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There is a large painted backdrop of clouds in the mountain scenes near the end of the film. Vertical streaks can be seen in the backdrop that the paint, for some reason, did not cover. These streaks really stand out in the restored versions of the film. See more...

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Universal Pictures originally wanted Bela Lugosi to play Frankenstein's monster since he had done such a great job playing Count Dracula earlier that year. But Bela turned the role down because he did not want to be 'hidden' under all that make-up. Yet 12 years later, Bela would play Frankenstein's monster in 1943 film 'Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man'. See more...

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Frankenstein (1931) - 2 questions

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Genres: Drama, Horror, Sci-fi

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

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Entry Why in this movie is Mr. Frankenstein's first name Henry and not Victor (like it is in the book)? If it was changed to Henry so it would not be confused with the Frankenstein's family friend Victor Moritz, why not just call Moritz something else, and keep the original name of the main character in the movie? [There seems to be no officially stated reason why the name was changed, but it's possible to theorise. There were numerous changes between the original book and the film. One theory is that these changes were to make the story more accessible to the mass audiences, and altering the name of the main character to a more common one could be seen as part of that. Another (possibly more likely) reason is down to alterations in the characters. Unlike the book, the film ultimately seeks to redeem Frankenstein's character, making him a more human and sympathetic character. Conversely, the character of Frankenstein's old friend, named Victor in the film, but Henry in the book, has been made a much less pleasant character. As Victor is quite a harsh, martial name and Henry comes across as rather more amiable, the filmmakers might well have decided that it would be more appropriate to the characters that they were trying to portray to switch the names round.]
Entry Why is Henry's last name "Frankenstein" in this film and it's first sequel, "Bride of Frankenstein", but the last name is changed to "Von Frankenstein" in the second sequel, "Son of Frankenstein"? [By the third film, the original "Baron Frankenstein," played by Frederick Kerr is supposed to have died. Therefore, his son Henry had inherited the title of "Baron Frankenstein," and as part of Germanic aristocratic inheritance this automatically places a "von" between the Christian name and Surname of the holder. This in turn has happened when Henry died and Wolf took up the Baronetcy.]

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