Frankenstein’s Casting and Cuts

The story as it is told

By 1931 Universal had a hit on its hands and wanted another monster. Dracula had sold 50,000 tickets within 48 hours of opening at the Roxy, so the studio turned to Frankenstein. Hollywood lore has three stories about what happened next.

In the first, Bela Lugosi, fresh from Dracula, was offered the Monster and turned it down because the part had no lines. Another version has him storming that he was "a star in my country" and would not "be a scarecrow over here." In the second, a composer named Bernhard Kaun wrote the film's original score. In the third, the director Robert Florey, who was first set to make the film, borrowed its windmill from a Van de Kamp's bakery logo.

What we can confirm

None of the three is settled. The Lugosi line is a widely repeated story with no source opened. The LoC Registry essay says the film had no score, and AFI credits Kaun only "per modern sources". AFI also attributes the bakery idea to modern sources. What the record does show is this: Florey and Lugosi were the first plan, Whale replaced them, and the cut most people saw for decades was missing footage restored in 1986.

Universal's first plan for Frankenstein looked nothing like the film it released. The AFI Catalog records that Robert Florey was first set to direct, and that he wrote the first outline and script with Garrett Fort between May 15 and June 20, 1931, with Bela Lugosi, fresh from Dracula, as the prospective star and Karl Freund behind the camera.

James Whale then took over. AFI notes that Whale replaced Lugosi and Freund, and that Florey and Freund moved together to Murders in the Rue Morgue. John Russell's July 1931 revision added the device of the criminal brain, Francis Edward Faragoh finished the script by August 12, and shooting ran from August 24 to October 3, 1931, at a reported cost of $291,129. Whale cast Boris Karloff. In the opening credits the Monster is listed only as "?", and Karloff's name waits until the end credits. The source author is credited as "Mrs. Percy B. Shelley," a reminder that the novel's author, Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley), was still being filed under her husband's name a century on.

The censors were watching before the cameras rolled. AFI cites a Hays Office letter of August 18, 1931 that flagged "gruesome" scenes, including the hanged man and the dwarf on a chain. After release on November 21, 1931, the film met a patchwork of local boards: AFI reports that Kansas cut a hypodermic close-up and the scene of the drowned girl, Maria, being carried by her father, and that Quebec rejected the film entirely. It was banned in Northern Ireland, Sweden and Italy (1932) and in Czechoslovakia (1935).

The biggest cuts came later. For the 1937 reissue, AFI reports, Universal agreed to remove Henry Frankenstein's line comparing himself to God, shorten the scene of the Monster being tormented with a torch, and drop the moment when the Monster throws Maria into the lake. That last cut changed the story, because audiences saw the Monster reach for the child and then saw her father carrying her body, with nothing in between. Three deleted segments, including the drowning, were found in 1986 and restored for a 72-minute video release.

The village set had a history too, since the Library of Congress National Film Registry essay by Richard Jameson says it came from Universal's All Quiet on the Western Front backlot. Jameson also writes that Frankenstein had no music score at all, in contrast to Franz Waxman's score for the 1935 sequel. The AFI Catalog credits Bernhard Kaun only "per modern sources," so whether the 1931 film had an original score is still disputed.

What enters the US public domain on Jan 1, 2027 is the 1931 film as released, and with it Karloff's flat-headed makeup by Jack Pierce, which is free to use as it appears in that film. Later variations, Universal's FRANKENSTEIN trademarks, merchandise and the 1935 sequel are not.

The facts

• Florey originally set to direct; first outline and script with Garrett Fort, May 15 to Jun 20, 1931; Whale replaced prospective star Lugosi and cameraman Freund, who went with Florey to Murders in the Rue Morgue; Russell's July 1931 revision introduced the criminal brain; Faragoh finished by Aug 12, 1931. AFI Catalog, catalog.afi.com
• Production Aug 24 to Oct 3, 1931; cost $291,129; © Nov 16, 1931, LP2631; release Nov 21, 1931; Monster credited "?" in opening credits; author credited "Mrs. Percy B. Shelley". AFI Catalog (same)
• Hays Office letter Aug 18, 1931; Kansas cuts; Quebec rejection; bans in Northern Ireland, Sweden, Italy (1932), Czechoslovakia (1935); 1937 reissue cuts (the "God" line, torch scene, Maria thrown in the water); three segments found in 1986 and restored at 72 minutes. AFI Catalog (same)
• No music score; village set from All Quiet on the Western Front. LoC NFR essay by Richard T. Jameson (on Bride of Frankenstein, discussing both films), local copy
• Renewal R243591, Oct 12, 1959.

Related: When does Bride of Frankenstein enter the public domain? · Is Dracula (1931) public domain? · What enters the public domain in 2027

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