"The formally attired gentleman is Edward Van Sloan, who plays Doctor Waldman in Frankenstein." "Here he is out of character to introduce the film." "Van Sloan had closed the Bela Lugosi Dracula film in a similar manner." "This was an added scene, photographed long after the film completed production, in anticipation of objections from religious groups over the theme of divine presumption." "Staff Universal screenwriter at the time, John Huston, wrote earlier drafts that included lines such as "Frightful, supremely frightful, would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the creator."" "Scenario editor Richard Schayer wrote another version, which includes material used in the speech now being given:" ""Here we unfold the portentous record of Frankenstein, man of science, who sought to create a man in his own image, not reckoning upon God."" "This is Rudy Behlmer speaking." "The main title is presented in a properly misterioso manner." "The music is an original composition written for the picture by film composer Bernhard Kaun." "Other than the end-title music, it is the only scoring used in the picture." "This was typical for 1931." "Background scoring throughout a film did not become accepted practice until later." "The writing credits may seem a bit complicated:" ""Based upon the composition", "From the novel", "Adapted from the play"," ""Screen Play", "Scenario Editor"..." "All this will be sorted out." "Then, of course, a single card for director James Whale." "Notice "The Monster" is only identified by a question mark in the cast list." "This was reminiscent of the very first stage production of Frankenstein in 1823." "The character of the monster was billed only with a question mark at that time." "Originally, this opening sequence began with a distant shot in profile of the funeral procession going up the hill." "This was dropped during editing, but appeared briefly during the flashback sequence in The Bride of Frankenstein." "The panning shot of mourners ends by a statue... and the statue is of the Grim Reaper." "Here we are introduced to Henry Frankenstein, played by Colin Clive, and his assistant, played by Dwight Frye." "This sequence does not derive from the novel, nor does it derive from any of the play adaptations that followed." "But the novel that spawned the Frankenstein phenomenon was radically different in many ways from the countless dramatisations that followed on stage and screen." "When did this saga of Frankenstein begin?" "It started on a stormy night, June 1816, with a 19-year-old woman who was lying half-awake in a villa on the shores of Lake Léman in Switzerland." "Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was staying there with her lover, later her husband, the poet Shelley." "Together with their neighbour Lord Byron, his physician, Doctor Polidori, and Mary's stepsister Claire, they would often gather on chilly, wet evenings and read ghost stories aloud." "One evening Byron suggested they each try their hand at writing a story, a story of the supernatural." "On another night, Mary heard an intense conversation between Shelley and Byron concerning the nature of the principle of life, and whether it might ever be discovered and communicated." "According to Mary, the talk went on to include speculation that perhaps a corpse could be reanimated, perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together and imbued with vital warmth." "After going to bed, she later wrote" ""I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think."" ""I saw - with shut eyes, but acute mental vision " "I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together."" "And here's Frankenstein literally throwing dirt on the face of death." ""I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion."" ""His success would terrify the artist."" ""He would rush away from his odious handiwork horror-stricken."" ""I could not so easily get rid of my hideous phantom - still it haunted me."" ""On the morrow, I announced that I had thought of a story."" "Shelley encouraged her to develop and expand the material." "He also helped her to edit the manuscript as it evolved." "21 months later, in March 1818, Frankenstein was published." "In 1831, Mary Shelley revised her novel for a new edition." "She also added an introduction, which tells the story of its origin and ends with Mary bidding her "hideous progeny go forth and prosper."" "And indeed it did." "Frankenstein is one of the most often-reprinted novels in the history of literature." "The adaptability of the story to the theatre was recognised immediately." "In 1823, there were at least five stage versions, both serious and comic." "One, Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein by Richard Peake, was to serve as a basic transcription of the novel for the stage and a source for further elaboration." "Action and melodrama were the keynotes of Peake's play, and Frankenstein the creator and his creature were presented as instant antagonists." "There is a major creation sequence - not in the novel - an assistant to Frankenstein named Fritz - not in the novel - and a non-talking monster." "In the book, Frankenstein's creature eventually becomes absolutely verbose, with an impressive vocabulary and masterful syntax." "His monologues run on for pages and, on occasion, entire chapters." "Here at the medical college we are going to meet again actor Edward Van Sloan, this time in character as Doctor Waldman - a variation on his Van Helsing role in Universal's Dracula with Bela Lugosi that was released earlier in 1931." "Van Sloan also played Van Helsing in the New York stage production of Dracula, with Lugosi, in 1927." "Later he played Van Helsing again in Universal's 1936 sequel Dracula's Daughter, and a similar role, Professor Muller, in The Mummy in 1932." "Van Sloan began his professional acting career on the stage in 1910." "He worked with stock companies in Montreal, Canada, and in Boston, Newark and Cleveland, finally reaching the New York stage in 1923." "All in all, he was in approximately 150 plays." "His film career began with Dracula, but he soon became a victim of typecasting:" "The Death Kiss, Death Takes a Holiday, The Black Room, The Phantom Creeps," "Before I Hang, The Monster and the Girl, and so on and so on." "He died in 1964." "The technical advisor for Waldman's lecture was Doctor Cecil Miller, a brain specialist." "The character of Fritz, played by Dwight Frye, was not in the novel, but was introduced in the 1823 Richard Peake stage dramatisation." "In early drafts of the film scripts the character was mute, but it made sense to give him speech so that Frankenstein could have dialogue rather than talking to himself or resorting to pantomime during the rather nefarious preparatory work for the experiments." "The about-to-be-dropped-and-shattered "normal brain", followed by Fritz taking the "criminal brain", was a later addition to the script by Francis Edwards Faragoh." "This element had never been used before in novel or plays, and indeed took away from the basic innocence of the monster." "Perhaps it was felt, because of the severe time compression necessary in the film, that the criminal brain would justify the monster's early acts of violence, in addition to his being tormented." "Close-up of Henry Frankenstein's photograph." "Close-up of a maid." "Close-up of guest, Victor Moritz." "Close-up of Henry's fiancée Elizabeth." "Then cut back to the establishing shot, with the top half, including chandelier, being a matte painting." "A rather unusual way to introduce a new sequence and new characters." "The room in Elizabeth's home is a set left over from Universal's The Cat and the Canary from 1927." "Leading man John Boles was given the thankless part of Henry's friend and Elizabeth's friend - although he would like to be much more than friend to Elizabeth." "Boles acted and sang on Broadway, then came to Hollywood and starred in several musicals, such as The Desert Song, Rio Rita and King of Jazz, revealing a rich baritone voice." "Later he became a leading man in screen soap operas, such as the 1932 Back Street, Only Yesterday, and the 1937 Stella Dallas." "And he was a father or father figure to Shirley Temple in The Littlest Rebel and Curly Top." "Here it is planted that Victor has strong romantic feelings toward Elizabeth, but, being a gentleman, he doesn't overplay his hand, and for the most part stays in control with regard to his feelings." "Henry Henigson, a Universal executive, early in the preparation of Frankenstein complained to screenwriter Garrett Fort that the implied frustrated love affair between Elizabeth and Victor was "insufficient" as relief from the horror plot." "Fort responded "The girl is not deeply in love with Henry and does love Victor."" ""Her wedding to Henry is the result of a childhood arrangement between families, quite in keeping with the continental conception of such matters."" ""She is fond of Henry, she admires him."" ""Her emotions, when she finds him in trouble, are not those of love, but pity."" ""She has given up Victor because of obligations she feels she cannot sidestep."" ""Henry is an abnormal character." "The Victor and girl character are normal."" ""The audience will be rooting for them, although, at the same time, sympathetic to Henry because of his ill-starred love, wrecked because of his absorption in science."" ""The girl, in her scenes with Henry, will receive all the sympathy because we realise she is making the best of a bad bargain, but doing it like a thoroughbred."" "Mae Clarke, director James Whale's leading lady in the recently completed Waterloo Bridge, whom he liked, was a natural choice for Frankenstein's fiancée." "She had been in film since 1929, and before that was a dancer, actress, singer, appearing primarily in nightclubs, Broadway musicals, vaudeville." "In 1974, author Anita Loos revealed that Clarke was the inspiration for her Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1926." ""I patterned her on a cute, little blonde HL Mencken was escorting at the time."" ""Her name was Mae Clarke." "Mencken was a beau of mine."" "In The Public Enemy, also made in 1931, Clarke was the memorable recipient of a half-grapefruit slapped and twisted on her face by James Cagney." "She was Cagney's leading lady in two other films after The Public Enemy " "Lady Killer and Great Guy." "Mae had a stand-out and showy role as Molly the prostitute in the 1931 version of The Front Page." "But her starring role in Waterloo Bridge, in which she played a woman forced to turn to prostitution by her circumstances, was Clarke's favourite part - and she is excellent in it, delivering a performance of extraordinary delicacy." "Because of legal complications regarding two remakes, one with Vivien Leigh, it was unavailable for viewing for decades." "James Whale said that on Frankenstein" ""I asked for Mae Clarke for Elizabeth because of her intelligence, fervour and sincere belief that Frankenstein would claim the public interest."" "The only other actress of record considered for the part was Bette Davis, under contract to Universal for six months." "But apparently producer Carl Laemmle Jr did not think too highly of her sex appeal." "After Frankenstein, James Whale immediately cast Mae in the leading role in The lmpatient Maiden." "Here is the miniature exterior of the old watchtower set and the full-scale portion of the exterior." "The interiors were built on a Universal sound stage." "Back in 1927, English theatrical producer and actor Hamilton Deane decided to try out another subject for his company, to alternate with his version of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, on his tour of the English provinces." "This was to be a new adaptation of Frankenstein by Peggy Webling." "The initial presentation of this Frankenstein took place late in 1927 in Preston, England." "It continued to alternate in the provinces with Dracula, and it finally opened in London, considerably revised, in February 1930." "Peggy Webling retained some basic ideas from the novel and the previous plays, but she made substantial changes in time, locale, incidents and characters." "Mary Shelley's narrative took place over a considerable period of time." "In the novel, Frankenstein vows to destroy his creation and pursues him to the Arctic, where the scientist dies and his foe goes off into the ice and mist, presumably to his death." "Shortly after the play opened in London, the London Times announced that it would be produced on Broadway." "As with Deane's Dracula, playwright and newspaper correspondent John L Balderston - who had recently written the hit play Berkeley Square - was engaged to revise and brush up the material for American consumption." "He kept, for the most part, Peggy Webling's modifications and structure, but he added several touches of his own." "For example, Fritz, the hunchback who assists Frankenstein in his experiments, was added - although he is mute in Balderston's version." "With the release of Dracula in early 1931, Universal Pictures had a major success." "Even before it was in theatres, there had been discussions regarding a follow-up." "Frankenstein was a logical choice." "The film Dracula was based more on the Hamilton Deane play than on the novel." "This stage version had been exceptionally well received in England and in America." "Since Universal bought the play version of Dracula from Deane and Balderston, they decided to do the same with Frankenstein." "The original novel, of course, was in the public domain." "In May 1931, the screen rights for the play were purchased for $20,000," "At Universal's stipulation, the play wasn't produced in America - never has been - contrary to the original plan." "Notice the lateral move here." "James Whale liked moving from one area to another, as on a stage, with a cutaway." "Rex Ingram's 1926 film The Magician has various aspects that were later used in Frankenstein." "The dwarf assistant in The Magician hobbled down a staircase similar to the one in this film when he was going to open the tower door." "Also, there is a comic porter scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth, and that's often been cited as an influence." "In a letter, Florey said that he and Schayer "worked with Garrett Fort" - who wrote Universal's Dracula " ""on the first screenplay, following the lines of my synopsis treatment."" ""Fort wrote the dialogue."" ""My contribution was as continuity of action and development."" "Florey directed a test, shot on the castle set left over from Dracula, with Bela" " Dracula" " Lugosi in the role of the monster." "As early as April, Lugosi had been announced for Frankenstein." "Florey claims he had thought of him for the role of Frankenstein, but that Universal executives insisted he play the monster." "According to Florey, the edited test ran for 20 minutes, which seems extremely long." "It was photographed by Paul Ivano, and it started with a short conversation between Victor Moritz and Waldman, leading to both going into the Frankenstein laboratory." "Following a scene with Frankenstein and Fritz in the lab, there was the arrival of Waldman and Victor." "According to Florey, the test lasted up to and including the initial awakening of the monster." "The actors involved were Edward Van Sloan, Dwight Frye, Lugosi - all of whom from the film Dracula - and two stock players." "From all indications, Lugosi's test make-up and garb were reminiscent of Paul Wegener in The Golem, the 1920 German film about a legendary figure of clay brought to life by Rabbi Loew in the 15th century." "According to Forrest J Ackerman's interview with Edward Van Sloan - who later played the major role of Doctor Waldman in Frankenstein " "Lugosi arrived for the test with a head "about four times normal size, with a broad wig on it."" ""He had a polished clay-like skin."" "Lugosi claimed he did not want to play a speechless brute laden with make-up." "Mary Shelley's and Webling and Balderston's talking monster had been relieved of speech, but he did speak in Universal's first sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein, for which Balderston received co-adaptation credit." "The evolving script at the time presented the monster as totally unsympathetic, devoid of any pathos." "Who could blame Lugosi?" "In an interview Carl Laemmle Jr gave within six months of his death, he states that the sight of Lugosi in the test make-up made the studio head "laugh like a hyena"." "Florey claimed the test make-up was virtually identical to the final make-up worn by Karloff, but obviously Laemmle didn't regard the Karloff version as funny in any way." "Karloff himself recalled that he had been told the Lugosi make-up was "a horrid, hairy thing." "Not at all like our monster."" "Make-up artist Jack Pierce told an interviewer that Lugosi himself influenced the test make-up negatively, thinking "his ideas were better than anyone's."" "Though not followed to the letter, the general structure of the first half of the Webling/Balderston play was at least in evidence in the evolving film script for Frankenstein." "But the last part of the play was not used until Universal made Bride of Frankenstein four years later." "The final act of the play was concerned with Frankenstein's preparations for the making of a mate for the creature." "This originated in the novel." "But the monster kills Frankenstein in the play after his creator decides at the last moment not to provide him with a mate." "Then the monster stumbles into the electrical apparatus and dies as a result of a flash of lightning and the machine that brought him to life." "Between the time the play premiered in Preston, England, in 1927 and its London opening in 1930, there were considerable changes in the script." "In the early version, the monster leaps from a cliff and destroys himself." "Frankenstein and his fiancée, whom the monster had wanted to possess, are then happily reunited." "There is no material regarding the plan to create a mate for the monster." "By the end of June, a director was confirmed for Frankenstein:" "Britisher James Whale." "Whale was relatively new to Universal." "He'd just finished directing an extremely well-received screen adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play Waterloo Bridge for that studio." "His previous film-directing credits were the dialogue scenes in Howard Hughes' aviation epic, Hell's Angels, and all of Journey's End - the screen version of the exceptionally popular RC Sherriff World War I play that Whale had directed on the stage in London and then in New York." "All of the elaborate electrical apparatus, full of sound and fury, but signifying and actually doing nothing, was built by Kenneth Strickfaden, who began his film career as an electrician in 1921." "The first film to use some of his electrical pyrotechnics was the 1929 Return of Sherlock Holmes." "The devices that, as a hobby, he had collected over the years and stored, came from discarded industrial parts, old aeroplanes, sections of automobiles, radio-broadcast transmitters and odds and ends of electrical equipment." "In 1981, he said "I'd put something together, then sit back and marvel at it."" ""Then I found there was a market."" ""The styling all depended upon what kind of junk I had at hand."" "The apparatus was leased by the studio and Ray Lindsay operated it." "In 1981, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sponsored a gala affair in Strickfaden's honour." "Above the ceiling-opening of the lab set electricians operated large lightning-arc machines, which gave off bright flashes of intermittent light and showers of sparks." "Boris Karloff recalled years later "The scene made me as uneasy as anyone, for while I lay half-naked and strapped to Doctor Frankenstein's table," "I could see directly above me the special-effects men brandishing the white-hot, scissors-like carbons that made the lightning."" ""I hoped that no one up there had butterfingers."" "Director James Whale later commented on the importance of the creation scene:" ""I consider the creation of the monster to be the high spot of the film, because if the audience did not believe the thing had been really made, they would not be bothered with what it was supposed to do afterward."" ""By this time, the audience must at least believe something is going to happen."" ""It might be disaster, but at least they will settle down to see the show."" "The lines "In the name of God" and "Now I know what it feels like to be God"" "were deleted by some local and regional censor groups at the time." "And in 1937, the Production Code Office required that the lines, among other aspects, definitely be eliminated for reissue approval." "Throughout this film, scenes of incredible intensity and dramatic impact are relieved by relatively mild scenes." "Here we are introduced to Henry's father, Baron Frankenstein, portrayed by British stage actor Frederick Kerr, who had recently worked with director Whale on Waterloo Bridge." "Incidentally, the baron here refers to "an old ruined windmill" where his son is." "In early drafts of the script, Frankenstein's laboratory was in an old ruined windmill." "This was changed to a watchtower, but somehow this reference in the script wasn't changed." "Frederick Kerr was on the stage almost continuously for 50 years in both England and America." "In 1930, he commenced his film career and appeared in Raffles with Ronald Colman, among other films." "Whale requested Kerr for both Waterloo Bridge and Frankenstein and said that "He is an asset to any picture."" "Kerr died in 1933 at the age of 74." "Enter the burgomaster, played by Lionel Belmore." "The British actor arrived in America in 1907 after being on the London stage." "For a long time he was with the old Vitagraph Studio in New York City." "Belmore appeared in a great range of parts over the years, in such films as the 1922 Oliver Twist, the 1924 Sea Hawk," "The King of Kings, The Count of Monte Cristo, Cleopatra, Mutiny on the Bounty," "Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938." "His so-called horror pictures are The Vampire Bat, Son of Frankenstein," "Tower of London and The Ghost of Frankenstein." "Apparently, producer Carl Laemmle Jr wanted Whale to do Frankenstein." "He was now the fair-haired boy around the lot." "But Whale wasn't sure." "Dracula and Frankenstein were both pushed through to production by junior Laemmle's efforts." "He was enthusiastic about this tale of the macabre, but his father, Carl Senior, founder and president of Universal, was apprehensive." "Frankenstein was even stronger stuff than Dracula." "But young Laemmle, who had been made head of production in 1929 as a 21st-birthday present from his father, had been right about the very successful All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930, and, of course, he was right about the recent Dracula." "Whale, after giving the subject some thought, decided to do Frankenstein - partly, perhaps, because it wasn't yet another World War I subject." "Here is another relatively calm and quiet scene." "But we are gradually building up to the revealment of the creature, better known as "the monster", although so far he has done nothing to deserve that title." "Remember, in 1931 no one had seen what the character had looked like, other than advertisements, posters." "His visage was hardly that of the icon we have known through the decades." "Also, we weren't sure what he would do, how he would react, what would happen." "This speech of Henry Frankenstein, not in the final shooting script, gives us an added dimension to Henry's character and psyche." "Colin Clive plays it extremely well." "It is a telling counterpoint to his utterly believable theatrics in the creation scene." "Here is the intelligent, enquiring and sensitive human side of the obsessed and passionate man of science." "Although Universal wanted Leslie Howard for the role of Henry Frankenstein," "Whale insisted on Colin Clive, the British leading player of the stage and screen versions of Journey's End, both directed by Whale." "Universal went along with Whale, and Clive sailed from England." "Even assuming that Fritz replaced the jar marked "abnormal brain"" "before handing it to Frankenstein, it would seem, with all his training, the doctor would have spotted the differences between a criminal brain and a normal brain, as outlined and demonstrated by Doctor Waldman." "Well, let's call it dramatic licence." "The monster's criminal brain became a thread in many Universal follow-ups." "The first son of Frankenstein wanted to provide the monster with a healthy brain." "The second son did replace the brain, but with one not exactly normal - that of Igor, played by Bela Lugosi." "Then, in 1948, Count Dracula" " Lugosi - would try to give the monster the brain of Lou Costello in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." "And so it goes, or so it went." "And now, after much anticipation, surely one of the great theatrical entrances." "Whale chose to direct this in an unusual, but very effective manner." "First, we heard the sound of the monster in the hall:" "Suspense." "Then, when the door opens, he walks in backwards:" "More suspense." "And the dramatic turn, followed by a series of progressively closer shots, which allow us to be startled, and yet able to observe in detail that face." "Whale certainly was involved in the concept of the monster's look." "He made several sketches and consulted with make-up artist Jack Pierce, but Pierce was the man who executed the work." "He and Karloff worked for several hours each evening over a three-week period to evolve the make-up prior to the start of production." "Over a bald cap, the head was built up with layers of cotton and collodion." "The scars were painted on, and careful shadow-definitions were applied." "Pierce would then hand-lay the hair." "Karloff had a bridge of molars on his right side that were removed and he sucked in his cheek." "Pierce shaded this for accent." "Karloff's lean, gaunt face and features were necessary for the perfect realisation." "A top layer of blue-green greasepaint gave the skin a grey look on black-and-white film." "Karloff, according to some accounts, suggested his eyelids be heavily caked, giving the creature a look of only partial awareness." "Pierce accomplished this with mortician's wax." "The metal studs that protruded from the sides of the monster's neck were inlets for electricity." "Significantly, the creative make-up always allowed Karloff's expressions full play, accounting to a considerable degree for the effectiveness of his characterisation." "His legs were stiffened by steel struts." "To add to the bulk, he wore a built-up and padded double-quilted suit and raised heavy boots." "These were weighted in such a way as to enable him to lean considerably forward." "The ill-fitting black suit was made up with shortened sleeves to make his arms appear longer." "Years later," "Pierce stated that the monster's final visage was "a compromise"" "between his own ideas and those of Whale." "The overall look of the monster in all of the subsequent Universal sequels was never as effective as it was in the original production - at least, in my opinion." "Karloff's test convinced Whale and Universal executives that he was perfect for the part." "In the August 12th script this scene is handled quite differently." "I quote from that script:" ""The dwarf drops on the floor on all fours, fumbles in his pocket, takes out a dirty package of cigarettes, strikes a match and lights a cigarette."" ""The moment the monster sees the fire, it lets out an unearthly shriek."" ""Lts mouth widens to a hideous grin, its awful hands beat the air, it starts to rise from the chair, moves toward the dwarf."" ""Frankenstein and Waldman shout." "The monster takes no notice, however."" ""So Frankenstein, now frightened, seizes a box of matches and strikes match after match in the monster's face until it is cowed."" ""He grovels on the floor, shrieking."" ""Frankenstein again approaches the monster."" ""This time he holds a single lighted match in front of the latter's eyes a long while."" ""The monster shrinks from the fire."" ""During this, the dwarf has maliciously crept up."" ""Stealthily, he kicks the monster."" ""Just at this moment, Frankenstein's last match flares up, then dies out."" "Obviously, changing the matches to a torch made much more dramatic sense and was a precursor for things to come." "Fritz is played by Kansas-born Dwight Frye - neither a dwarf nor a hunchback, but another victim of typecasting after his role in the 1931 Dracula as the crazed Renfield." "After Frankenstein, he was the village lunatic in The Vampire Bat, and so on." "But, before coming to Hollywood in 1930, he had an impressive career on the stage." "After touring in stock, vaudeville and musical comedy, he then had leading roles in a variety of Broadway plays, and in 1929 the critics voted him one of the ten best actors of the legitimate stage." "He died in 1943, aged 44, from a heart attack, which could have been brought on by the strain of working nights at Lockheed Aircraft Company in World War II in order to support his family, while playing some bit roles by day and acting in local theatrical productions." "His death certificate listed his occupation as "tool designer"." "In the play, especially in Balderston's version," "Frankenstein's relationship to the monster is decreed, in Frankenstein's words, as "Only command, blind obedience, no discussion."" "He treats the creature cruelly, and in Balderston's adaptations makes considerable use of a whip and a hot iron." "He also finds satisfaction in having the monster perform tricks like a puppy, literally commanding him to "lie down, roll over", and he refers to him as a slave." "Frankenstein announces that the creature "must be afraid of me." "He must obey me."" "This cruelty is transferred in the final screen version to the character of Fritz, who continually provokes Frankenstein's creation with whip and torch, thereby making Frankenstein more sympathetic." "Incidentally, many people refer to the monster by the name of Frankenstein." "In fact, in Peggy Webling's 1927 play, the revised 1930 presentation, and Balderston's version of the play, the monster is called Frankenstein after its creator, on many occasions by some of the characters." "Whale was quoted, when asked why he decided to do Frankenstein:" ""Of 30 available stories, it was the strongest meat, and gave me a chance to dabble in the macabre."" ""I thought it would be amusing to try and make a physical impossibility seem believable."" ""Also it offered fine pictorial chances, had two grand characterisations, and had a subject matter that might go anywhere - and that's part of the fun of making pictures."" "Among the changes made in the script by the new writer, Francis Edwards Faragoh, was giving dialogue to Fritz, Frankenstein's assistant, who in the previous Universal scripts had been a mute." "Also, Frankenstein's laboratory was now located in an old watchtower, rather than the deserted mill." "The mill, however, was retained for the final scene." "Most importantly, both Frankenstein and the monster were modified into basically more sympathetic characters, given more dimension." "Certainly now we feel sorry for the monster, as in the novel and the Webling play." "In the novel Frankenstein is a student of science, not a doctor, not the son of a baron." "The scene in which the monster is given life takes place in the upstairs room of Frankenstein's house, not, as in this film, an old watchtower." "There is no apparatus giving forth a pyrotechnic display during the creation, no raging electrical storm outside." "In the Webling/Balderston play," "Frankenstein's study, in an old house at Goldstadt in Switzerland, has been fashioned into a laboratory, and there's a storm during the creation scene." "In the early versions of the screenplay an abandoned windmill is used for the lab and a storm is raging." "A description of the setting in a preliminary script draft in the studio files mentions "something suggestive of the laboratory in Metropolis."" "The 1926 German silent film had a mad scientist involved in a laboratory creation scene amidst considerable electrical paraphernalia." "In Mary Shelley's book, the description of the procedures by which Frankenstein gave his creation life is vague." "Indeed, this major sequence of the creation, a high point in this film, is presented in one not-very-detailed paragraph in the book:" ""It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils."" ""With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony," "I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet."" ""It was already one in the morning;" "the rain pattered dismally outside the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light," "I saw the dull, yellow eye of the creature open."" ""It breathed hard and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs."" "Then in another paragraph she wrote:" ""I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body."" ""For this I had deprived myself of rest and health."" ""I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation, but now, now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart."" "The monster has been described as a projection of Mary Shelley's feeling of isolation and hatred, which stem from the death of her mother when she was only ten days old." "Mary was barely tolerated by her cruel father and was driven inward, spending her childhood in solitary pastimes:" "Reading, writing, daydreaming." "In a letter sent to Colin Clive before production, director James Whale described how he perceived the character of Frankenstein:" ""An intensely sane person, at times rather fanatical, and in one or two scenes, a little hysterical."" ""And a little reminiscent of the breakdown in Journey's End."" ""Frankenstein's nerves are all to pieces."" ""All the time I should feel Frankenstein is normally an extremely intelligent, a sane and lovable person, never unsympathetic, even to the monster."" "Shortly after talking over Frankenstein," "James Whale did not have an actor in mind to play the monster." "Whale's companion, David Lewis, had been impressed with Boris Karloff's performance as the rather ungainly and odd convict in the stage and screen versions of The Criminal Code." "He recommended that Whale meet the actor to see for himself the potential." "Whale and Karloff arranged a meeting and Whale decided to test him for the role." "Whale said later on that he was fascinated by Karloff's face:" ""His physique was weaker than I could wish, but that queer, penetrating personality, I felt, was more important than his shape, which could easily be altered."" "Although Karloff had been in American films since 1919, he was hardly a well-known performer." "Most of his parts in silent films were small or not particularly significant, but just before Frankenstein things were looking somewhat better, with showy parts in The Criminal Code and Five Star Final." "Karloff's real name was William Henry Pratt." "Born in a London suburb, he emigrated to Canada in 1909 and eventually joined various theatrical touring companies, playing supporting roles in plays all over Canada and the United States." "By 1919, he was in Hollywood playing extra and bit parts in films." "He also alternated as a truck driver until the mid-'20s to support himself." "Frankenstein, of course, made him a star in a myriad of horror films, but he also played character parts in a variety of other films." "But the public identified him with horror." "Once again, as relief and counterpoint to all of the preceding high-intensity drama, or melodrama, if you will, and the mayhem, we have a tranquil and idyllic interlude." "A romantic scene, yet." "Colin Clive gets an opportunity to shift gears now that he is away from graveyards and old watchtowers." "Clive was from a military family, a descendant of the famous Clive of India." "His father was a distinguished colonel in the British army." "Young Colin's horse fell in cavalry training, fracturing the young man's knee and ending his military future." "The leg never fully healed." "He was forced to resign from Sandhurst Royal Military College and went into the theatre, training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art." "He made his London bow in 1919 and toured in many plays, including repertory companies." "James Whale hired him to play the doomed Captain Stanhope in the extremely successful World War I drama Journey's End." "He starred in the play and film version, which was also directed by Whale." "Other film roles following Frankenstein include One More River, from the last of The Forsyte Saga novels, also directed by Whale," "Clive of India, about his ancestor, Mad Love, based on The Hands of Orlac," "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, and, of course, The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, in which he reprised his role for director Whale." "Mae Clarke said in 1971 "Oh, how I remember that voice."" ""Jim Whale would say about Colin 'His voice is like a pipe organ."'" ""'You just arrange him, pull out the stops and his voice comes out like music."'" "But Clive in his personal life was tormented and anguished, fraught with his private demons - a kind of Jekyll and Hyde." "He also drank heavily." "In 1937, at the age of 37, Colin Clive died as a result of alcoholism." "Prior to the 1931 Frankenstein there were three silent-film productions of the story, the first going back to 1910." "The Edison Company's approximately 15-minute-long version, according to the script, was a liberal adaptation of Mrs Shelley's famous story." "It featured a hunchbacked and shaggy-chested monster suggestive of Quasimodo, with a stark, kabuki-like white face and a mass of matted hair." "The monster was formed in a "cauldron of blazing chemical"" "rather than with the aid of electricity." "The climax of the film introduced some aspects of the Jekyll-Hyde theme - the monster was defeated by the power of love." "This, presumably the world's first horror film, was filmed at the Edison Manufacturing Company Studio at Bedford Park, the Bronx, under the direction of J Searle Dawley, and was colour-tinted and/or toned for daylight and night scenes." "Then there was the feature-length Life Without Soul in 1915." "In this adaptation the monster had no bizarre trappings or unusual make-up." "He was "awe-inspiring, but never grotesque"." "One character was established by being shown reading the story from a book." "When Frankenstein died after killing the monster, the book was closed and each of the characters revealed to be alive and well." "The third filming was done in Italy in 1920 and called The Monster of Frankenstein." "No known negatives or prints survive of the silent productions, with the exception of the 1910 version." "With the exception of this sequence," "Frankenstein was filmed on the Universal lot and the immediate surrounding terrain." "But now the production moved to what was almost certainly Lake Sherwood in the Santa Monica Mountains near Westlake Village and close to the dividing line between Los Angeles County and Ventura County." "Lake Sherwood and its immediate neighbour, Sherwood Forest, had been used for many years as a choice location for all kinds of outdoor pictures." "The name, according to various sources, derived from its use in Douglas Fairbanks's 1922 production of Robin Hood, and it was ideal for jungle epics, Westerns, you name it." "Seven-year-old Marilyn Harris was chosen to befriend the monster in this delicate portrayal." "The monster, for the first and only time, finds a human who is unafraid of him - an innocent peasant child." "Karloff later said" ""Whale and I both saw the character of the monster as an innocent one."" ""This was a pathetic creature who, like us all, had neither wish nor say in his creation, and certainly did not wish upon itself the hideous image which automatically terrified humans whom it tried to befriend."" ""What astonished us was the fantastic number of ordinary people that got this general air of sympathy."" ""I found all my letters heavy with it."" "In the Peggy Webling play the monster accidentally crushes a dove in his hands and throws it into the lake, where, much to his delight, it floats." "Then he takes Frankenstein's crippled sister, a character not in the novel or film, out in a boat and tries to make her float like the dove - but she drowns." "His remorse at this act is one of the motivations that leads to his flinging himself off the cliff in the 1927 play version." "The monster, as portrayed by Hamilton Deane in this play, was sympathetic." "In a variant version from the same play, at the side of a river the creature, unaware that death can be caused by drowning, placed the girl's head beneath the water to see her lovely face through the glassy surface." "Marilyn Harris, years later, recalled that" ""After the monster threw me into the lake I was supposed to swim underwater, but I had only three swimming lessons." "I didn't even know how to go underwater."" ""They had rowboats in a semicircle outside of camera range, but the first time the monster threw me in I couldn't go underwater," "I had too many clothes on."" ""I had to get all my clothes dry and my hair redone", says Marilyn." ""The second shot went fine." "Boris Karloff threw me in again and I went underwater out of camera range."" "Touched and excited with his first encounter with beauty, the monster tries to float the little girl and feels intense pain and confusion when she sinks." "Later the scene was considerably cut and modified from what you see now, but more about that anon." "This European village was built on the back lot at Universal for All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930." "It was used through the years for a great many films, including subsequent Frankenstein productions." "The village was destroyed by fire many years later." "The present European street was then constructed on the same site." "The dances are authentically performed by Austrian musicians and dancers." "Incidentally, where exactly are we?" "In Austria, Germany, Switzerland?" "And what is the time period?" "The wardrobe varies from 1931 fashions to Doctor Waldman's frock coat of an earlier vintage." "There is never any indication of an automobile, a telephone, a radio, to say nothing of the practice of hanging bodies on gibbets for public viewing." "This was abandoned in Europe before the 20th century." "And, being somewhere in Europe, they all speak with a British or American accent." "In another exchange between Universal executive Henry Henigson and screenwriter Garrett Fort during the script-development stage," "Henigson wrote "I think everyone in the production should speak perfect English and we should take away the jas, the Herrs, the Frauleins and twists in the language's construction which give it a Teutonic distinction."" ""We're not trying to place the picture geographically in any particular spot, and I think that we can attend to this by taking the Teutonic element out of it."" "Garrett Fort replied "In a story laid in and around Goldstadt, with names like Frankenstein, Waldman, Moritz, Fritz, etc, it seems that a Teutonic element is inescapable."" ""If we lay it elsewhere it will be necessary to change every name in the cast, probably even that of Frankenstein, which certainly has Teutonic connotations."" ""This might lead to titles such as 'The Monster', 'Garibaldi', or 'Love and Murder in Norway', etc."" ""I have an idea that there is nothing offensive about the Teutonic slant."" ""And it is a particularly pertinent angle when we consider that the Teutonic type of mind is certainly foremost in the scientific world, etc."" "Another scene between Elizabeth and Henry." "This time Elizabeth's premonition of danger and death is about to become a reality." "In the novel, Frankenstein reluctantly agrees to create a female for the monster, but he changes his mind and the outraged monster tells Frankenstein" "that "I will be with you on your wedding night."" "After Frankenstein and Elizabeth marry, the monster keeps his word and kills the bride." "In Edison's 1910 film version, the monster returns on Frankenstein's wedding night and, hearing his bride scream, Frankenstein interrupts the attack and the monster flees." "In Peggy Webling's 1927 British play, the monster falls in love with Frankenstein's fiancée." "She is captured by him, but finally escapes." "Lewis Klein, the general manager of Horace Liveright Theatrical Productions, the potential producer of the Webling/Balderston US play version, added some ingredients of the bodice-ripping school of sensationalism to John Balderston's adaptation." "The monster confronts Frankenstein's bride and seizes her." "In the struggle he tears off her bridal veil and the top of her wedding gown " ""Which gown", Klein explained, "is a breakaway affair, and leaves her as nude as the censor will allow."" ""Then he is about to mount her in a rape."" "This production, as we know, was never presented on the stage." "The staging of this scene resembles a similar scene in the 1919 film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, whereby the character portrayed by Conrad Veidt has been sent to kill a lovely girl in her bedroom." "The suspense here is well orchestrated and both players do not go over the top in the realisation of the scene." "Although Mae Clarke remembers tea breaks each mid-afternoon during filming, she never had an opportunity to get to know Karloff very well." ""He would arrive at 4am and spend four hours in make-up."" ""He didn't have lunch with us because it was easier for him, due to the make-up, to eat alone in his dressing-room bungalow, where he could remove some of his body padding."" ""Then a couple of hours would be spent removing his make-up at the day's end, and he would require a rubdown after stomping around all day with those weights on his shoes."" "The woodcutter is carrying his drowned daughter to the burgomaster's office." "The scripts had Maria being carried by her mother, who was also established earlier at their cottage." "This particularly long tracking shot - actually two tracking shots - apparently was difficult for both players." "Marilyn Harris recalled "And did that ever hurt." "It was the longest walk."" ""All I can remember is 'Stay limp, don't move, just let your arms flop, just let your hands flop."'" ""Oh, my back hurt so bad."" "Michael Mark, playing the father, appeared later in Son of Frankenstein," "The Ghost of Frankenstein and The House of Frankenstein, with different roles in each." "Going back to the drowning at the lake, this scene was cut entirely or in part by many local state and city censors and in foreign countries before the film's initial release." "But when the studio applied to the Production Code Administration for a reissue seal of approval in 1937, various cuts were demanded." "This scene was modified in a manner that paradoxically compounded the problem." "The action played as photographed up to the point where the monster had thrown his last daisy into the water." "He watched it, then looked at his empty hands and held them out toward the child." "The rest of the scene was deleted, and it stayed deleted for decades until Universal's restoration." "The motivation to destroy the monster is gaining momentum." "Maria's father, the townspeople, the burgomaster, and certainly Frankenstein, were ready." "Incidentally, has anyone noticed the disappearance of the old baron, Henry's father?" "He wasn't around before, during and after the monster was loose in the household, and he's not around now." "The original plan, as we know from scripts and memos, was to keep Victor Moritz on the scene, quietly longing for Elizabeth, so he and Elizabeth would be with each other after the forthcoming tragic events." "Hence the emphasis on "I leave her in your care."" "Obviously, it is clearly understood that neither Victor nor Elizabeth are joining the hunting party." "There seems to be no question about the durability of the Frankenstein theme, with its innumerable interpretations." "The cosmic theme of the limits of man and the power of God, which extends to man emulating God." "The disturbing idea that science could create life, possibly even eternal life." "The fascination with dolls, mechanical puppets and robots that effectively simulate life." "The Faustian concept of the overreacher, who momentarily commands divine power, only to be destroyed because of it." "The father creator who abandons his child." "Frankenstein's crime was that he abandoned his creature." "The theme of the divided self, in this instance creator and creature, that is part of the human psyche and derives from ancient legend." "The dumb innocent, craving love and understanding, but forced to become violent and exercise hatred because of the lack of compassion and the fear of others." "Frustration and overwhelming rejection were the cause of the monster's brutality." "Frankenstein, then, is a mixture of fascination and horror, dream and nightmare." "Mary Shelley succeeded in creating a tale that would, she said," ""Speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror."" "The enraged, driven villagers, frequently carrying torches, became a staple in Universal's cavalcade of Frankenstein films." "In Bride of Frankenstein, villagers seek the monster with lanterns and weapons." "In Son of Frankenstein, the villagers storm Castle Frankenstein's gate." "In The Ghost of Frankenstein, villagers storm the castle to dynamite it." "In Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, the townspeople are in pursuit with guns and howling dogs." "In House of Frankenstein, there is a band of torch-bearing villagers." "In House of Dracula, the mob chases the murderer through the town, up the hills and through the cemetery." "The exterior chase scenes were shot on portions of the Universal back lot, including Pollard Lake, and around the nearby hills." "Lifted footage of the search party from Frankenstein was later inserted in The Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb and House of Dracula." "If Frankenstein had been made just a year or two later, at this point we would be listening to rousing music underscoring." "We're no longer on the back lot, but on one of Universal's sound stages with plaster rocks and a cyclorama in the background representing an ominous sky." "A cyclorama, incidentally, that had some problems, as you will soon notice." "Incidentally, director James Whale described this chase as "the pagan sport of a mountain manhunt"." "Note that the wounded man is character actor Francis Ford, who earlier had been a Universal writer, director and leading player." "He was director John Ford's older brother." "During the First World War, in the British army," "Whale was in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, where he directed and acted in plays for his fellow prisoners." "Later he abandoned his job as a cartoonist for a London newspaper to become a full-time theatre person - actor, director, set and costume designer and stage manager." "According to Whale biographer James Curtis, the genesis of the look and interpretation of Karloff in Frankenstein goes back to Whale's highly praised performance as the demented son of Charles Laughton in the London stage production of A Man With Red Hair in 1928." "Following Frankenstein, Karloff worked with Whale again in The Old Dark House and The Bride of Frankenstein." "But after Son of Frankenstein in 1939 with another director, he vowed never to play the monster again, since he felt that the character was becoming a clown or merely a prop." "Despite the horror genre going in and out of fashion," "Karloff continued to make films, work in television and appear in popular plays, such as Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941, and Peter Pan, as Captain Hook, in 1950." "Near the end of his life, Boris Karloff continued to work with half a lung, crippling arthritis and a bad heart." "He died in 1969 of respiratory problems." "Unlike many actors who played in horror films," "Karloff was always grateful for the monster characters that built his career." "He once said of Frankenstein's monster "God bless the old boy."" ""Without him, I would have been nowhere."" "Here is the confrontation scene between creator and creature." "The obligatory scene." "When the Laemmles lost control of Universal in 1936," "Whale's golden years at the studio came to an end, following the release that year of the extremely popular Show Boat," "Whale's last major success." "A few years later he retired from films and started painting in his Pacific Palisades home." "In 1957, his maid discovered Whale's fully dressed body in the pool out in the back." "There was an ugly gash on Whale's forehead, and many suspected foul play, but ultimately it was revealed that Whale committed suicide." "It wasn't easy for Karloff in take after take to carry Clive to the windmill and then up to the second level with all that heavy paraphernalia that he had on." "And certainly his physical conflicts were difficult for the same reason." "The exteriors of the windmill, built on the back lot at Universal, were a combination of a full-scale lower structure of 12ft and an upper miniature." "The Williams travelling matte process was used to effect overlapping elements." "The original plan was to have the monster seek the mill, the only refuge it knew from the time its life began." "This was before the laboratory in the mill was switched to the old watchtower." "Budgeted at $262,000 and given a 30-day shooting schedule," "Frankenstein had been laid out to film in continuity for the most part, starting on August 24th." "The schedule ran over by five days and shooting was completed on October 3rd." "Final cost: $291,000." "The film was previewed at the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, on October 29th." "When it started playing in theatres in late 1931," "Frankenstein did sensational business and garnered generally excellent reviews." "The New York Times called it "Far and away the best thing of its kind."" "The New York American told how it held its audience" ""in hypnotic thrill through every sequence"." "And the World-Telegram referred to it as "a singularly fine picture"." "Several local censor boards ordered cuts to be made before it was shown, even though the Production Code Administration," "the film industry's self-regulatory body, had passed it." "Czechoslovakia, Italy, Sweden, Belfast and South Australia rejected the film outright, and England made a considerable number of cuts." "But Frankenstein was breaking house-attendance records all over the US." "It made the New York Times ten-best list for the year." "Exploitation gimmicks that go back to Grand Guignol presentations in the 1920s and perhaps earlier were resurrected - ambulances stationed at the front of theatres, nurses on duty in the lobby, free nerve tonic, and so on." "Motion Picture Herald stated that the film had arrived" ""if the psychologists can be believed, at the familiar psychological moment"." ""People like the tragic best at those times when their own spirits are depressed, and the economists tell us that even more than their spirits are at a low ebb."" "Motion Picture Herald stated that the film had arrived" ""if the psychologists can be believed, at the familiar psychological moment"." ""People like the tragic best at those times when their own spirits are depressed, and the economists tell us that even more than their spirits are at a low ebb."" "The reference to the economists was referring to 1931-32 being the worst years of the Great Depression." "In 1937, when Universal submitted Frankenstein to the considerably tougher Production Code Administration for reissue approval, a number of deletions were ordered." "The official letter to the studio said:" ""Remove 'ln the name of God' and 'Now I know what it feels like to be God."'" ""Shorten views of Fritz with lighted torch rousing the fear and fury of the creature."" ""Eliminate view of doctor jabbing hypodermic into back of creature."" ""Eliminate scene in which the creature throws the child into the water."" "The ending of the film was changed at the last moment before its opening dates." "Up to this time it was intended that both Frankenstein and his creation would die at the conclusion of the film, as in the Webling/Balderston play." "Reaction at the previews caused Universal executives to decide on a new ending, which necessitated the filming of a short epilogue depicting Henry Frankenstein recovering from his injuries and reunited with Elizabeth, while his father, the baron, and the maids drink a toast" "to "a son of the house of Frankenstein"." "The ending was written by Whale and scenario editor Richard Schayer." "Colin Clive was on his way to Europe, so another actor was used instead." "And Mae Clarke could have been substituted, based upon the staging of the single shot." "Frederick Kerr, as the baron, reappeared from his prolonged absence from the footage." "The prologue with Edward Van Sloan was also a late addition." "The closing music is "Grand Appassionato" by Giuseppe Becce." "He was a composer of short orchestral mood pieces for motion pictures." "In fact, he was the innovator of the library of mood music for orchestra." "And this selection goes back to the '20s." "This is Rudy Behlmer."