Castle set design

Thanks, Doghouse. Although Melvyn Douglas was sort of Warren William Lite my sense is that he was hired on by Columbia and Metro as a kind of younger, looser, less formal William Powell, who was a huge star at the time and who left no "successors", so to speak, though from a generational standpoint Douglas was a good fill-in for Powell. In more serious roles he was more down to earth than Powell, however in comedy I think that Powell's light touch was sublime (though Douglas was good, too, there was a "clubman" quality to him that strikes much as a little smarmy at times).

I know that Lugosi story, and apparently the Uni suits, still relatively new to the studio that they had only recently acquired two or three years earlier, wanted to keep the SoF budget down. The ruse, if that's what it was, worked beautifully, as the movie is maybe the most logical of the series, such as the word logic can be applied to a Frankenstein picture. Radio writer Wyllis Cooper was in his way as gifted as John Balderston, and his script for the movie is both witty and at times eloquent, even moving ("one does easily forget, Herr Baron, an arm torn out by its roots...").

Although SoF went over budget and p!ssed off the studio execs they liked the results, as from what I've read it was the most financially successful of the entire Frankenstein series. I cannot vouch for the truth of this, however I read this at another site, a place crawling with journalists, amateur and professional, and the occasional industry insider. This seems unlikely to me but I find it difficult to argue with people who know their onions about grosses. The thing is, the 1931 film was reissued many times, with its most famous reissue I believe from just a year prior to SoF's release, but maybe that's not counted.

Thank you, 398 . I wish we could have more discussions like this, on all the message boards: no flaming, good manners, everyone knows what he's talking about so there's no need to show off, etc.

As to Cedric Hardwicke, I've seen him play benign well, though refined villainy seemed to bring out the best of him as an actor. Prior to his coming to Hollywood he played Allan Quartermain in King Solomon's Mines, a quirky bit of casting, to say the least, and while I don't think anyone would claim he shines in the role, personally I like his performance. He was also good in The Ten Commandments as the aged pharaoh. At his best, Hardwicke's line readings were exquisite. He did not, however, have a good "movie face", and he was short and bland looking, lacking in the distinctiveness of an Edmund Gwenn or a Leo G. Carroll. Yet he was knighted, and on stage he was a star. In films he never quite "took".

I agree with every word you wrote about Warren William. What often came across as snarkiness came too naturally to him, even in sympathetic roles. He was the ultimate city slicker. Melvyn Douglas did have that common touch. Odd when you think of the kinds of roles he often played and his dapper, mustached appearance. I think that William came off as more,--how to put this?--wolfish, hungry, greedy, ambitious. He had, in his early years on screen especially, a somewhat raffish quality that Douglas never had. Powell was capable of projecting similarly and yet he possessed vastly more charm than William, and he knew when to stop. Another thing about Warren William: I've read that he drank. A lot. Whether or not he was an alcoholic I can't say but if his drinking in any way interfered with his acting, even just a little, it might have lost him a couple of plum roles.

William was a bit long in the tooth to begin a lengthy starring career when Warners signed him on circa 1931, though he did rise and shine fairly quickly. Luck wasn't on his side long term for if nothing else health reasons. I think of the careers of actors similarly "age challenged" when they began in films: Charles Bickford and Raymond Massey. Neither became a major star, though Bickford had a good run as a diamond in the rough leading man-character star along the lines of George Bancroft for a few years. Massey was in and out of American and British films throughout the 30s, then signed with Warners, where he remained for over a dozen years, mostly in distinguished characters roles, with the occasional villain thrown in for good measure. Like Bickford, Massey did better as he grew older. Neither actor won an Oscar, though both were nominated; and at ages when one might have thought they might have retired, both signed on as regulars on TV series. Luck plays a role in all our lives more than we care to admit, and Bickford and Massey had it, William didn't. With better health, I can imagine a clean and sober Warren William enjoying a late comeback in character parts of the sort Louis Calhern specialized in during his years at MGM.