Some stories will never die; they will always be timeless. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for example. I mention this because, on holiday last week, I found Mary Shelley’s grave. Oddly, she’s buried in Bournemouth, on the South Coast of the UK.
While looking for places to eat in Bournemouth, I found the grave as a local point of interest. It was within walking distance, so I popped over to have a look.
Where the churchyard is, is the Mary Shelley pub, a Wetherspoons. In the UK, ‘Spoons is a cheap and cheerful pub that’s best avoided after dark. My local ‘Spoons has been in the paper several times for fights, and the occasional stabbing. However, the food is really cheap and generally pretty good.
I popped in for a drink, as it was raining at the time, and tried chatting up the barmaid, who had no interest in Shelley’s work. I probably dodged a bullet; I mean, a woman not interested in horror, no thank you!
RIP Frank
In the graveyard, it turns out the entire Shelley family have a tomb, and it’s all nicely presented.
I say nicely presented, but it wasn’t in the best condition. It was hard to read, but nice to know her legacy is still there. She was originally going to be buried at St Pancras in London, but the graveyard was “dreadful”, so they chose St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth, which was close to their new home in Boscombe.
Yes, I did think about digging her up and trying to reanimate her body. I didn’t, though, because gravestones are really heavy.
The church is impressive inside. Although, after a while, I felt a burning sensation and a booming voice told me to get out. No idea why…wait, yes, I do; it’s posting on the Last Movie Outpost, for starters.
Overall, there wasn’t much to see at Shelley’s grave, but it got me thinking about her legacy.
Frankenstein
Frankenstein has to be one of the most famous books ever written, along with the Bible, Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, and any of the Where’s Waldo books. I’ve never read the book Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. I do know the movies, though, even though there have been, according to Wiki: “a body of 494 known feature films, 248 short films, 105 TV series and 421 TV episodes feature some version or interpretation of the character”.
The story of Frankenstein is timeless, and something that still fascinates the world today; is it possible to bring life back to the dead? You know that somewhere in the world, there’s a doctor still trying to do it.
It was while on holiday in Geneva that Shelley and family became friends with the poet, Lord Byron. They would sit and regale each other with ghost stories. It’s said that Byron suggested a friendly competition, each writing a new ghost story.
The short story she came up with was about bringing life back to the dead. Later, on 1st Jan 1818, Frankenstein was published as her first novel, a moment she counted as:
“…when I first stepped out from childhood into life.”
A Woman Writer?
Mary Shelley’s name has always been associated with Frankenstein, but there is talk that some of it was done by her husband, Percy Shelley. Back in the 1700 – 1800s, women really didn’t have any rights.
The thought of a novel, such as Frankenstein, could be written by a woman was unheard of. Yes, I know there were other female authors, but none of them had the legacy of Shelley.
There were different editions of the story re-published in 1823 and 1831. It is said the differences in the story is because of Percy’s editing. However, Mary always maintained that her husband encouraged her writing, but it was always her story.
Frankenstein in the Movies
The first incarnation of Frankenstein was in Life Without Soul in 1915, directed by Joseph E. Smiley. The first time the name was used was in the movie Frankenstein (1931) directed by horror legend James Whale. He also directed Bride of Frankenstein in 1935.
The Universal Monster movies were all the rage in the early years of the silver screen. From 1931 onwards, you had Dracula (1931), Frank (1931), The Mummy (1932), and The Invisible Man (1933). Later in the 1940s, we met Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolf Man (1941).
They had a short foray into crossovers: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Dracula (1945), and Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
While looking the details up for this article, I see that Bride of the Monster (1955), by Ed Wood was based on Shelley’s novel. In that version, Bela Lugosi played Dr Eric Vornoff, with Tor Johnson as Lobo.
The Hammer Years
Dear ol’ Frankenstein had a lot of reincarnations after the Universal movies: I was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (165), even War of the Gargantuas (1966).
British horror movie producers, Hammer, brought the doctor to the big screen with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), starring Peter Cushing as Victor, with Christopher Lee playing the monster.
Hammer made seven movies about Frankenstein, including The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), which was a tongue-in-cheek remake of The Curse of Frankenstein. This version included David Prowse as the monster. I haven’t seen it, but I want to now.
It’s Not All Horror
Apart from the occasional meeting up with Abbot and Costello, Frankenstein has always been associated with horror, until 1974, when Mel Brooks made Young Frankenstein, which wasn’t just a comedy, but one of the best comedies ever made. This will always be funny.
Then you had movies like Weird Science (1985), which was loosely based on Shelley’s story; only the young lads wanted to make a living woman via their computer. A technology we are still waiting for today.
There is even talk that Robocop (1987) is again based on the story of Frankenstein; a man is killed and brought back to life. It’s a little tenuous, but I kind of see it.
Frank even turned up in The Munsters, played by Fred Gwynne.
Can’t Keep a Good Frank Down
Even recently, Shelly’s novel is still going strong. Guatemala Del Toro made a passion project about Frankenstein, which was very good. I mean, we all know the story, but it was still an interesting tale.
On the opposite side of the entertainment scale, there was also The Bride!, which was terrible, but still about Frankenstein.
There are obviously a lot of movies I haven’t mentioned, or seen, or even heard of. It shows that Mary Shelley told a story that has stood the test of time, and will probably never die.
We would all like to leave a legacy, something to be remembered by, but none of us will achieve that on the level of Mary Shelley. It was nice to think that such a talented writer is still remembered today.
