Cool! I was curious and did a quick lookup... whaddaya know? >>> Vintage 6 foot Jack Davis Frankenstein poster Mail Order Novelty from 1970'S ยป
It is an extraordinary sequence and one that is surprising to find in a commercial film of this era at all. Truly a moment of horror. Universal's censors originally cut the scene after the monster reaches for the little girl, thinking that audiences would not respond well to the sight of her being thrown in the lake by this creature. And yet, that made it worse! The next thing we see is the little girl's wet, muddy, lifeless body being carried into town by her angry father... and audience's imagination runs wild thinking about what the monster must have done to kill her. When the censored footage was restored to the film after 55 years (from a British print, IIRC, and first seen on Universal's laserdisc), we finally see that the monster reached for the girl to throw her in the lake--thinking she would float like the flowers they were having fun with. Instead, the girl drowns and the monster recoils in horror and runs off confused and upset. As originally filmed by Whale, this underscored the concept of the monster being a tragically sympathetic creature, not just a murdering beast. And, yes, I can see how this would scare the hell out of a kid watching it. But as Edward Van Sloan advises at the beginning, "... well, we warned you!"
I saw the Wrightson Mary Shelly version (hardcover) at Barnes and Noble ..should have bought it..man just not in the budget that day.
I always found that scene of the villager carrying his dead daughter's muddy body through the partying crowd of villagers much more horrific than the actual drowning scene that was censored. In fact, I'm surprised that street scene actually made it past the censors at all. Perhaps one must have a daughter to really feel power of that long tracking shot (and a wonderful acting job by the little girl, whoever she was.)
Anybody remember this one from 1971? Very low budget, but a cult classic. Dracula, Frankenstein, bikers, and hippies. Can't beat it. I love Dracula's ring.
My very earliest introduction to Frankenstein was seeing those Aurora Moebius Monster Scene model boxes in the toy shop. I was fascinated with the whole gothic thing, but it kind of skewered my understanding of the story as I had the idea that Vampirella was part of the story, just from the box artwork. I was a little disappointed that wasn't the case. Still it got me enjoying all the old Universal and Hammer films.
The little girl was Marilyn Harris. In interviews she always spoke with sincere affection for Boris Karloff, saying they were friends on the set and she never had any fear of him. Harris actually appeared in the sequel, "Bride of Frankenstein," though (obviously) not as little Maria! She's among the group of schoolgirls that the monster encounters.
Universal restored it to "Frankenstein" in the mid-'80s -- first to the 1986 laserdisc. Since DVDs came out some 11 years later, I'm sure all of them have the complete scene. And it's not as graphic as you might imagine... The girl is not shown actually drowning; it only makes clear that the monster threw her into the water. Her splashing and screaming (off camera) upsets the monster, who then turns and runs off.
Absolutely! I wrote a magazine review of the laserdisc edition many years ago--the first time I'd seen it. It's one of those "so bad, it's good" films with a cast of notables that I found fun to watch: J. Carrol Naish--"House of Frankenstein"; Lon Chaney, Jr.--"Ghost of Frankenstein"; Rus Tamblyn--"The Haunting"; Forrest J Ackerman--Famous Monsters of Filmland editor; and Angelo Rossitto--"Freaks" Coincidentally, it was the last film for both J. Carrol Naish and Lon Chaney, Jr.
Apologies if it's already been answered but certainly by the time they came round to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. I don't think a Frankenstein appeared in that at all and the creature was synonymous with the name. By the time they got round to Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Universal gave up on any nobility that their character had. That said though, I laughed like a drain watching that as a kid!
Unless you are extraordinarily sensitive, I would not avoid the scene - its extremely well done and powerful and adds a necessary element to the film that otherwise would be missing. It's not violent or gratuitous. I don't know which version airs on TCM
I did see the father holding the body of the girl. That was enough. My imagination is stronger than anything they could show. I think the unedited version was the first I saw on tv back in the 60's. Really freaked me out.
Yes, one's imagination IS definitely stronger than anything, any film, could ever show. That's why the restored footage removes the element of imagination. We now know that the girl drowned accidentally; she was not murdered. And, no, you did not see the "unedited" version on TV in the '60s. Only edited prints were in circulation then. I'm sure TCM is not showing the old, edited version. And keep repeating... "It's only a movie... It's only a movie..."
I have this cool book that was published in 1974. It presents the James Whale film with all the dialogue and over a thousand stills. The tossing of the little girl into the water is of course absent (as it was in the TV screened version that I had always known: I was thrilled to discover the missing frames on a website in the early 90s and printed them off to insert into the book at the relevant page. The sort of thing a Frankie nut does.
Going by the excerpts from Anobile's book that you posted, it appears the tracking shot of the father carrying his dead daughter's body through the crowd was part of the edit (or is that on the next page?).
