Just to be clear, my purpose here is not to laud my work, my purpose is to respond to Tom Weaver's criticism of the Renfield character and Frye's performance as it appears in his article in MFTV #1. Personally, I think Tom's analysis of both the character and performance as they appear in the final cut of the film is spot on. But the fault is not in the script nor in Frye's performance when the film is viewed in its proper sequence. The fault is in the mutilation of the film that was reportedly ordered by Laemmle Sr after viewing the initial cut. This was not an organic evolution of the film through the creative input of the cast and crew, it was last minute meddling by the suits.

Unfortunately, Universal made something of a habit of this sort of last minute meddling, as witness their butchering of MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE and the mess they made of Lugosi's performance in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN.