(Referring to the monster, of course, and the 1931-onward Universal Studios version, specifically)
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been familiar with the explanation by Frankenstein makeup artist Jack Pierce:
The thing is, I’ve never understood how that translates to a monster with a square skull, rather than just like, say, the monster from YoungFrankenstein, with a dome-ish cranium. Am I missing something in the proper visualization of the skull-hinges, or is there some additional information that Pierce was glossing over?
Can anyone help me out with this question of such prime importance?
(And yes, I probably should have saved this for Halloween. Ah, well.)
From Jack Pierce’s explanation, it appears that he viewed the top of the head like a box lid that can be lifted to insert a brain, and box lids are invariably flat. Besides, you must admit that it gives Frankie a more monstery look.
My guess is that when the good doctor put the top back on the skull, he wasn’t picky about making sure it was the original lid. The squareness is an effect of the curvatures not matching up very well. Look at this pic of Frank and note the bulge in his forehead - could be an ill-fitting match between the top of the skull and the rest of the cranium.
I grew up reading Pierce’s explanation in Famous Monsters of Filmland, and never realy understood it either. I suspect that it’s after-the-fact rationalizing. What came first was the desire for that unnatural squared-off head, which both made him look odd and effectively increased his height (along with other tricks, like the thick-soled boots).
I’d like to note that Pierce himself may not be the originator of the idea.
1.)In the movie Gods and Monsters, ian mcKellen, as James Whale, claims that he came up with the iconic look, and made a sketch of it (which Brendan Fraser ends up with at the end of the movie). I don’t know how much truth there is to that assertion. McKellen’s line “He had a squared head like a big beef tin. You’d just open it up and pop it in.” has stayed with me.
2.) In one of the publicity stills for the Edison 1910 version of Frankenstein, the monster (played by Charles Ogle) looks suspiciously as if he has a squared-off head(!):
I assumed it was because Karloff was just an average-sized man, and the monster was supposed to be some hulking bruter, thus the big shoes, and the prosthetic head, both of which increased his height, as Cal has mentioned.
A few years back when I visited Universal Studios I noticed several pictures of the “Universal Monsters”. I was surprised to find out that their still copyrighted. You’ve got to admit the unusual appearance makes it easy to copyright.
I like this explanation. I don’t want to be thinking about the make-up artist’s craft while watching a film; I want to be convinced that I am seeing a man sewn together from parts of different bodies.
FWIW, Karloff’s head doesn’t look as flat as those of the Halloween masks and parodies (e.g. Herman Munster) that it inspired.
The head you can attribute to refitting a skull, but that doesn’t explain the eyebrow ridge. The body would have to have already had that feature.
…
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: For the experiment to be a success, all of the body parts must be enlarged.
Inga: In other vords: his veins, his feet, his hands, his organs vould all have to be increased in size.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Exactly.
Inga: He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: That goes without saying.
Inga: Voof.
Igor: He’s going to be very popular.
They built up Karloff’s eyelids with collodion. They wanted to have a heavy-lidded effect.
Karloff wore a partial denture, and he took it out when playing the monster. That gave him a hollow-cheeked look. They played lots of tricks to alter his appearance from the normal human appearance.
I understand that the makeup they put o him gave him a bluish cast, which was supposed to photograph as white. In some of the posters he’s got a flesh tone. At least one poster has everything sort of greenish, which might give the impression that he was green. That wasn’t Universal’s intent, but years later several people adopted the green coloration as standard. When I was a kid in the 1960s you were supposed to paint your Aurora model green, and a lot of the Universal licensed stuff showed Frankenstein as a green creature. but you never got that sense from the movies.
David Skal, in The Monster Show, says that the squared-off head was intended to create a sort of tension between technology (rectilinearity) and nature, intended to indicate that the Monster is an unholy hybrid of both.
And I’m far more ready to believe that Whale came up with the concept than Pierce.
