Frankenstein

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.

Continuity mistake: When Fritz is trying to steal a brain, he gets scared by a skeleton, which he grabs down, causing it to bounce up and down (since it is hanging from a hook up on the ceiling). But in the next shot, the skeleton is hardly moving. Yet when Fritz realizes he has dropped the brain, the skeleton is bouncing up and down again. (00:08:40)

More mistakes in Frankenstein

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'.

More trivia for Frankenstein

Doctor Waldman: You have created a monster, and it will destroy you.

Doctor Waldman: The brain which was stolen from my laboratory... was a criminal brain.

More quotes from Frankenstein

Question: Why is Fritz the hunchback so openly hostile to the Monster?

Answer: He is an abuser because death and living has no significance to him.

Answer: Likely many reasons. It's a monster that is terrifying and dangerous. Bringing a stitched-together dead body brought back to life is probably an abomination to him, and he loathes and fears it.

raywest Premium member

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?

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 Premium member

Answer: 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.

David Mercier

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.