2025, books, Fantasy, Movies

Way Back Monsters

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If you were at the Blevins Book Club on Sunday, then you knew this was coming. 

I found an annotated copy of Frankenstein which among a ton of other information, included a list of all the Frankenstein (and quasi-Frankenstein) movies.  You all know I can’t keep away from something like that.

Of the first three Frankenstein films, only the first one from 1910 has survived.  It’s a short and is interesting because the “creation” is not made by putting body pieces together but by pouring a bunch of chemicals into a big vat and then heating it up.  For 1910, it’s actually some very interesting visual effects.  (It’s about 13 minutes long so it’s easy to satisfy your curiosity on YouTube, but too long to post here.)

The monster is an interesting blend of clown, yeti, caveman and monster from the black lagoon and doesn’t actually kill anyone before he seems to repent his very nature and “disappears” into the big mirror in Victor’s study.  But the pantywaist nature of Victor was spot-on.  See the monster and fling yourself out of the room and fall prostrate on the bed.  Monster comes into the room – fall prostrate on the floor.  Next time you see the monster, fall back prostrate in your chair.  The film maker clearly got that part of the book right.

Anyway, the next two films, Without a Soul (1915) and Il Mostro di Frankenstein (1921) have been lost and not much is known about them. The plot of Without a Soul included a dream sequence in which the doctor lives the Frankenstein story fairly closely, but then he wakes up.  The only thing really known about Il Mostro is that many consider it the first Italian horror film.

That’s it up until Universal came up with their massive laboratory, lightning technology and green, neck-bolted creature in 1931.  Which they promptly copyrighted, even going so far as to sue someone planning some kind of Without a Soul re-make.  

There are supposedly some references/appearances of the monster in two films by Sidney Lanfield in 1936 but I’m not willing to watch One in a Million or Sing, Baby, Sing again. 

Have you seen any Frankenstein movies?  Any favorites?

25 thoughts on “Way Back Monsters”

  2. I was quite surprised to see the huge number of movies that are offshoots of the Frankenstein story. I haven’t watched a single one. I can’t stand horror films. I was intrigued, though, by the Tim Burton film “Frankenweenie”, about Victor Frankenstein, when he was a child, bringing his beloved Bull Terrier back to life after it is hit by a car. The movie is described comedy/horror film.

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  3. Fifty years ago, when I worked in advertising, one of my clients was the West Bend Company, a maker of small appliances and cookware. They were about to introduce a new popcorn maker, a dome-shaped appliance that had been given the name Stir Crazy because of the motorized wand that rotated and kept the kernels in motion while they popped (we still use one— it works great!).

    Tasked with coming up with a television ad to introduce the product and its salient feature, the writer and I came up with the idea of recreating Frankensteins lab with the Tesla coils and other apparatus that Hollywood keeps in stock.

    The ad would go something like this:
    We see Victor and his assistant, backs to camera, huddled over a lab table in aforementioned laboratory.
    Victor says something like this,
    “It’s finished, Igor. We’ve done it! Now to bring it to life.
    Send up the kites!”
    (Igor fiddles with the apparatus, obligatory lightning bolts and electrical crackle).
    Victor, still with back to camera, gestures in reaction and exclaims, “It stirs, Igor, it stirs!”
    Whereupon Igor, who is back at the table and Victor step aside to reveal the new Stir Crazy popcorn popper in action.

    VOICE OVER: “The new Stir Crazy popcorn popper from West Bend. It stirs.”

    Alas, we couldn’t convince the client to go along with our idea and so I never got to produce a Frankenstein adjacent commercial in Hollywood. I did participate in other Hollywood productions including one that featured Peter Lawford, but that’s a story for another time.

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        1. I didn’t know this commercial either, but it is a lot of fun!

          I scarred daughter with young Frankenstein when she was too young to understand it. It sort of turned into a joke with her now, but she’s still not interested in the movie. Maybe this commercial will help break the tension.

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  5. On the subject of monsters, on this day in 1863, the Gettysburg Address was delivered. Sobering. Concise. Brilliant.
    Now look up Gettysburg Address delivered Trumpian style. Of the many parodies, one by Angry Staff Officer is especially funny.

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  6. Rise and Shine,Baboons,

    I also am not a horror/monster lover so I have seen parts of Young Frankenstein. Specifically I have seen the Madeline Kahn clips, who is her usual comic genius self:

    That face, that rhinestone dangly thing. She is perfect. There are more clips on YouTube.

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  8. I assume the header picture is from the 1910 Frankenstein. Is that what one can expect as a result of pouring stuff in a vat? That’s a lot of unnecessary hair and fabric.

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    2. Yes, this is the monster from the 1910 movie. It was particularly interesting that after cooking from chemicals in the vat and looking mostly like a skeleton made of tree sticks, it emerged fully clothed like a caveman.

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    1. I saw the newest Frankenstein movie – pretty good though a bit long at 2.5 hours. The middle section delves into Frankenstein’s childhood and youth – explaining how cruel his father was and how he came to the idea of creating life.

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  12. I have to join the chorus of non-horror fans, but I did see the first film with Boris Karloff. My dad remembers seeing it in the movie theater and was terrified.

    I also saw a television version in the early 70s with a mostly British cast, written by Christopher Isherwood (who wrote the book that inspired Cabaret). It was slightly more faithful to the novel, but not much. The creature started out as a very handsome young man but rapidly decomposes into a hideous monster. I don’t remember much about it.

    Young Frankenstein is one of my favorite movies. I took the bus to downtown Minneapolis with my friend to see it and I don’t think I’d ever laughed so hard. Possibly the most perfectly cast movie of all time. Couldn’t choose a favorite scene, but every scene with Madeline Khan was priceless.
    A former coworker was also a fan and could rattle off classic lines by the dozen.

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