Frankenstein (1931)

The Story

For some reason, Dr. Victor Frankenstein of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein becomes a Henry. The plot follows essentially the same track as the novel, however.

Directed by James Whale, who also directed The Invisible Man (1933), the story departs from the novel with the introduction of the 'abnormal brain'; the laboratory assistant Fritz - no, not Igor, but a hunchback at least - is tasked to steal a brain from the 'university', and damages the one he was intended to appropriate. So he hides his error and steals another brain that just happens to be laying about, and of course, it is an 'abnormal' brain, the brain of a criminal.

Unfortunately, this addition to Mary Shelley's original story makes the poor monster 'inherently' evil - he doesn't have a chance. In the Shelley story, the monster is tabla rasa, and it is how he is treated by society that turns him monstrous. Perhaps this theme was a little too radical for the 'thirties?

Karloff's Monster

The image that people associate with the name "Frankenstein" is the one created by/for Boris Karloff as the monster. It is typically forgotten that the name went with the Doctor, not the monster.

The look became a cliche, the large, flat-topped head, the jagged scars of stitches across the forehead, and the bolts in the side of the neck. It is unclear why the doctor, who clearly knew the size of the being he was creating, was unable or unwilling to find clothing large enough for the being, but the too-short sleeves and trousers of the poor monster have become part of the whole image.

Karloff went on to reprise his role as the monster (never mind that the movie ends with the monster's death) in Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, and House of Frankenstein, and was the Mummy in The Mummy. The movie was also the basis for a number of parodies, from Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein to Mel Brookes' hilarious Young Frankenstein, which brought us the 'walk this way' sketch that entered pop culture in much the same way that Monty Python brought us 'spam'.

Factoids

The part of the monster was originally supposed to go to Bela Lugosi, who had made a name for himself as Dracula. It's hard to imagine how the story would have had to change to account for such a different type; one feature of the Frankenstein monster myth is his hulking size.

Boris Karloff is credited in the opening credits as '?', presumably to preserve an air of mystery before hand. In the closing credits - in those days, there were credits on either end of the movie - he is credited by name as the monster.