Lugosi couldn't sit behind a fake sheet of ice
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Mississippi20 — 12 years ago(March 08, 2014 10:21 AM)
I think it's easy to see how that line would be comedic - given the Monster's reputation, to say "I miss you" in a Hungarian accent? Come on.
Seeing as how this was 1943 and nobody could've foreseen the world of blu rays and bonus materials - or that anyone would even care 70 years later - they probably didn't care about the excised film. They wouldn't have planned on ever using it.
I understand why some fans are upset about it - Bela Lugosi is one of the greats. Up there with Boris Karloff. Lugosi's role as The Monster in this film is reduced to a near cameo and fans would have like to have seen Lugosi's role expanded as originally written.
I'm just not 100% sure it would have made the film better; but it's too bad the film is lost. -
Mississippi20 — 12 years ago(March 09, 2014 04:10 PM)
It would have made the film better as it would have been complete and given the monster more of a role than he ended up with. Come on, get your head on straight.
It would've been nice to see; that's about the only thing we're going to agree on.
Fact is, neither of us have ever seen what was removed, so who the hell knows. Fact is they made the movie they made and that's the only thing we can judge. -
jackgriffin1-1 — 12 years ago(March 11, 2014 04:10 PM)
Studios threw away footage all the time. Nobody has ever seen Welles' Ambersons and never will because it's gone. In 1968, at the height of their popularity Lennon and McCartney appeared on the Tonight Show once. In order to save money on tape, NBC erased it and reused the tape. It's gone forever. Even restored films like Lost Horizon have large audio only sections because the video is gone. That's how they did it.
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lorenzb-2 — 11 years ago(April 23, 2014 07:19 PM)
Bela was an excellent actor if he had the right part. He was clearly miscast as the monster. It wasn't his fault he did so poorly in the part for that reason. Whoever the actor/stuntman was (Perkins or Parker) the movie would have been better if he'd played the entire part. Also Glenn Strange would have added greatly to the production. At first they wanted Chaney to play both parts, but the logistics would have been impossible. However the film is still a classic. I've seen it at least 50 times.
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Mississippi20 — 11 years ago(April 28, 2014 07:10 PM)
Bela was an excellent actor if he had the right part. He was clearly miscast as the monster. It wasn't his fault he did so poorly in the part for that reason. Whoever the actor/stuntman was (Perkins or Parker) the movie would have been better if he'd played the entire part. Also Glenn Strange would have added greatly to the production. At first they wanted Chaney to play both parts, but the logistics would have been impossible. However the film is still a classic. I've seen it at least 50 times.
The Monster has a fairly small role and no dialogue..other than looking marginally better as The Monster, having a stuntman (or Glenn Strange) play the role wouldn't have changed a whole lot in my opinion. I don't think Bela's performance really helped or hindered the film either way. -
lorenzb-2 — 11 years ago(August 16, 2014 08:12 PM)
Lugosi was miscast and too old for the part. Gilbert Perkins was the stuntman who played the monster when he was in the ice and in the final battle with the Wolf Man. It would have been better if Perkins played the monster in the entire movie. He looked and acted fine in the part. Also the musical number could have been left out. It's terrible. With those changes it would have been a near-perfect episode in the Frankenstein series.