bromstaker wrote:
Mongo wrote:
TomWeaver999 wrote:
<< Rosie. <<

LOL!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Even as a kid watching FRANKENSTEIN, it bugged me that Fritz got heat for stealing an abnormal brain when (in the opening reel) we saw Henry makes an on-camera attempt to steal the brain of the hanged criminal for use in the Monster. Unless that guy was hanged for jaywalking or something, what's the difference?

Hi Tom,


Of course the guy could have been lynched for something he didn't do. Look at Spencer Tracy in "Fury", he was almost lynched for a murder he didn't commit. Perhaps Henry knew of the man's innocence? However, I wouldn't have blammed Fritz, it's quite likely that he couldn't read. Also, the abnormal brain thing wasn't applicable after the birth of the monster. In it's prior life the brain was insane, probably like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, but after being exposed to the most powerful dose of ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy) treatment known at the time, the brain was quited to the extent that it thought violent thoughts as a response to violence directed at it. As we know from the movie, the Monster does not act violently until he is provoked or feels threatened. His act of violence against the little girl, Maria, while horrible, was an act of ignorance, not of intent to harm. In his mind she was a flower, ergo she would also float. The Monster, as portrayed by Karloff, was a pittiable creature.

But Mongo remember that after the monster escapes the jail in BoF he kills 3 innocent people - including a young girl. I also think it was during this rampage that he pulled Inspector Krogh's
arm off.

As far as what happened to the original brain I assume it was burnt in the fire at the end of GoF.

Yes, I remember that after he escaped jail 3 innocent people were killed, but I think they were killed off camera. It was never revealed how they were killed. It is quite possible that there could have been another murderer that took advantage of the monster's reputation to do some killing of his own. It just seems unlikely, to me , that after rescuing a shepherdess from drowning and attempting to revive her, he would have gone off on a killing spree. As far as Inspector Krogh is concerned, while the killing of his father and pulling off of his arm were horrible to be sure, the passage of time does have a tendency to dull one's memory, even if the person claims it was "the most vivid recollection of his life". It could be possible that the Monster flung open the door to their home much like he did the blind Hermit's home. Krogh's father reacted much like anyone would react towards an unwanted intruder, he grabbed a gun and shot at the Monster. The Monster defended himself and sent Krogh's father crashing against a wall. Then Krogh, a child, attacked the monster beating him with his hands. The monster grabbed an arm to push him away and the Monster, not realizing his own strength, yanked out Krogh's arm. I don't believe that the Karloff Monster was the savage murderer that everyone makes him out to be. He did not become a truly evil creature until Igor's brain was transplanted into his body.

The original Brain could have been destroyed in the fire at the end of GoF, or if it survived the fire, it could have been washed away by the waters from the exploded Dam at the end of FMtW and wound up in the same ice cavern that Talbot and the Monster were washed away into. Dr. Niemann could have found the original Brain and transplanted it back into the Monster's skull as Igor's brain might have suffered sufficient enough damage from the fight with the Wolfman as well as oxygen deprivation, from being underwater and frozen not once, but twice in two different ice caverns. Don't forget, Igor's brain was a normal brain and was not subjected to the supercharged rays that reanimated the original Brain and made it immortal. This would explain why the Monster in HoF and HoD displayed characteristics that were closer to Karloff 's interpretation of the Monster from SoF.