1h 10m / UR / Sci-Fi, Thriller
TRAILER:
VENUE: Historic Duncan Auditorium
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Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is a rogue scientist with an assistant with a back problem, a nice pad in the Bavarian Alps, and an unquenchable desire to tamper in God’s domain. It’s a tale as old as time, or as old as a nightmare Mary Shelley had after watching early experiments in galvanism and spending a winter at Lord Byron’s villa. It goes bad.
In order to understand the cinematic phenomenon of Frankenstein, you first have to understand Dracula. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula releases in February of 1931 and is a walloping success, moving Universal from a financial loss in 1930 to a huge profit. They have to have something to ride that wave of success, and they have to have it now. Showbusiness has not changed that much in a century. So immediately work begins on Frankenstein — starring Bela Lugosi as the creature. Lugosi wants to play the doctor instead, a part with actual lines and acting required. Producer Carl Laemmle, Jr., wants him to play the monster, since the monster gets top billing, and Lugosi’s name sells tickets. Lugosi departs the picture, or was kicked off (it’s complicated), a decision which either way will haunt him forever. And Boris Karloff, a silent film bit-player who had the luck of slightly resembling the director James Whale and meeting Lon Chaney once, stepped into those big black shoes.
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Part of both our October "Big Picture: Science Fiction Creature Features" and 2025 A Nightmare on Franklin Street horror series. View the full lineup at
https://tampatheatre.org/movie-categories/nightmare/
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