built a large studio for himself . With the outbreak of World War II , Whale volunteered his services to make a training film for the United States Army . Whale shot the film , called " Personnel Placement in the Army " , in February 1942 . Later that year , in association with actress Claire DuBrey , Whale created the Brentwood Service Players . The Players took over a 100 – seat theatre . Sixty seats were provided free of charge to service personnel ; the remaining were sold to the public , with the box office proceeds donated to wartime charities . The group expanded to the Playtime Theatre during the summer , where a series of shows ran through October . Whale returned to Broadway in 1944 to direct the psychological thriller " Hand in Glove " . It was his first return to Broadway since his failed " One , Two , Three ! " in 1930 . " Hand in Glove " would fare no better than his earlier play , running the same number of performances , 40 . Whale directed his final film in 1950 , a short subject based on the William Saroyan one - act play " Hello Out There " . The film , financed by supermarket heir Huntington Hartford , was the story of a man in a Texas jail falsely accused of rape and the woman who cleans the jail . Hartford intended for the short to be part of an anthology film along the lines of " Quartet " . However , attempts to find appropriate short fiction companion pieces to adapt were unsuccessful and " Hello Out There " was never commercially released . Whale ' s last professional engagement was directing " Pagan in the Parlour " , a farce about two New England spinster sisters who are visited by a Polynesian whom their father , when shipwrecked years earlier , had married . The production was mounted in Pasadena for two weeks in 1951 . Plans were made to take it to New York , but Whale suggested taking the play to London first . Before opening the play in England , Whale decided to tour the art museums of Europe . In France he renewed his acquaintanceship with Curtis Harrington , whom Whale had met in 1947 . While visiting Harrington in Paris , Whale went to some gay bars . At one he met a 25 - year - old bartender named Pierre Foegel , who Harrington believed was nothing but " a hustler out for what he could get " . The 62 - year - old Whale was smitten with the younger man and hired him as his chauffeur . A provincial tour of " Pagan in the Parlour " began in September 1952 and it appeared that the play would be a hit . However , Hermione Baddeley , starring in the play as the cannibal " Noo - ga , " was drinking heavily and began engaging in bizarre antics and disrupting performances . Because she had a run of the play contract she could not be replaced and so producers were forced to close the show . Whale returned to California in November 1952 and advised David Lewis that he planned to bring Foegel over early the following year . Appalled , Lewis moved out of their home . While this ended their 23 - year romantic relationship , the two men remained friends . Lewis bought a small house and dug a swimming pool , prompting Whale to have his own pool dug , although he did not himself swim in it . Whale began throwing all - male swim parties and would watch the young men cavort in and around the pool . Foegel moved in with Whale in early 1953 and remained there for several months before returning to France . He returned in 1954 permanently , and Whale installed him as manager of a gas station that he owned . Whale and Foegel settled into a quiet routine until the spring of 1956 , when Whale suffered a small stroke . A few months later he suffered a larger stroke and was hospitalized . While in the hospital he was treated for depression with shock treatments . Upon his release , Whale hired one of the male nurses from the hospital to be his personal live - in nurse . A jealous Foegel maneuvered the nurse out of the house and hired a female nurse as a non live - in replacement . Whale suffered from mood swings and grew increasingly and frustratingly more dependent on others as his mental faculties were diminishing . Death . Whale committed suicide by drowning himself in his swimming pool on 29 May 1957 at the age of 67 . He left a suicide note , which Lewis withheld until shortly before his own death decades later . Because the note was suppressed , the death was initially ruled accidental . The note read in part : " To ALL I LOVE , < br > " Do not grieve for me . My nerves are all shot and for the last year I have been in agony day and night — except when I sleep with sleeping pills — and any peace I have by day is when I am drugged by pills . < br > " I have had a wonderful life but it is over and my nerves get worse and I am afraid they will have to take me away . So please forgive me , all those I love and may God forgive me too , but I cannot bear the agony and it [ is ] best for everyone this way . < br > " The future is just old age and illness and pain . Goodbye and thank you for all your love . I must have peace and this is the only way . < br > " Jimmy " Whale was cremated per his request and his ashes were interred in the Columbarium of Memory at Forest Lawn Memorial Park , Glendale . Because of Whale ' s habit of periodically revising his date of birth , his niche lists the incorrect date of 1893 . When his longtime companion David Lewis died in 1987 , his executor and Whale biographer James Curtis had his ashes interred in a niche across from Whale ' s . Sexuality . James Whale lived as an openly homosexual man throughout his career in the British theatre and in Hollywood , something that was virtually unheard of in the 1920s and 1930s . He and David Lewis lived together as a couple from around 1930 to 1952 . While he did not go out of his way to publicize his homosexuality , he did not do anything to conceal it either . As filmmaker Curtis Harrington , a friend and confidant of Whale ' s , put it , " Not in the sense of screaming it from the rooftops or coming out . But yes , he was openly homosexual . Any sophisticated person who knew him knew he was gay . " While there have been suggestions that Whale ' s career was terminated because of homophobia , and Whale was supposedly dubbed " The Queen of Hollywood " , Harrington states that " nobody made a thing out of it as far as I could perceive " . With knowledge of his sexuality becoming more common beginning in the 1970s , some film historians and gay studies scholars have detected homosexual themes in Whale ' s work , particularly in " Bride of Frankenstein " in which a number of the creative people associated with the cast , including Ernest Thesiger and Colin Clive , were alleged to be gay or bisexual . Scholars have identified a gay sensibility suffused through the film , especially a camp sensibility , particularly embodied in the character of Pretorius ( Thesiger ) and his relationship with Henry Frankenstein ( Clive ) . Gay film historian Vito Russo , in considering Pretorius , stops short of identifying the character as gay , instead referring to him as " sissified " ( " sissy " itself being Hollywood code for " homosexual " ) . Pretorius serves as a " gay Mephistopheles " , a figure of seduction and temptation , going so far as to pull Frankenstein away from his bride on their wedding night to engage in the unnatural act of non - procreative life . A novelisation of the film published in England made the implication clear , having Pretorius say to Frankenstein " ' Be fruitful and multiply . ' Let us obey the Biblical injunction : you of course , have the choice of natural means ; but as for me , I am afraid that there is no course open to me but the scientific way . " Russo goes so far as to suggest that Whale ' s homosexuality is expressed in both " Frankenstein " and " Bride " as " a vision both films had of the monster as an antisocial figure in the same way that gay people were ' things ' that should not have happened " . The Monster , whose affections for the male hermit and the female Bride he discusses with identical language ( " friend " ) , has been read as sexually " unsettled " and bisexual . Writes gender studies author Elizabeth Young : " He has no innate understanding that the male - female bond he is to forge with the bride is assumed to be the primary one or that it carries a different sexual valence from his relationships with [ Pretorius and the hermit ] : all affective relationships are as easily ' friendships ' as ' marriages ' . " Indeed , his relationship with the hermit has been interpreted as a same - sex marriage that heterosexual society will not tolerate : " No mistake — this is a marriage , and a viable one " , writes cultural critic Gary Morris for " Bright Lights Film Journal " . " But Whale reminds us quickly that society does not approve . The monster — the outsider — is driven from his scene of domestic pleasure by two gun - toting rubes who happen upon this startling alliance and quickly , instinctively , proceed to destroy it . " The creation of the Bride scene has been called " Whale ' s reminder to the audience — his Hollywood bosses , peers , and everyone watching — of the majesty and power of the homosexual creator " . However , Harrington dismisses this as " a younger critic ’ s evaluation . All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something , but artists don ’ t think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind . " Specifically in response to the " majesty and power " reading , Harrington states " My opinion is that ’ s just pure bullshit . That ’ s a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration . " He concludes , " I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor . " Whale ' s companion David Lewis stated flatly that Whale ' s sexual orientation was " not germane " to his filmmaking . " Jimmy was first and foremost an artist , and his films represent the work of an artist — not a gay artist , but an artist . " Whale ' s biographer Curtis rejects the notion that Whale would have identified with the Monster from a homosexual perspective , stating that if the highly class - conscious Whale felt himself to be an antisocial figure , it would have been based not in his sexuality but in his origin in the lower classes . Film style . Whale was heavily influenced by German Expressionism . He was a particular admirer of the films of Paul Leni , combining as they did elements of gothic horror and comedy . This influence was most evident in " Bride of Frankenstein " . Expressionist influence is also in evidence in " Frankenstein " , drawn in part from the work of Paul Wegener and his films " The Golem " ( 1915 ) and " " ( 1920 ) along with " The Cabinet of Dr . Caligari " ( 1920 ) from Robert Wiene , which Whale reportedly screened repeatedly while preparing to shoot " Frankenstein " . " Frankenstein " roughly alternates between distorted expressionistic shots and more conventional styles , with the character of Dr . Waldman serving as " a bridge between everyday and expressionist spaces " . Expressionist influence is also evident in the acting , costuming and the design of the Monster . Whale and makeup artist Jack Pierce may also have been influenced by the Bauhaus school of design . The expressionist influence lasted throughout Whale ' s career , with Whale ' s final film , " Hello Out There " , praised by " Sight & Sound " as " a virtuoso pattern of light and shade , a piece of fully blown expressionist filmmaking plonked down unceremoniously in the midst of neo - realism ' s heyday " . Whale was known for his use of camera movement . He is credited with being the first director to use a 360 - degree panning shot in a feature film , included in " Frankenstein " . Whale used a similar technique during the " Ol ' Man River " sequence in " Show Boat " , in which the camera tracked around Paul Robeson as he sang the song . ( The sequence also uses expressionist montages illustrating some of the lyrics . ) Often singled out for praise in " Frankenstein " is the series of shots used to introduce the Monster : " Nothing can ever quite efface the thrill of watching the successive views Whale ' s mobile camera allows us of the lumbering figure " . These shots , starting with a medium shot and culminating in two close - ups of the Monster ' s face , were repeated by Whale to introduce Griffin in " The Invisible Man " and the abusive husband in " One More River " . Modified to a single cut rather than two , Whale uses the same technique in " The Road Back " to signal the instability of a returning World War I veteran . Legacy . Influential film critic Andrew Sarris , in his 1968 ranking of directors , lists Whale as " lightly likable " . Noting that Whale ' s reputation has been subsumed by the " Karloff cult " , Sarris cites " Bride of Frankenstein " as the " true gem " of the Frankenstein series and concludes that Whale ' s career " reflects the stylistic ambitions and dramatic disappointments of an expressionist in the studio - controlled Hollywood of the thirties " . Whale ' s final months are the subject of the novel " Father of Frankenstein " ( 1995 ) by Christopher Bram . The novel focuses on the relationship between Whale and a fictional gardener named Clayton Boone . " Father of Frankenstein " served as the basis of the 1998 film " Gods and Monsters " with Ian McKellen as Whale and Brendan Fraser as Boone . McKellen was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Whale . Only two of Whale ' s films received any sort of Oscar recognition : " The Man in the Iron Mask " ( for its musical score ) , and " Bride of Frankenstein " ( for its sound recording ) . Neither film actually won ; in fact , no Whale film ever won an Oscar . A memorial statue was erected for Whale in 2002 on the grounds of a new multiplex cinema in his home town of Dudley . The statue , by Charles Hadcock , depicts a roll of film with the face of Frankenstein ' s monster engraved into the frames , and the names of his most famous films etched into a cast concrete base in the shape of film canisters . " Horror in Hollywood : The James Whale Story " , a retrospective of Whale ' s artwork , opened at the Dudley Museum and Art Gallery in October 2012 and is scheduled to run through January 2013 . References . Notes Bibliography