Frankenstein

Boris Karloff's mastery of the art of pantomime is on full display here and was carried forth in the '35 sequel Bride of Frankenstein. The Monster is the victim.....victim of a creator who abandons him, and a society who rejects him at every turn (with the exception of Little Maria, and the blind hermit in Bride) for being "the other." More on reddit.com

No disrespect to the actors, but appearance wise it’s Karloff > Strange > Chaney > Lugosi for me. More on reddit.com

Am I the only one who prefers the hard jump-cut of the censored version over the actual footage of him throwing Maria into the water? I'm no fan of censorship (especially the dopey Hays Code), but there's something especially tragic to me about that scene ending with him smiling and reaching. More on reddit.com

You can blame cinema for this. As far back as one of the first films ever, Edison's adaptation of Frankenstein, we see our creature as a pathetic sidekick and jealous simpleton. However, the most popular Frankenstein was 1931's classic Universal version starring Boris Karloff. Popular culture has made this the very symbol of the creature: look at lunch boxes, cheap Halloween candies and decorations, parodies, toys, anything that features "The Creature" and you'll see him green with stitching around his temple and iron studs in his neck; much like the ruby slippers of 1939 Wizard of Oz, these would become the prototypical vision of what Frankenstein's creature (or Frankenstein himself in many people's minds) has become. Since most adaptations of Frankenstein leave off the "twist" in the narrative's ending, the creature's soliloquy towards his dying master, intelligent and compassionate despite his mental illness, we only see the monster. I suppose audiences love the spectacle of the poor scientist and his blushing bride being attacked by a demon created with the "wrong brain" instead of the scientist as monster, his creature only hating it's own existence. Here's where your common portrayal of the Creature began: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkSbwiKP3mo Edit: please forgive me that I could not find enough viable information on early stage productions of Frankenstein, which is actually where the perception of the creature as a mute brute began as early as the 1820's. I found some sources after a bit more research ( http://members.aon.at/frankenstein/frankenstein-theatre.htm ). From "Presumption; or the Fate of Frankenstein" from 1823: "But the most significant changes are the omission of the Walton subplot and - even more important - the muteness of the Monster. Peake made it a brutish creature with an infant's mind and unable to speak. It does not develop human emotions and is only capable of rage and violence." The reason I did not press this much is because the modern day impression of the creature as the brute is definitely the James Whale adaptation from cinema. The silent monster has existed for over a hundred years prior however, but as I said before the green man played by Boris Karloff, in most people's minds these days, I would speculate is their impression of the Creature. More on reddit.com