SOURCE: "Karloff Sets the Standard," in The Frankenstein Legend: A Tribute to Mary Shelley and Boris Karloff The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1973, pp. 90-150.

In the following excerpt, Glut describes the making of Whale's two Frankenstein films, including the director's casting of Karloff and Lanchester as the monsters.

Universal Pictures in 1931 announced that it was planning to film Frankenstein. The first talkie version of Mary Shelley's novel would be based on the stage play by Peggy Webling, adapted to the screen by John L. Balderston. Dracula, the first sound version of Bram Stoker's immortal vampire novel, had been made by the studio earlier that same year. The film was so successful that Universal immediately recognized the beginning of a trend toward horror films and again turned to the classics for a follow-up. Frankenstein had been filmed three times during the silent era of movies, three times more than Dracula...