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| Nitrate film fell out of widespread use due to the how flammable it is, but anyone who’s seen an actual nitrate print knows that its quality is impossible to fully reproduce. Enthusiasts of the long-gone format were excited over the weekend by the discovery of the original uncut trailer for 1939’s “Son of Frankenstein,” not least because it’s said to be taken from alternate takes and deleted scenes. Watch it below. Rowland V. Lee directed the film, the third entry in the “Frankenstein” mythos produced by Universal. Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi star in the picture, with narrator Charles Frederick Lindsley singing their praises throughout the two-and-a-half minute trailer: there’s Karloff “rising from the past to spread new terror,” for instance, while Lugosi is “sinister, mysterious, evil.” “Son of Frankenstein” was an immense success, making beaucoup bucks and helping revive Universal’s monster division. The trailer was uploaded by one Jonathan Froes, whose YouTube channel is full of similar discovers from way back when. |
Link - ( New Window )
But that's what made the reveal so great. I don't know how many people picked up on it, but Elsa Lanchester (who played The Bride) also played Mary Shelley in the prologue.
Pretty cool.
Frankenstein (from 1931) is easily one of my top 5 favorite films of all time. I can't even estimate how many times I've watched it. I first became fascinated with it when it ran on Channel 13 (PBS) in the NYC TV market every now and then in the 1980s, when I was a kid.
I also like Dracula, but not nearly as much. I also really like Island of Lost Souls from 1932, but that's Paramount, not Universal. I also like White Zombie from 1932, but that's United Artists, not Universal.
I never really got into The Wolfman and The Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, but I did often take out books about them from my town's library. But I did really like many silent horror films, like The Phantom of the Opera, Nosferatu, etc., again thanks to channel 13 running them late at night.
As for Frankenstein, if I start writing my thoughts about it, I might never stop. And my thoughts about it are kind of all over the map. First of all, Karloff's performance is one of my very favorite acting performances ever. What fascinates me so much about the film, though, is that it's a severely flawed script -- I could go on and on about things in it that make zero sense -- but I love the film anyway. The whole mood of it is just pitch-perfect. And despite it being a horror film, it's such a poignant film.
This may be a weird thing to focus on, but what I love about those first few "talkie" horror films before, say, 1934 was how they don't have a musical score. That bothers a lot of people, but I absolutely love it. I find the musical scores back then very intrusive and sometimes almost silly -- dictating to audiences when the scary and suspenseful moments were. The quiet eeriness of Frankenstein, Island of Lost Souls, White Zombie, and Dracula is among the films' very best qualities.
Also, while critics seems to absolutely love The Bride of Frankenstein, I tend to view it as merely a good film, and not great. The comic relief doesn't work for me, the musical score makes it too "loud", and the narrative doesn't take enough advantage of its many dramatic opportunities, in my opinion. In fact, I find it hard to believe sometimes that James Whale directed them both -- the two are so different stylistically, but only four years apart in age.
Karloff was also very against the Monster speaking in Bride.
lmfao.. that was a great Stern bit a while back..
Karloff is the Frankenstein actor?
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lmfao.. that was a great Stern bit a while back..
Karloff is the Frankenstein actor?
Yep. Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster.
Bela Lugosi AKA Dracula Gottfried, played Dracula
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lmfao.. that was a great Stern bit a while back..
Karloff is the Frankenstein actor?
That's actually from the movie, Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp about the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space. Spectacular movie, and would always watch Plan 9 as a kid with my dad, both of us laughing our asses off. Stern may have used it for a skit but the whole scene in the movie is classic.
Karloff? Sidekick!? - ( New Window )
Yeah that is it.. they used cuts from that scene and made prank phone calls with it.. funny stuff...
Karloff prank call - ( New Window )
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In comment 13193260 GMAN4LIFE said:
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lmfao.. that was a great Stern bit a while back..
Karloff is the Frankenstein actor?
Yep. Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster.
Bela Lugosi AKA Dracula Gottfried, played Dracula
but when a lot of people think of Frankenstein, they are actually thinking of Bela Lugosi walking with outstretched arms from the Frankenstein meets the Wolfman film.
Frankenstein went blind in Ghost of Frankenstein, but they cut the explanation out of Frankenstein meets Wolfman.