Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958) was the third of four drive-in classics crafted by producer Marc Frederic and director Richard E. Cunha in their late-’50s moviemaking heyday. In it, the original Doctor Frankenstein’s grandson repeats his grandfather’s grisly experiments.
Cast
John Ashley … Johnny Bruder
Sandra Knight … Trudy Morton
Donald Murphy … Oliver Frank/Frankenstein
Sally Todd … Suzie Lawler
Harold Lloyd Jr. … Don (Suzie’s guy)
Felix Locher … Carter Morton
Wolfe Barzell … Elsu
John Zaremba … Police Lt. Boyle
Trivia:
The full monster make-up was actually being worn by a man, Harry
Frankensteins Daughter is Sandra Knight
Wilson. Because of this, makeup creator Harry Thomas did not realize that the creature was supposed to be female. All he could do at the last minute was apply lipstick to the creature.
Make-up artist Harry Thomas has said that when he was given the assignment to make a mask for the “monster”, he was not told that the monster was to be a female, so he made the mask to be a male. By the time he was notified that the monster was to be a female, the mask had already been done, and there was no money in the make-up budget left to do another one.
Director Richard E. Cunha recently recalled that, upon seeing the make-up for the title creature just before filming, he was so disappointed he left the set and broke down in tears.
The exteriors of the house were shot at the home of producer Marc Frederic.
Sally Todd’s scream at the beginning of the film is that of Allison Hayes from the soundtrack of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).
This film is listed among The 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson’s book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.
House of Dracula was an American horror film released by Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal’s three most popular monsters: Frankenstein’s monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man. Starring Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Martha O’Driscoll, and Glenn Strange.
This is the only film in which the character Lawrence Talbot sports a mustache.
Footage of Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster from Bride of Frankenstein (1935) appears during a dream sequence, intermixed with footage of Glenn Strange in the same role.
John Carradine, Martha O'Driscoll and Lon Chaney, Jr., with his sons on the set of House of Dracula
House of Frankenstein is an American monster horror film produced in 1944 by Universal Studios as a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man the previous year. This monster rally approach would continue in the following film, House of Dracula, as well as the 1948 comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
Tagline: FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER! WOLF MAN! DRACULA! HUNCHBACK! MAD DOCTOR!
Trivia:
Despite the title, this is the first of the Universal Frankenstein films in which a member of the Frankenstein family does not appear.
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Bela Lugosi was slated for the role of Dracula, but the film was dependent upon the presence of Karloff being released from tour of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Shooting was delayed, and John Carrdine was cast instead of Lugosi, who had a prior engagement: ironically, playing Karloff’s “Jonathan Brewster” role in another touring company of “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
Originally Kharis the mummy, another Universal “classic monster”, was to be in the movie but was removed because of budget restrictions.
Originally titled ‘The Devil’s Brood’, this was given a $354,000 budget and a relatively generous (by Universal standards) 30-day shooting schedule. Star Boris Karloff earned $20,000 and Lon Chaney Jr. received a flat $10,000 for his third appearance as the Wolf Man. John Carradine and J. Carrol Naish were both paid $7,000 each. Lionel Atwill earned $1750 and George Zucco was paid $1500. Glenn Strange was paid $500 for his role as Frankenstein’s monster.
Boris Karloff Collection Only $19.49
The title “House of…” could refer to the ruins/house owned by Ludwig Frankenstein, the second son of Henry Frankenstein (portrayed by Cedric Hardwicke) in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). It’s also the same “house” where Lawrence Talbot discovers the Monster in ice in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943); and, of course, where Neiman discovers the Wolfman and the Monster in this film. (The castle is entirely washed away in the flood at the climax of ” – Meets the Wolf Man,” but is inexplicably semi-intact here.
Glenn Strange was the fourth actor to play the Monster in Universal’s Frankenstein series. The actor who played the original Monster, Boris Karloff, was also present in the film, playing the role of Dr. Niemann. Being on the set, Karloff was able to personally coach Strange in the way the Monster should be played.
Universal employed an actress to dub actress’s screams for their horror films, but Elena Verdugo’s scream worked so well, it was retained in the final version.
Frankenstein is a 1931 horror film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and very loosely based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley as well as the play adapted from it by Peggy Webling. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features Dwight Frye and Edward van Sloan. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell. The make-up artist was Jack Pierce.
Trivia:
In one scene, the Monster (Boris Karloff) walks through a forest and comes upon a little girl, Maria, who is throwing flowers into a pond. The monster joins her in the activity but soon runs out of flowers. At a loss for something to throw into the water, he looks at Maria and moves toward her. In all American prints of the movie, the scene ends here. But as originally filmed, the action continues to show the monster grabbing Maria, hurling her into the lake, then departing in confusion when Maria fails to float as the flowers did. This bit was deleted because Karloff – objecting to the director’s interpretation of the scene – felt that the monster should have gently put Maria into the lake. This scene is restored in the videocassette reissue.
Bela Lugosi was offered the role of the monster, but refused on the grounds that his character would not speak (though he eventually played the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)). Lugosi also insisted on creating his own makeup for the Monster, but his design was rejected. According to film historian Richard J. Anobile, Lugosi was originally offered the role of Dr. Frankenstein by original director Robert Florey, but Carl Laemmle insisted that Lugosi play the monster. Test footage of Lugosi in Monster make-up was filmed by Florey on the set of Dracula (1931). Soon after, Florey was replaced by James Whale as director, and Lugosi was replaced by Karloff.
Those originally considered for the cast included Leslie Howard as Henry Frankenstein and Bette Davis as Elizabeth. Director James Whale insisted on Colin Clive for the role of Henry.
John Carradine turned down the part of the Monster because he considered himself too highly trained to be reduced to playing monsters.
After bringing the monster to life, Dr. Frankenstein uttered the famous line, “Now I know what it’s like to BE God!” The movie was originally released with this line of dialogue, but when it was re-released in the late ’30s, censors demanded it be removed on the grounds that it was blasphemy. A loud clap of thunder was substituted on the soundtrack. The dialogue was partially restored on the video release, but since no decent recording of the dialogue could be found, it still appears garbled and indistinct. The censored dialog was partially returned to the soundtrack in the initial “restored version” releases. Further restoration has now completely brought back this line of missing dialog. A clean recording of the missing dialog was reportedly found on a Vitaphone disc (similar to a large phonograph record). Modern audio technology had to be used to insert the dialog back into the film without any detectable change in the audio quality.
According to the TLC network program “Hunt for Amazing Treasures”, a unique six-sheet poster for the original 1931 release, showing Karloff as The Monster menacing Mae Clarke, is worth at least $600,000 US and is possibly the most valuable movie poster in the world. The only known (original) copy is owned by a private collector.
Boris Karloff offered to remove his partial bridgework as part of the monster make-up process to create the sunken cheek look.
Ken Strickfaden, who created all the electrical effects for the movie, also doubled for Boris Karloff during the sequences that showed the million volt sparks playing over his body. The same machines were later used in the comedy Young Frankenstein (1974).
Child actress Marilyn Harris had done several takes of the drowning scene, none of which turned out quite right. Although wet and tired, she agreed to do one last take of the scene, the one that appears in the finished film, after director James Whale promised her anything she wanted if she would do so. She asked for a dozen hard-boiled eggs, her favorite snack. Whale gave her two dozen. The DVD commentary for the film suggests that Harris wasn’t actually a good swimmer, quoting Harris as saying that she had only a couple of swimming lessons before filming and had never dived under water before.
John Huston wrote an early version of the warning speech given at the start of the film.
The method of animating the creature is never discussed in Mary Shelley’s novel. In the book, Frankenstein, narrating, refuses to divulge how he did it so no one can re-create his actions. However, the use of lightning to resurrect the monster has become the accepted methodology and appears in virtually every Frankenstein movie since.
According to The People’s Almanac, at one point the movie was to have included a line of dialogue giving the Monster the name, Adam. The Almanac indicates that an early print of this film may have indeed been released with just such a scene, but that it was cut when audiences began referring to the Monster by the name Frankenstein.
John Carradine, who later played Dracula in the Universal horror films, once claimed he was considered for the role of the Monster.
The Monster in this film does not physically resemble Mary Shelley’s character. It was make-up artist Jack P. Pierce who came up with innovations such as the Monster’s flat head, the bolts through the neck, the droopy eyelids, and the poorly-fitted suit. Any future Frankenstein film that features any of these physical abnormalities is taking its inspiration from Pierce’s make-up work.
The popular image of Frankenstein’s monster as green-skinned was sourced in this film. Actually, Jack P. Pierce’s monster make-up gave the monster yellow skin, one of the few consistencies from Mary Shelley’s original description of the monster.
Some of the sets had originally been constructed for Paul Leni’s The Cat and the Canary (1927) which Universal had produced four years earlier.
What are commonly called bolts on the neck of the monster are in reality electrodes.
The film was banned in Kansas upon its original release on the grounds that it exhibited “cruelty and tended to debase morals”.
A 20-minute test reel, starring Bela Lugosi as the monster and directed by Robert Florey, was filmed on the Dracula (1931) sets. This footage has not been seen since 1931 and is now considered lost. Only a poster, featuring the vague likeness of Bela Lugosi as a 30 feet colossus, remains.
The set design of the windmill sequence was inspired by a building in Los Angeles that housed a local bakery, Van de Kamp, which displayed a large windmill as its corporate logo.
Actor Edward Van Sloan, who played Dr. Waldman in the film, appeared in the now-lost test reel with Bela Lugosi as the Monster. In an interview conducted shortly before his death, Van Sloan remembered that Lugosi’s makeup resembled The Golem, with a large broad wig and “a polished clay-like skin.” Unfortunately, no footage of the test or any photographs of Lugosi in this makeup are known to exist.
The movie’s line “It’s alive! It’s alive!” was voted as the #49 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Carl Laemmle Jr. offered James Whale a list of 30+ film adaptations he could direct and Whale picked this one. Whale said he did so because he wanted to get away from the war pictures with which he had so far been associated. Ironically, Whale is now, by far, best-remembered for his four horror films.
The casting of the monster was the most difficult aspect of the casting process. James Whale happened to spot Boris Karloff in the Universal commissary and passed him a note offering a screen-test, which Karloff jumped at. Karloff later joked that he was offended by being viewing as such an ugly character, since on the day that Whale spotted him, he was wearing his most elegant suit and thought he was looking handsome.
Edward Van Sloan (Dr Waldman) also makes an uncredited appearance as himself in the film’s prologue, in order to warn audiences of what follows.
The monster make-up design by Jack P. Pierce is under copyright to Universal through the year 2026, and licensed by Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.
By the time the ending of the film was changed, allowing Henry Frankenstein to live, Colin Clive was no longer available for additional scenes. For the shot of Henry in long shot in the bedroom behind his father, he was played by another actor; tradition has long held that it was future cowboy star Robert Livingston filling in for him.
Dr. Frankenstein’s first name is Henry, while his best friend’s name is Victor Moritz. In the novel, the doctor’s name is Victor Frankenstein, while his best friend is Henry Clerval.
Boris Karloff is considered a late bloomer in Hollywood. Frankenstein (1931) premiered when he was 44 years old.
During production there was some concern that seven-year-old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Boris Karloff in costume and make-up when it came time to shoot the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked “May I drive with you?” Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, “Would you, darling?” She then rode to the location with “The Monster.”.
