Frankenstein (1931)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, John Boles, Mae Clarke
The townspeople go after The Creature (Boris Karloff) because of Maria's death. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) confronts the Creature and is knocked out and taken to a windmill. The Creature tosses Henry and he survives. The townspeople burn the mill and it collapses on top of the Creature. Baron Frankenstein (Henry's father) watches over his son while he's recovering and gives a toast to his future grandson.
Alex
Revealing mistake: There is a large painted hanging cloth backdrop of clouds in the mountain scenes near the end of the film. Vertical streaks can be seen in the backdrop that are the pleats in the fabric. These streaks really stand out in the restored versions of the film.
Doctor Waldman: The brain which was stolen from my laboratory... was a criminal brain.
Trivia: 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'.
Question: 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?
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Answer: 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.
Tailkinker