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"Since the book quote also states that the test was 20 minutes long-- which is nonsense based on that bogus Don Marlowe claim of having two reels of test footage--"


http://drgangrene.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html

The Frankenstein That Might Have Been

According to Gordon B. Shriver, in his book Boris Karloff The Man Remembered , he interviewed Robert Florey in 1973 and asked him about his original film treatment. Here is what he
said "While writing the adaption of Shelley's story, my idea was to gove the role of Dr. Frankenstein to Lugosi. Interesting, It was natural for Florey to have Lugosi in mind, as he was the biggest
horror star of the day. Universal ordered Florey to shoot a test reel of Frankenstein. Perhpas curious or nervous about how it would look, Florey shot the test footage on the castle set of
Dracula, which was still standing. However, Universal didn't buy Florey's plan for Bela as Dr. Frankenstein and wanted him in the role of the Monster. undoubtedly thinking about the success
of Lon Chaney Sr. years earlier and wanted to duplicate it. Here's Florey again "  I directed several sequences - about two reels - of the first Frankenstein script with Bela as the Monster.
I told Dick Shayer -(head of production of Universal)  that any tall bit player could play the Monster , but apprantly my suggestion was rejected." ..... Florey's test teel of Frankestein
photographed by Paul Ivano on the Dracula castle  set ( which lasted twenty minites after editing)  starred Bela Lugosi in Jack Pierce's early makeup design.

The footage is long lost, sadly. noone knows what Lugosi looked like in those test reels , or how it played out , and this bit of film is a highly sought after as London After Midnight.
There are reports Lugosi wore an early version of the Pierce design, as well as Lugosi appearing in makeup and wig ( a-la  the Edison version Frankenstein). But whatever the case , after
Florey turned in the test reels , the project was turned over to James Whale. Was it so laughingly bad that Universal felt the need to hand the reigns to someone else? Or was it so successful
that Whale , a rising force at Universal , inserted himself into the project and took over?

So we have Florey being quoted that he shot two reels of footage.

"Pierce and the studio are going to defer to an actor's conception?"

Photographs show Lugosi doing his own makeup on Dracula.

Universal Horrors: The Universal Classic Films, 1931-1946 by Tom Weaver., Mchael Brunas, John Brunas   .... excerpts....

Florey's test reel of Frankenstein , virtually his audition for the studio brass who were still unsure of the director as well as the subject matter , remains one of the most sought-after
of all of Hollywood's lost treasures, Photographed by Paul Ivano on the Dracula castle set, the footage ( which lasted only twenty minutes, after editing) starred Bela Lugosi
in Jack Pierce's early makeup design for the Monster.

The Monster's makeup design was once assumed to be wholly the creation of Jack Pierce, but in more recent times Whale's contribution has been recognized. That Whale's sketches of the
creature's design jibes comfortably with the finished product can't be denied. The robotic appearance featring grafted-on metallic highlights suggests a melding if science and nature. Pierce's
execution is no less impressive, artistically rendered on Karloff's facial canvas to create a truly organic effect. Pierce took credit for the Monster's square-shaped skull  which supposedly came to the
make-up man while he was watching a surgical operation on a man's head. The abnormal shape of how the top of the head would like removed, with more gray matter piled in and a and a new cranimun supplied to accomodate the oversized brain. An artificial skull was fitted over Karloff's head and his face was covered with a thick layer of gray-green greasepaint. Artifical viens were actualy sripped of cotton soaked in
collodion and the actor's hands were meticuously made up. Working from James Whales's sketches,  Pierce labored slowly and meticuously; even the slighest bit of makeup caused unbearable pain
when caught in the actor's eyes.

Wellll... it reads here that Whale made sketches of the creature which matches up to the finished product and that Pierce worked using Whale's sketches, May I remind all that Whale came onto the
scene after the Lugosi screen test.

Here's an excerpt concerning Florey

Twenty years after the publication of Frankenstein playright-screener John l. Balderston and the estate of the late Peggy Webling were engaged in a legal battle for a piece of  the Frankenstein action.
The basis of their lawsuit was the adaptation of the Webbling play penned by Balderston for the Universal film shortly befoe Florey wrote his own version of the screenplay. ......... The postscript to
this story is that Florey later claimed he never bothered to read Balderston's adaptation in the first place!