But the night’s work is not yet done. Coming across a gibbet at the crossroads, Fritz reluctantly climbs the shaking hangman’s post and cuts the body loose. Henry is disappointed, however, because the neck is broken (go figure), thus ruining any chance for a useful brain. No problem; he sends Fritz off to snatch one from the local Goldstadt medical school.

Dwight Frye played Renfield in Dracula so well he became typecast in the role of the manic, misfit assistant to monster or mad scientist. His masterful portrayal of Fritz in Frankenstein sealed his fate, but what a performance it is. With his stubby cane, woefully too short to do much good, his crippling hunchback and skittering walk, and his tremulous elocution, he’s pitiable and contemptible at the same time.

At the medical school, he hurries to fetch a good brain for Henry Frankenstein, but startled by a sudden loud noise, he drops it. The only other brain conveniently pickled close by is the one from a psychotic killer, conveniently labeled “ABNORMAL”. Oh, well, what’s a hunch-backed demented assistant to do? Hopefully, Henry won’t notice the difference.

Meanwhile, Henry’s fiancée, Elizabeth, is becoming worried. In one of Whale’s signature close-up compositions, he introduces her and Victor (a rival for her affections), taking an ordinarily static scene and charging it with energy and movement, keeping the pace of the film moving through dynamic use of the camera. Elizabeth decides they must both see Dr. Waldman (Edward Van Sloan), Henry’s former professor, to find out why Henry is acting so strangely.

Dr. Waldman informs them of Henry’s unhealthy, heretical habits, like trying to create life out of dead bodies, so they convince the morally solid and sure doctor to accompany them to the watchtower, where Henry engages in his immoral behavior. Dr. Waldman is Henry’s moral and societal conscience, the polar opposite of Henry’s other teacher, the amoral--but fun-loving--Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein. Like Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan became typecast, too. He was the perfectly knowledgeable, morally upright, and strong-willed man of reason and science for any occasion, no matter what his other acting credits said.

There’s a wonderfully quirky embellishment made by Frye as the trio of Waldman, Elizabeth and Victor knock on the front door to the watchtower as rain pours down. Both Fritz and Henry are busily preparing for the storm’s full electrical fury, and they can’t be bothered with visitors at such a critical time. Hobbling down the long, steep flight of stairs framed by the tower’s walls, sloping in odd, off-plumb angles high up into shadows, he rushes to the door, dismisses them brusquely, and then hurries back up the stairs, pausing ever so briefly in his frenzy to pull up a drooping sock while juggling a lantern and his useless cane. The nonchalant, ordinary move by this bizarre character is sheer genius.