Dr. Henry Frankenstein quotes from Frankenstein (1931)

View Quote He's just resting — waiting for a new life to come.

View Quote [in a letter] You must have faith in me, Elizabeth. Wait, my work must come first, even before you. At night the winds howl in the mountains. There is no one here. Prying eyes can't peer into my secret...I am living in an abandoned old watchtower close to the town of Goldstadt. Only my assistant is here to help me with my experiments.

View Quote This storm will be magnificent. All the electrical secrets of Heaven. And this time we're ready, eh Fritz? Ready.

View Quote There's nothing to fear. Look. No blood, no decay. Just a few stitches. And look, here's the final touch. The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands, with my own hands. Let's have one final test. Throw the switches.

View Quote Quite a good scene, isn't it? One man crazy — three very sane spectators.

View Quote There can be no wedding while this horrible creation of mine is still alive. I made him with these hands, and with these hands I will destroy him. I must find him. [to Victor] You stay here and look after Elizabeth. I leave her in your care, whatever happens. Do you understand? In your care.

View Quote Henry: Elizabeth, please, won't you go away? Won't you trust me, just for tonight?
Elizabeth: You're ill. What's the matter?
Henry: Nothing. I'm quite all right, truly I am. Oh, can't you see? I mustn't be disturbed. You'll ruin everything. My experiment is almost completed.
Elizabeth: Wait a moment. I understand. I believe in you. But I cannot leave you tonight.
Henry: You've got to leave!
Victor: Henry, you're inhuman. You're crazy.
Henry: Crazy, am I? We'll see whether I'm crazy or not. Come on up...

View Quote Henry: You're quite sure you want to come in? ...Very well. [locks door and pockets key] Forgive me, but I'm forced to take unusual precautions...A moment ago you said I was crazy. Tomorrow we'll see about that. [to Dr. Waldman] Don't touch that! Dr. Waldman. I learned a great deal from you at the University about the violet ray, the ultra-violet ray, which you said was the highest color in the spectrum. You were wrong. Here in this machinery I have gone beyond that. I have discovered the great ray that first brought life into the world.
Waldman: Oh! And your proof?
Henry: Tonight, you shall have your proof. At first, I experimented only with dead animals, and then a human heart which I kept beating for three weeks. But now, I'm going to turn that ray on that body and endow it with life.
Waldman: And you really believe that you can bring life to the dead?
Henry: That body is not dead. It has never lived. I created it. I made it with my own hands from the bodies I took from graves, from the gallows, anywhere! Go and see for yourself.

View Quote Henry: Look! It's moving. It's sha — it's... it's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive! It's alive, it's alive, it's alive! It's ALIVE!
Victor: Henry — in the name of God!
Henry: Oh in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!
Note: the bolded line is ranked #49 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

View Quote Waldman: This creature of yours should be kept under guard. Mark my words. He will prove dangerous.
Henry: Dangerous! Poor old Waldman. Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if nobody tried to find out what lies beyond? Have you never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars or to know what causes the trees to bud and what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy. But if I could discover just one of these things, what eternity is, for example, I wouldn't care if they did think I was crazy!
Waldman: You're young, my friend. Your success has intoxicated you. Wake up and look facts in the face! Here we have a fiend whose brain...
Henry: The brain must be given time to develop. It's a perfectly good brain, doctor. You ought to know. It came from your own laboratory.
Waldman: The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain.
Henry: Oh well, after all, it's only a piece of dead tissue.
Waldman: Only Evil can come of it! Your health will be ruined if you persist in this madness.
Henry: I'm astonishingly sane, doctor.
Waldman: You have created a Monster and he will destroy you.
Henry: Patience, patience. I believe in this Monster, as you call it. And if you don't, well, you must leave me alone. So far, he's been kept in complete darkness. Wait till I bring him into the light.

View Quote Henry: It's like heaven, being with you again.
Elizabeth: Heaven wasn't so far away all the time, you know.
Henry: I know, but I didn't realize it. My work. Those horrible days and nights. I couldn't think of anything else.
Elizabeth: Henry. You're not to think of those things anymore. You promised.

View Quote Elizabeth: Henry. I'm afraid. Terribly afraid. Where's Dr. Waldman? Why is he late for the wedding?
Henry: Oh, he's always late. He'll be here soon.
Elizabeth: Something is going to happen. I feel it. I can't get it out of my mind.
Henry: You're just nervous. All the excitement and preparation.
Elizabeth: No, no. It isn't that. I felt it all day. Something is coming between us. I know it! I know it!
Henry: Sit down and rest. You look so tired.
Elizabeth: If I could just do something to save us from it.
Henry: From what, dear, from what?
Elizabeth: I don't know. If I could just get it out of my mind. Oh, I'd die if I had to lose you now, Henry.
Henry: Lose me? Why, I'll always be with you.
Elizabeth: Will you, Henry? Are you sure? I love you so.

View Quote Victor: [pounding on Henry's door] Henry! Dr. Waldman!...He's been seen in the hills terrorizing the mountainside.
[A low moan is heard]
Henry: He's in the house. He's upstairs!