…and to Broadway - once

 Illustration by Theodor von Holst from the frontispiece of 1831 edition of the novel  The Monster looks like a body-builder, an “over-developed” human male

 The “classic” monster, i.e. the one most people envision when one says “Frankenstein”  The Monster is large, ugly, and mute  Introduced the idea of the “criminal brain” supplied by the hunchback assistant  A makeup artist designed the “flat head” look

 Boris Karloff returns as the Monster  The Monster speaks in broken sentences  The Monster convinces Henry Frankenstein to make him a bride, the bride rejects the Monster and he destroys the two of them

 English film that focuses on Baron Victor Frankenstein more than the Monster  Victor assembles the Monster from a corpse found swinging on a gallows and hands and eyes purchased from a charnel house

 Victor kills an aging professor to obtain a “sharp” brain for the Monster.  Victor’s mentor tries to stop Victor and the brain is damaged.  Victor wins and implants the damaged brain  The Monster is intelligent, psychotic, and violent  Eventually the Monster is dissolved in acid

 Opened and closed January 4, 1981  Reviled by critics  Involved puppets  One critic described the Monster as “bland” and “elaborately made up with the requisite cranial fissures…[but] just a beery lout in a Halloween costume.”

 Often follows the Shelley novel with a few notable exceptions:  Victor fashions the monster from the brain of his mentor and the body parts of the man who murdered his mentor  Henry Clerval doesn’t die  Victor stitches Elizabeth back together and brings her back to life

 Robert De Niro plays the Monster  Roger Ebert said the movie is “short on villainy but loaded with the tragically misunderstood. Even the Creature, an aesthetically challenged loner with a father who rejected him, would make a dandy guest on any daytime television talk show.”

 A parody of the 1931 film which used many of the original props  Critical favorite and box office smash – as a COMEDY  Preserved in Library of Congress National Film Registry

 The Creature loves violin music and hates sparks  With Frederick, the Creature performs “Puttin’ on the Ritz” but can only shout his song lines in painfully high- pitched monotones  However, he dances impressively with almost perfect timing