Fun Facts
- Not long before filming began, Colin Clive broke a leg in a horse riding accident. Consequently, most of Dr. Frankenstein's scenes were shot with him sitting.
- When filming the scene where the monster emerges from the burnt windmill, Boris Karloff slipped and fell into the water-filled well. Upon being helped out, he realized he had broken a leg in the fall. The metal struts used to stiffen his legs (for the famous "monster lurch") helped keep the bones in place until they could be properly set.
- The musical soundtrack for this film proved so popular, it was used again in the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials starring Buster Crabbe.
- Editing after previews resulted in the loss of a subplot in which Karl imitates the Monster's murderous modus operandi to eliminate his miserly aunt and uncle and direct the blame away from himself.
- Shot in 46 days at a cost of approximately $400,000.
- Boris Karloff sweated off 20 pounds laboring in the hot costume and makeup.
- In the opening and closing credits the cast list says "The Monster's Mate" followed by a question mark.
- The "body count" in the original cut was 21. This was trimmed to 10 after pressure from the censors.
- Director James Whale was once derided by a disgusted audience member for laughing during a screening.
- One of James Whale's criteria for taking up the director's reins on the film was that he would have complete artistic freedom. This was easily achieved, as Universal's studio head Carl Laemmle Jr. was vacationing in Europe at the time.
- As a result of audience reactions from the film's preview screenings during the first week of April 1935, the film was extensively re-edited. Many scenes were deleted and trimmed, and at least one, the scene where the Monster stumbles into the Gypsy Camp, was added in. As a result of the editing, the original uncut film was approx. 15 minutes longer than its official release length of 75 minutes.
- Valerie Hobson, who plays Dr. Frankenstein's fiancé/bride in the film, was only 17 years old when she appeared in the film (Colin Clive, who portrayed Dr. Frankenstein, was 35.)
- Elsa Lanchester was only 5'4" but for the role was placed on stilts that made her 7' tall. The bandages were placed so tightly on her that she was unable to move and had to be carried about the studio and fed through a straw.
- Boris Karloff protested against the decision to make The Monster speak, but was overruled. Since he was required to speak in this film, Karloff was not able to remove his partial bridgework as he had done to help give the Monster his sunken cheek appearance in the first film.
- It is considered inaccurate to refer to the Monster by the name "Frankenstein" rather than "Frankenstein's Monster", however in the prologue, Lord Byron actually does attach the name Frankenstein to the monster.
- The original trailer promises "a lifetime of entertainment in two hours". The final edit ran 75 minutes.
- Elsa Lanchester's shock hairdo was held in place by a wired horsehair cage.
- Elsa Lanchester said that her spitting, hissing performance was inspired by the swans in Regent's Park, London. "They're really very nasty creatures," she said.
- "The Bride", the most obscure of Universal Studios' Classic Monsters, is on screen for less than five minutes and is the only "Classic Monster" never to have killed anyone.
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