James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters

James Whale directed some of the most stylish and unusual movies of the 1930s, but he was most successful in a genre he virtually invented: horror. In the thirties, James Whale directed four horror classics, each progressively more sophisticated and morbidly humorous: Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein. But Whale's success was short-lived. He quit just ten years after the triumph of Frankenstein, and he was found dead, floating in his swimming pool, only months before the film's eventual release on television. This book is the definitive account of the life of James Whale, taking him from the poverty of England's Black Country to the squalor of a German prison camp, the excitement of London's West End, and - ultimately - to Hollywood, where he profoundly influenced several generations of film-makers. Curtis also unravels the truth about Whale's mysterious death.