FAQ for
Frankenstein (1931) More at IMDbPro »

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

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Frankenstein can be found here.

Yes. Frankenstein 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 big liberties with the source novel and can by no means be considered a faithful adaptation. One obvious change is that the characters of Henry Clerval and Victor Frankenstein are mixed up. This is probably done in order not to confuse the audience with the marriage of brother and (adopted) sister. Another big change to the novel is that Frankenstein is intelligent in the book, he can talk and reason about his environment. He only becomes a monster after every person he meets is afraid of him.

"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 first film, the doctor's assistant was Fritz (Dwight Frye).

There were seven Universal Studios 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) and treated 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 renowned 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 (Lenore Aubert) attempt to transplant Wilbur (Lou Costello)'s brain into the monster (Glenn Strange).

There have been dozens of sequels, returns, rebirths, follow-ups, documentaries, and spoofs of Shelley's tale but only a handful of attempts to retell the original story. Actually, the very first attempt to tell Shelley's tale through the cinema was not Universal's Frankenstein, as many people believe, but a 1910 short called Frankenstein. Universal's 1931 movie was followed by Victor Frankenstein (1977), Frankenstein (1984), Frankenstein (1987), Frankenstein (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein (1994) featuring Robert De Niro as the monster, and Frankenstein (2004), a made-for-TV miniseries.