FAQ for
Frankenstein (1931)

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

Frankenstein film is based on the 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by 19-year old British author Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley [1797-1851].

The film does take certain liberties with the source novel and can by no means be considered a faithful adaptation.

"In 1818 a young woman prodigy named Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley published a horror story called Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, about a German student, Frankenstein, who fabricated a monster that ultimately became the agent of his creator's destruction. The aptness of the fable and of the foreign-sounding name popularized the plot and notion among the many who never read the novel. For decades it was therefore felt necessary to correct those who thought that Frankenstein was the monster, and in any direct reference to the story this correction is still in order. But in alluding to situations in which the creature undoes the creator - e.g. man and his machines - it seems permissible to many writers to transfer the maker's proper name to his invention. The change follows the natural process of acceptance. Thus a mackintosh, a Ford, a silhouette - to say nothing of a Rembrandt, a Malaprop, or a sandwich - are familiar extensions that would encourage legitimizing a Frankenstein, and not just by yielding spinelessly to a common misunderstanding."

--Wilson Follett (edited and completed by Jacques Barzun), Modern American Usage, NY, 1966

The best estimate is that Karloff in full costume was between 6'2" - 6'4", given that the heavy boots added @ 4" and the head piece another 1" to Karloff's 5'10" - 5'11" frame [Karloff is listed as 5'10" in some bios and 5'11" in others]. In Shelley's novel, the Frankenstein monster was 8 feet tall.

Ygor/Igor didn't enter the picture until 1939 in Son of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, the film, the doctor's assistant was Fritz [Dwight Frye].

Not including the first Frankenstein in 1931, there were seven sequels made. In Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the monster (Boris Karloff) gets a mate. In Son of Frankenstein (1939), Dr Frankenstein's son Wolf (Basil Rathbone) revives his father's monster (Boris Karloff). The monster (Lon Chaney Jr.) is revived again in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) by Dr Frankenstein's son Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke). The Wolfman (Lon Chaney, Jr) recovers the monster (Bela Lugosi)'s body from a block of ice and he is revived again by Dr Mannering (Patric Knowles) in (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) (1943). In House of Frankenstein (1944), mad Doctor Neiman (Boris Karloff) revives the monster (Glenn Strange) in order to exact revenge on his enemies. In House of Dracula (1945), the monster (Glenn Strange) is again found by the Wolfman (Lon Chaney, Jr) and revived by renown Doctor Edelman (Onslow Stevens). Many purists insist that the classic Universal Frankenstein saga ends here, but some also count Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) in which Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Doctor Sandra Mornay (Lénore Aubert) attempt to transplant Wilbur (Lou Costello)'s brain into the monster (Glenn Strange).