FRANKENSTEIN: The Boris Karloff Years

Introduction

With few possible exceptions, no actor is more synonymous with a character than Boris Karloff and the Frankenstein Monster. Karloff played the Monster only three times in eight years. However, his impact and legacy on the character have lasted decades beyond this brief time span. In this article, we will look at the making of the following movies: Frankenstein (1931), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939).

Frankenstein (1931)

After the huge success of Dracula in February of 1931, Universal Pictures decided to fully immerse itself in the monster movie business. In April of that year, they purchased the film rights to the play Frankenstein. Written by John L. Balderson, it was itself an adaptation of English playwright Peggy Webling’s adaptation of Mary Shelly’s 1818 novel of the same name. Both Webling and Balderson were paid $20,000 plus 1% of the gross earnings on all showings of any films based on their dramatic work.

Robert Florey developed a screenplay for the project. Florey had his eyes set on directing the movie as well. As a result, he shot some footage with his script on the Dracula set from June 16-17, 1931. He also brought in actors from Dracula as well: Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, and Bela Lugosi as the Monster.

Lugosi was unhappy with the role selected for him. Instead, he preferred the role of Dr. Frankenstein. Additionally, the design of the Monster during the screentest resembled a scarecrow. Not the iconic design that Karloff would make famous.

“I was a star in my country and I will not be a scarecrow over here!”

– Bela Lugosi

Carl Laemmle Jr. apparently burst out laughing when he saw the footage that Florey had filmed. Needless to say, neither Lugosi nor Florey was involved with the official version with James Whale being hired on to direct the movie.

With a revised script by Dracula scribe, Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh, Whale set his eyes on casting the Monster. It was here that Karloff entered the picture. Karloff came at the recommendation of Whale’s lover David Lewis. He had seen the actor in a stage play called The Criminal Code the prior year. Karloff had appeared in nearly eighty movies over fifteen years prior to Frankenstein. Yet, he was still unknown to the public.

After he was hired, Karloff spent considerable time in the chair of makeup artist Jack P. Pierce. He tested various looks until they reached one that was approved by Universal brass. The makeup decided upon took over three and a half hours to apply to Karloff’s head. It also took two hours to remove. Additionally, Karloff was required to wear boots that weighed thirteen pounds.

Carl Laemmle Sr. was so afraid the fully realized Monster would scare secretaries and other females on the studio lot, he demanded that Karloff wear a hooded veil around the lot in order to not frighten them.

With a budget of $262,000, Frankenstein was shot on the Universal lot over nearly six weeks. Principal photography started on August 24, 1931, and wrapped up on October 3 of the same year. It was released the following month on November 17, 1931. The film was a tremendous success earning over $1,400,000 after six months in theatres. It also cemented Karloff as a horror icon along the way.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Originally to be titled The Return of Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was in development basically from when the first picture wrapped shooting. However, it would take four years to be realized on screen.

At first, James Whale was not at all interested in the directing duties of the sequel declining when he was approached early in the process. However, after the success of The Invisible Man (1933) the studio wouldn’t take no for an answer. He used the leverage he had to get the studio to let him make the film One More River (1934).

Screenwriter Tom Reed had written a script for the movie in 1933 and Universal decided it was the script they wanted to move forward with. However, Whale rejected it outright. Many scripts were written by many screenwriters of the day including L.G. Blochman, Phillip MacDonald, John L. Balderson, and Edmund Pearson. All were scrapped by Whale. Eventually, it was turned over to playwright William J. Hurlbut who combined aspects of all of the previous scripts and turned it into something Whale was satisfied with.

Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, and Dwight Frye all returned for the sequel. New cast members included Ernest Thesiger, Valerie Hobson, and Elsa Lanchester in the titular role. Karloff was unhappy with aspects of the script, especially since the Monster was given the ability to speak.

“Speech! Stupid! My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm, it was because he was inarticulate – this great, lumbering, inarticulate creature. The moment he spoke you might as well…play it straight.”

– Boris Karloff

Jack Pierce returned for makeup duties on the sequel. For Karloff’s Monster Pierce paid close attention to wounds that the character obtained during the previous film’s climax including burns. Over the course of the movie, Pierce altered the makeup on these “wounds” to give the illusion that they were healing over time.

Whale and Pierce collaborated on the look of the Bride. The most iconic aspect of her look was her hair, which was achieved via a perm given to Lanchester’s hair molded over a wire frame. Overall Lanchester disliked the bandage-based costume as well as the entire process of becoming the Bride character.

“I drank as little liquid as possible. It was too much of an ordeal to go to the bathroom–all those bandages–and having to be accompanied by my dresser.”

– Elsa Lanchester

With a budget that was slightly higher than the original movie ($293,000 vs. $262,000) the movie began shooting on January 5, 1932, and was completed on March 7 of that year. Several problems during filming, including Karloff breaking his hip on the first day of shooting and Colin Clive breaking his leg not long after, resulted in delays and caused the movie to go over $100,000 over budget with a final cost of $397,000.

The final edit of the movie was completed three days before the movie’s April 19, 1935 premiere at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. The movie was a hit with critics and audiences alike earning over $2,000,000 at the box office.

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

On August 29, 1938, it was announced in The Hollywood Reporter that Karloff would return as Frankenstein’s Monster in a second sequel in the franchise. A few days later it was announced that the movie would be titled After Frankenstein. Soon it was announced that both Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi had joined the cast.

Originally intended to be shot in Technicolor the plan was dashed, however, when the makeup tests of Karloff as the Monster ended up looking extremely poor, causing the movie to be shot in black and white. A costume, which was intended to be used for the color version was used anyway. It consisted of a sweater that the Monster wore over his standard black costume shirt. Karloff despised it.

Rowland V. Lee was brought in to direct the movie with a script by Wyllis Cooper that focused on the son of Dr. Frankenstein from the first two films, his family, and the Monster his father had created. The original shooting script was completed on October 20, 1938, three days after filming had begun, on October 77, 1938.

Lee was dissatisfied with the final script and production was shut down for several days resuming on November 9, 1938. Since the production had already begun Universal insisted that filming resume with freshly written script pages being delivered to the set every day. Originally planned to have a budget of $300,000 the budget ballooned to over $420,000 as the delays mounted. Originally intended to only film for 27 days wrapping the week of Thanksgiving but the delays resulted in filming continuing past the new year. Filming wrapped on January 5, 1939.

With a premiere date of January 7, 1939 post-production had very little time so things that were typically done after filming were completed such as editing and score composition, and recording was done simultaneously with filming.

Like Karloff’s previous two outings as the Monster, the movie was a commercial and critical success. However, that was not enough for Karloff to consider reprising the role, which he abandoned after the Son of Frankenstein was released.

“After Son, I decided the character no longer had any potentialities – the makeup did all the work. Anybody who can take that makeup every morning deserves respect”

– Boris Karloff

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