# So, who decided Frankenstein was set in Transylvania? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254 "2003-09-23T04:41:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/1 "2003-09-23T04:41:36Z")
I have not seen the original movie in awhile, but many reviews mention the great expressionistic German village! As it was in the original novel, Dr Frankenstein never goes to Transylvania, and it looks like the original movie was set in Germany, so who decided the monster had to come from Transylvania and when? Or: Why later movies began to place the monster in Romania? _This would be a good time to ask also if the correct spelling is **Ro** mania or **Ru** mania._ ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/2 "2003-09-23T04:45:30Z")
The movie _Dracula_ (starring Lugosi) was a roaring success. Hollywood loves to copy any detail they can, since originality makes their heads hurt. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/3 "2003-09-23T05:49:20Z")
Mmm, more searching points to other reviewers mentioning that the movie was set in a German/Austrian village, can someone verify if the 1931 movie was set in Germany? If that is so, then this movie was not the one that originated the Transylvania connection; even tough it is true that it came after _Dracula_. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/4 "2003-09-23T06:08:39Z")
Did _anyone_ place Frankenstein (and monster) in Transylvannia? As far as I know, that location is identified with Dracula, and mainly because of Vladimir Tepes. The Werewolf, of course, is a free agent. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/5 "2003-09-23T06:35:38Z")
Why, **Brian Ekers** , I am surprised you never saw _ **Young Frankenstein** _? 😉 In any case, I think the connection was set later in one of those “Vs” movies that appeared later, I am trying to figure out who did it first. _I agree that “Pardon me boy, is this the Burghausen station” would not have sounded right._😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/6 "2003-09-23T07:37:17Z")
Probably Universal Pictures, as soon as they decided to make a “Frankenstein vs. Dracula” movie. Or, possibly, the Wallachia Chamber of Commerce. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/7 "2003-09-23T12:07:37Z")
The original James Whale movie was set in Germany or Germanic Switzerland; I have it on DVD but I don’t remember if they said. I haven’t seen it in a year. The book, unless I miss my guess, was set in Switzerland. Victor was Swiss. To Americans, Transylvania is a mythical place, without any other context than horror movies, so it’s the _de facto_ homeland for all the classic tropes. That’s why Mel Brooks put _Young Frankenstein_ there, but he’s not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/8 "2003-09-23T12:09:15Z")
IIRC, the Universal movie set **Frankenstein** in Germany. The novel moves all over the map,. with the monster bei8ng created in Germany, but menacing Victor first in Switzerland. The association with Transylvania I am sure, comes from the association with **Dracula** , and thus, ultimately, because Bram Stoker read a book called **The Land Beyond the Forest**. “Transylvania” sounds exotic and interesting, but not too strange, like “Mohorovicic”. It sounds reassuringly like “Pennsylvania”. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/9 "2003-09-23T12:42:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \* > _This would be a good time to ask also if the correct spelling is **Ro** mania or **Ru** mania._ Both are acceptable spellings. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/10 "2003-09-23T16:13:42Z")
I agree with **Fiver** , and others above, about Transylvania’s status as the “classic” horror location. It’d take some serious film study to pin down the first movie to locate Frankenstein there. Interestingly, Transylvania had a substantial ethinic German population from the middle ages to the end of World War II, when the Soviets started unapologetically shoving around populations as they redrew the map of Eastern Europe. I believe German place names pop up in the original _Dracula_ novel, which may have fed subsequent confusion. The actual Frankenstein Castle, whose name Mary Shelley may have picked up on her way to her stay on Lake Geneva in 1816, is in Darmstadt, Germany. As **Edward the Head** notes, both spellings of Romania are acceptable. Formally, Rumania was generally used before the [1960s](http://www.orbilat.com/Modern_Romance/Balkano-Romance/Rumanian/Rumanian_vs_Romanian.html) when its government began promoting Romania as a way of emphasizing the nation’s cultural ties to ancient Rome. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/11 "2003-09-23T16:20:30Z")
My maternal grandfather was born in Transylvania, when it still _was_ “Transylvania.” And if anyone could cement its reputation as a cradle of horror, it was _that_ old sonofabitch. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/12 "2003-09-23T16:26:40Z")
**GIGObuster** besides the comedy, “Young Frankenstein” where is the story set in Transylvania? IOW on what source do you base this OP? Sorry, but I don’t recall the Frankenstein=Transylvania connection. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/13 "2003-09-23T16:39:28Z")
Where do Abbott and Costello meet the Woflman? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/14 "2003-09-23T17:10:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Where do Abbott and Costello meet the Woflman? I just watched **Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein** last night, so I can answer this one: **Florida!!!** Aside from a brief opening with Larry Talbot/The Wolfman in London (where A and C aren’t), all the film is set in Florida, including scenes in a most un-Florida-like gothic castle on an island in a lake. No Transylvania involved. Actually, there is a precedent for setting eerie things in that region that, I believe, predates even Bram Stoker’s **Dracula**. Jules Verne set his novel **Carpathian Castle** in the Carpathians (duh…)It is, so far as I know (aside possibly from Twain’s Connecticut Yankee), the first novel in which all the “supernatural” effects are created by scientific tricks, including powerful magnets and — a Television. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/15 "2003-09-23T17:27:25Z")
I think others have hit this one on the head. Transylvania, being the origin of Prince Vlad, has become – in American popular culture – the home of all ghoulies and beasties. I think the responsibility for this can be placed squarely on the scriptwriters for the old Universal horror films. Sure, Dracula is obviously from Transylvania. But the Wolfman? IIRC, werewolf legends were more centered in France. These movies invented an awful lot of the details which have now become permanent fixtures in the monster mythology. Something else I noticed while watching several of these old movies was that – aside from the inevitably gypsies – most of the townspeople of exotic Transylvania seemed to be British, with the occasional German thrown in. Mel Brooks noticed the same thing, which is why he had a cockney constable in _Young Frankenstein_ (according to the DVD commentary). That’s Constable Henry, BTW. Inspector Kemp was definitely German. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/16 "2003-09-23T20:33:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*My maternal grandfather was born in Transylvania, when it still _was_ “Transylvania.” And if anyone could cement its reputation as a cradle of horror, it was _that_ old sonofabitch. \*\* You’re part Transylvanian? I can resist your charms no more. Marry me! We’ll have beautiful, traditional Jewish/Addams family ceremony. At the finale, you shall look deeply into my eyes, vamp and command me “Kiss me, my fool.” [sub]mmmm, Eve in a Morticia dress! Who the heck needs French?[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/17 "2003-09-23T20:44:05Z")
Only if you promise _never_ to make me watch another Mummer’s Parade—I grew up watching those damn things, and to this day the sound of “Oh, Dem Golden Slippers!” makes me weep and hide my head under the quilt . . . ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/18 "2003-09-23T20:50:47Z")
That’s quite a sacrifice. I must say I’m surprised. I thought you would appreciate the spectacle of a horde of drunken homophobes dancing down the street in make up and ostrich plumes. But, I promise. Besides, we’ll always have the Mutter Museum. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/19 "2003-09-23T20:54:01Z")
Damn! **DocCathode** beat me to the marriage proposal! **Eve** , think of me during the divorce settlement. Please? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254/20 "2003-09-23T21:07:12Z")
Divorce! Never! Our love shall be like Frankenstein’s creation-more than the sum of its parts, an elemental force beyond the ability of humans to explain or control, and capable of enduring fire, frost, or crushing stones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-decided-frankenstein-was-set-in-transylvania/203254.md?page=2)