time!” Surprisingly, even the federal
censor didn’t demand cuts, though a
few states made their own. Some of
Frankenstein’s more troubling ele-
ments included the still-shocking
scene in which the hapless Monster
drowns a young girl, and “blasphe-
mous” dialogue. (“Now I know what
it’s like to be God!” Victor exults.)
Montagne’s prediction proved cor-
rect. When Frankenstein was released
in November 1931, the film became an
overnight phenomenon; the New York
Times called it one of the best pictures
of the year; it went on to gross $12 mil-
lion—even more than Dracula had
earlier that year. “Looks like a Dracula
plus, touching a new peak in horror
plays,” Variety wrote. “It took nerve
for U to do this one.”
The success of Frankenstein made
it clear that audiences had a taste for
terror, so Universal began churning
out the creature features that would
largely define the studio in the 1930s.
After 1932’s The Mummy (also starring
Karloff), the studio released a trilogy
of films based on Edgar Allan Poe
tales, two of which paired Karloff with
Lugosi, followed by Dracula’s Daughter
(1936), The Invisible Man (1933), and
Werewolf of London (1935), the first
mainstream film about lycanthropy.
The best of the bunch is arguably
1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, which adds
knowing wit to the original’s horror.
It’s even slightly meta, opening as it
does with a prologue depicting Mary
Godwin, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron
Frankenstein
became an overnight
phenomenon; the
New York Times
called it one of the best
pictures of the year;
and it went on to gross
$12 million.CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61
64 LIFE FRANKENSTEIN
©^ UNIVERSAL^PICTURES,COURTESY^ PHOTOFEST