Frankenstein 1931

This is how the Swedish audiences were presented the movie Frankenstein back in 1932. The Swedish censors banned the film in 1931, as did many other countries back then. In February 1932, it was passed by the censors, after cutting seven seconds from a version only 52 minutes in length. It would take until November that same year before the movie premiered in Stockholm.

When promoting the film, the Swedish audiences were presented a poster looking like no other movie poster at that time. No monster. No mad Doctor. Not even a glimpse of the laboratory. Just a lonely man, with a lantern, walking through what might be a forest. The poster even lacked credits. Not one single person had his or her name on the poster.

This is a classic example of “less is more”. Instead of an overloaded “in your face” artwork, we find an expressionistic artwork that triggers the imagination. Who is the man with the lantern? Where is he going? Can the monster be lurking behind that black tree? Or is the figure with the lantern the monster?

It’s a fantastic poster. One of a kind. I would really want to know who the artist was.