Ah, now we're in Vitelli Territory (where you'll be safe ).

I'll have to give this one a bit of thought, but on the subject of Bride of Frankenstein, I remember reading an interview with Boris Karloff years ago in which he said he didn't like the idea of the Monster speaking at all. "The speech...stupid!" opined Karloff. He said that at that point the Monster should either "take the mick or play it straight." He said that some of the Monster's appeal was that he was "this great, lumbering, inarticulate" creature.

(Note: "Taking the mick/mickey" is an expression - primarily used in the UK - meaning to poke fun at someone or something.)

However, Karloff may have also had a faulty memory - his recollection of why the scene where the Monster tosses little Maria into the lake (in the original 1931 Frankenstein) was wrong: Karloff claimed that he wanted to gently toss the girl into the water as if she was a flower, but that director James Whale had him pick her up over his head (here he made a violent motion with both hands) and hurl her. As I recall, Karloff claimed that since they couldn't come to an agreement, they agreed to cut the scene. Well, now that the film has been restored we know that Karloff did, in fact, gently toss the girl into the water and not violently throw her in.

I believe the interview was in an early '60s issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine (possibly "Meal With a Monster") of maybe Castle of Frankenstein. My collection is in storage so I can't access it, but I have a good memory for this stuff.

As I said, I'll have to give this a bit more thought, but I have a soft spot for the 1910 Thomas Edison version. Charles Ogle rules!



There are a lot of poor copies on the Net; this was the best one I found. The quality is actually quite good!


Signor V.