Frankenstein (1931 film)/Trivia


 * Banned In Kansas: In its initial release.
 * Dyeing for Your Art: Boris Karloff removed his partial bridgework to achieve the monster's creepy sunken-cheeked appearance. In Bride of Frankenstein the monster learned to speak, preventing Karloff from repeating the effect; as a result, the monster looks considerably less weird the second time around.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye also appeared in Dracula.
 * I Am Not Spock: Boris Karloff subverted this by admitting that the Frankenstein movies are the only reason he became a successful actor.
 * Playing Against Type: James Whale chose to direct the film because he wanted to do something else than war films.
 * Prop Recycling: Some of the sets were remainers from Universal's 1927 film The Cat and the Canary.
 * Science equipment in the film were later reused in Young Frankenstein.
 * Science Marches On: As mentioned on the Lightning Can Do Anything page, the film extends the historical anecdote of Luigi Galvani, discovering in the 18th century that by shocking frogs' legs he could make them jerk about, to mean REALLY shocking a piece-meal corpse could bring it back to life. Yeah, Neuroscience Does Not Work Like That. The dialogue gives some further exlanation, but it falls short of an Author's Saving Throw...its talk of a "ray beyond the ultraviolet" which brings life is more a case of pre-Bomb I Love Nuclear Power than anything else.
 * Star-Making Role: For Boris Karloff.
 * What Could Have Been: Bela Lugosi was originally set to play the Monster. He also created his own monster make-up, which is reported to have resembled the eponymous being from the 1920 film The Golem. 20 minutes of test footage was shot with him, but it is considered to be lost.
 * The role of the Monster was also offered to John Carradine, but he refused it because he felt that it was beneath him.