James Whale’s Frankenstein
British Novel to Film
Fu Jen University
Dr. M. Connor
The Icon


When people today hear the name
“Frankenstein” they think of a flat-topped,
green faced monster complete with bolts
in the neck.
Of course, this is the one of the most
iconic images in pop culture: Boris Karloff
as The Monster in James Whale’s 1931
film Frankenstein, released by Universal
Studios, “the” studio for monster movies
during the 1930s.
A face for all time


This creature is not at all like the creature
Shelley describes in her novel, but it is
the image people conjure up when they
hear the name Frankenstein.
And for good reason. While not totally
true to Shelley’s vision, Whale’s 1931 film
is a work of art in its own right and
worthy of study today.
The famous makeup
Boris Karloff as The Monster.
Source: James Whale’s
Frankenstein,
http://members.aon.at/franken
stein/frankensteinuniversal.htm
A smash hit



Frankenstein earned rave reviews
and was named to top-ten lists in
its day.
It also made lots of money, the true
benchmark of Hollywood success,
even in 1931.
The production cost $290,000 in
Depression-era dollars, and earned
more than $12 million. (“Face”)
Team Effort



Many directors and actors were
considered for the film before the studio
settled on James Whale, a British stage
director turned film director with two hit
films to his credit.
Whale, in turn, chose fellow Englishman
Boris Karloff as the Monster.
These two men, together with make-up
specialist Jack Pierce, created the most
iconic horror image of all time.
The team
James Whale
An older Karloff
Jack Pierce makes up
Karloff for Frankenstein.
Source: Movie Maker
Magazine.
http://www.moviemaker
.com/issues/39/pierce.h
tml
Monster a collaborative effort

Whale, who had been an artist
before going into directing, created
a number of sketches for the
Monster’s look. And Pierce threw
himself into research.
Pierce on his research

“I did not depend on imagination. In 1931, before I did
a bit of designing, I spent three months of research in
anatomy, surgery, medicine, criminal history,
criminology, ancient and modern burial customs, and
electrodynamics. My anatomical studies taught me that
there are six ways a surgeon can cut the skull in order
to take out or put in a brain. I figured that
Frankenstein, who was a scientist but no practising
surgeon, would take the simplest surgical way. He
would cut the top of the skull off straight across like a
pot lid, hinge it, pop the brain in, and then clamp it on
tight. That is the reason I decided to make the
Monster's head square and flat like a shoe box and dig
that big scar across his forehead with the metal clamps
holding it together." (Manguel, 20-21)
From Andreas Rohrmoser’s website “A Face
for the Monster: The Universal Pictures
Series--Frankenstein (1931).”

Jack Pierce built an artificial square-shaped skull, like that
of "a man whose brain had been taken from the head of
another man" (Pierce, quoted from Jones 1995: 37). He
fixed wire clamps over Karloff's lips, painted his face bluegreen, which photographed a corpse-like gray, and glued
two electrodes to Karloff's neck. The wax on his eyelids
was Karloff's idea. "We found the eyes were too bright,
seemed too understanding, where dumb bewilderment
was so essential. So I waxed my eyes to make them
heavy, half-seeing", Karloff explained (quoted from
Manguel 1997: 20). He wore an undersized suit in order to
make his limbs look longer and heavy boots weighing 13
pounds each in order to produce his lurching walk. The
procedure of applying the make-up was a horrible
experience for Karloff: "I spent three-and-a-half hours in
the make-up chair getting ready for the day's work. The
make-up itself was quite painful, particularly the putty on
my eyes. There were days when I thought I would never
be able to hold out until the end of the day." (Jones 1995:
37 qtd)
No place for vanity


Karloff’s addition to the Monster’s
face was offering to remove a
partial bridge (partial false teeth)
which gave his face a sunken,
hollow look.
Since he didn’t have any lines, this
wouldn’t affect his speech.
Not a fun experience!

"The makeup took about four hours to put on I
worked every day on the film, the film took eight
weeks to make, and I remember one awful
occasion when I got into the makeup shop at half
past three in the morning, to be ready to go out
on location. We worked in the hot sun at the
edge of the lake, the scene with the little girl. We
came back to the studio in the evening to have
some supper, and we went out onto the backlot
and I worked all night until five in the morning. I
had the makeup on for 25 hours! That was a long
pull. The carbon lights were dreadful. They hurt
your eyes. The boots weighed about 16 pounds
apiece. All told, the outfit weighed between 40
and 45 pounds." Karloff on the experience
Many changes



The screenplay for the film is credited to Francis
Faragoh, Garret Fort, John Balderston, Peggy
Webling, Robert Florey and John Russel.
In fact, the writing was most done by Faragoh
and Fort. They did not use Shelley’s novel as a
basis for their screen play, but rather based it on
Peggy Webling’s play Frankenstein: An Adventure
in the Macabre, (which was based on Shelley’s
novel, more or less) which had premiered in
London in 1927.
Universal bought the rights in 1930. She is
credited as screenwriter, though the others, as
well as Whale, had much input into the final
script.
Point of view

One of the major changes from the book
was to remove the letters from Walton
that frame the novel. And instead of
hearing Victor’s story (or in the case of
the film, Henry) through his own voice,
we see the story happening more like a
play in front of us. This will give us a
very different view of the monster, Dr.
Frankenstein’s actions, as well as the
nature of the creature.
Confusing changes





Victor Frankenstein becomes Henry Frankenstein.
His childhood friend Henry Clavel becomes Victor
Moritz.
The Genevan Frankensteins are moved to a
generic “middle Europe” where Frankenstein’s
father is a baron and friend of the local
burgomeister (Geneva is a French-speaking city,
so there are no burgomeisters there).
Elizabeth remains Elizabeth, but there is no
inkling that Frankenstein and Elizabeth have been
raised together.
And of course, the time period is updated to
something that looks like the early 1930s, but the
local peasants tend to favor more 19th century
dress.
And what’s with Fritz?


And the once solitary Dr. Frankenstein is
joined by an accomplice, Fritz.
Fritz has become almost iconic in his own
right, although in many parodies, he’s
called Igor, a name that doesn’t appear
until the 1939 film Son of Frankenstein.


In that film Bela Lugosi played Ygor, lab
assistant to Wolf Frankenstein, son of Henry,
played by Basil Rathbone.
Sadly Fritz doesn’t make it to the sequel,
but his spirit lives on in the character of
Karl.
Dwight Frye


Fritz was played
by the great
character actor
Dwight Frye.
Whale likes his
work so much that
he also appears in
Bride as Karl.
Eugenics


The following comes from the website
“Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of
Nature.”
“Just as Shelley's story was shaped by
the science of the day, so was
Hollywood's influenced by some of the
scientific and pseudo-scientific
preoccupations of its day, including
eugenics, robots, and surgical
transplants.
And more

“Shelley’s monster kills for revenge
and out of thwarted love for its
creator. But in the 1931 version of
the film, the Monster kills because
he’s been given the brain of a
criminal. Breeding tells, according
to eugenics, and that was the
prevailing scientific theory at the
time.”
Popular science


Eugenics is the study of the hereditary
improvement of the human race by
controlled selective breeding. There was
much interest in eugenics throughout
Europe and the US during the 1920s and
30s.
It fell in popularity after WWII as it was
such a large part of Hilter’s Nazi ideology,
and many horrific experiments were done
in eugenics during his regime.
From “Frankenstein: Penetrating the
Secrets of Nature” website.

“In the years before Universal Studios
released Frankenstein in 1931, scientists
seemed poised to penetrate oncesacrosanct boundaries between life and
death, a prospect that continued both to
trouble the intellect and thrill the
imagination. Newspapers and magazines
speculated freely about one day reviving
the dead, achieving immortality through
the use of artificial organs, and altering
the genetic shape of future generations
through eugenics. The Universal film
responded to these themes in popular
culture.”
Contemporary science


1935 Article: "Can Science Raise the
Dead?"
In the 1930s, American chemist Robert E.
Cornish killed a dog with nitrogen gas,
then revived it. Emboldened by this
success, he vainly sought access to men
executed in the chamber. These efforts to
revive the dead got widespread press
coverage during the 1930s.
What about the music?



While modern viewers might be used to
black and white photography,
Frankenstein has often been criticized for
its lack of a music soundtrack by modern
writers.
We’re so used to films coming with a
great musical soundtrack that we fail to
realize that in 1931, background music
was considered a throwback to the silent
film era.
Back in silent film days, an organist was
hired by the theater to play while the film
was running. But people watching the
new form “talkies” wanted to hear every
word, and didn’t want to hear music
playing.
Violence on screen


And of course, the violence in the
film is incredibly mild to modern
eyes.
In fact, the scene in which
Frankenstein throws the little girl in
the water is famous for the fact that
in the American release, it was cut
out. Though I have found
conflicting versions of why this is
so.
Censorship



According to the Internet Movie Data Base, “you
can notice that after the monster drops Maria into
the water, there is a rather hard cut to just
moving water and the monster’s confused escape.
There was said to be close-ups of the girl
attempting to swim before sinking under the
water. These were deemed to grisly (and still
would probably be today) and the scene itself was
entirely removed; ending with the monster
moving toward her (which gave several viewers at
the time the impression that Maria was molested
and then killed).”
This version of the story seems to imply that the
cuts came before the theatrical release.
Another version of why

“Although on first release the US federal censor
didn't demand any cuts, several US states only
showed edited versions of Frankenstein. In
Kansas City the State Board of Censors demanded
32 cuts and in Rhode Island newspapers refused
to run advertisements for the movie. In Britain
censors cut out the scene where Frankenstein
discovers Fritz's hanged body, a scene of the
Monster threatening Elizabeth and the murder of
Dr. Waldmann. But when Frankenstein was rereleased in the USA in 1937 Universal were forced
to cut the scene in which the Monster kills the
little girl Maria - undoubtedly one of the film's key
scenes. Movie fans had to wait until 1985 to see a
restored version of the film including all
previously trimmed scenes.”

Rohrmoser
James Whale





Frankenstein’s director, James Whale, was
an interesting fellow, and he is credited
by many for making the Monster more
human than even Karloff was happy
about.
James Whale was a cartoonist in London
when WWI broke out and he served, was
captured and became a prisoner of war.
It was then he went into acting, and when
he returned, he got work on the London
stage.
That brought him to Broadway, and
Broadway brought him to Hollywood.
Frankenstein was his third film.
Openly gay

While Whale is famous in Hollywood
history for his horror films, and is
well respected for his non-horror
work, as well, the thing he is
probably most infamous for is his
open homosexuality at a time when
homosexuality was still technically
illegal in most parts of the US as
well as in Britain.
Is the Monster gay?


Because of this, the Frankenstein monster
is often viewed by critics as a statement
about the homosexual in society. It is
often argued that the Monster is
demonized for something beyond his
control, and is ostracised. As a
homosexual, Whale felt sympathy for the
Monster’s dilemma.
I’ve read the criticism, and at times it’s
very convincing. And I do know that
many times in the past when using this
film in class, I’ve had young gay men
quietly approach me after viewing and
ask if the monster is gay. That tells me
there must be something there
subtextually if the question is coming up
unprompted.
Whale’s final days



Whale committed suicide in his swimming
pool in 1957 (though the suicide was
covered up by friends and associates for
years).
Novelist Christopher Bram’s Father of
Frankenstein (1996) explores the last
weeks of Whale’s life, meshing together
Whale’s memories of a poor childhood,
service in WWI and the filming of the
Frankenstein movies.
It’s an imaginative, well done novel, and
a quick read, which I have occasionally
used when teaching Frankenstein.
Ian McKellan as James Whale
From the film Gods and Monsters. Source:
http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/ian_mckellen_go
ds_and_monsters_001.html
About the film



In 1998, it was made into the film Gods and
Monsters starring Ian McKellan in an amazing
performance. (It was the winner of several
awards including the Oscar for Best Adapted
Screenplay.)
There was a renewal of interest in Whale after the
film, which is still buzzing a bit today. Much of
the current research material about Whale on the
Internet today references this novel and film.
While it is a novel, Bram did use biographical
materials in the writing of it, but students should
be warned that it is fiction, not a biography or
documentary.
Sources:





“Frankenstein” Internet Movie Data Base. 20 Mar 2005.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0021884/
“Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature.” National
Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. 12 Feb
2002. 21 Feb 2005.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_celluloid.ht
ml
Jones, Stephen. The Frankenstein Scrapbook: The Complete
Movie Guide to the World's Most Famous Monster. New York:
Carol, 1995.
Manguel, Alberto. Bride of Frankenstein. London: British Film
Institute, 1997.
Rohrmoser, Andreas. “A Face for the Monster: The Universal
Pictures Series--Frankenstein (1931).” Frankenstein Castle-The Ultimate Frankenstein Movie and Film Site. 22 Feb 2005
http://members.aon.at/frankenstein/frankensteinuniversal.htm