Revealing mistake: When Dr. Waldman gives the monster an injection and the Monster is trying to get the torch out of Henry Frankenstein's hands, if you look closely, Boris Karloff's (the Monster) make-up begins to smoke when he is hit by the torch. (00:37:35)
Frankenstein (1931)
1 review
Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Mae Clarke, Colin Clive, John Boles
Your rating
Average rating
(6 votes)
9.5/10. One of the earliest masterpieces of horror. It does a masterful job of both following the book and exploring other ideas. Boris Karloff was the only one capable of being The Monster. He brings a certain sense of dignity to it as we see the Monster's not evil, it's humanity here. One could argue this as a social commentary on people and how we interpret those who're different than us in the world. What man fears he often destroys. I would say this is an important movie that needed to be made if other classic horror monsters were going to exist.
More mistakes in Frankenstein
Doctor Waldman: The brain which was stolen from my laboratory... was a criminal brain.
Trivia: In the original ending, Henry Frankenstein dies or is killed before the monster throws him off the windmill.
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?
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.
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 ★