The four versions listed here are not four attempts at the same film. James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein established the image of the creature; Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein filmed the story in colour in 1957; Mel Brooks made a parody in 1974; Kenneth Branagh attempted a closer adaptation of Shelley’s novel in 1994.
The novel is short, about 75,000 words, so no version here faces the compression problem of a Dickens adaptation. The densities confirm it: they run from 0.9 to 1.6 minutes of screen per thousand words, all far higher than a three-hour film would manage with a 500,000-word novel.
Every screen version at a glance
4 versions are listed here: 4 made for cinemas and 0 for television, released between 1931 and 1994. Runtimes are the length of the version as released, taken from the Wikipedia article for each title and checked against its IMDb entry.
| Year | Version | Director | Length | Leads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Frankenstein — film | James Whale | 70 min | Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles |
| 1957 | The Curse of Frankenstein — film | Terence Fisher | 83 min | Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart |
| 1974 | Young Frankenstein — film | Mel Brooks | 105 min | Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman |
| 1994 | Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — film | Kenneth Branagh | 123 min | Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hulce |
How the versions differ
Whale’s 1931 film runs 70 minutes, the shortest of the four, with Colin Clive, Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff. It follows the stage tradition rather than the novel in one respect that shaped every later film: the creature never learns to speak.
The Curse of Frankenstein runs 83 minutes, with Peter Cushing as the doctor and Christopher Lee as the creature. Made by Hammer in 1957, it was the studio’s first horror film in colour, and it gives the doctor the central role that the novel gives to the creature’s narration.
Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein runs 123 minutes and is the longest here, with Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hulce. Brooks’s Young Frankenstein runs 105 minutes and is a comedy sequel to the 1931 film rather than an adaptation of the novel.
Reading time against screen time
The novel runs to about 75052 words, which is roughly 4 hours at the 300 words a minute the rest of this site uses. Every screen version fits its own reading of the story into the times below.
| Screen version | Format | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| 1931 · Frankenstein | film | 70 min |
| 1957 · The Curse of Frankenstein | film | 83 min |
| 1974 · Young Frankenstein | film | 105 min |
| 1994 · Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein | film | 123 min |
| The novel (1818) | 75052 words | ~4 h to read |
For Shelley’s structure, the 1994 film’s 123 minutes come closest. For the source of the screen image, the 1931 film’s 70 minutes are the origin. The 1957 and 1974 films are variations on that original, not alternatives to it.
Questions readers ask
How many film versions of Frankenstein are there?
Dozens, from the 1910 Edison short onwards. This page covers four that are widely available and represent different approaches: 1931, 1957, 1974 and 1994.
Which Frankenstein film follows the novel most closely?
Branagh’s 1994 film, at 123 minutes the longest of the four, keeps the creature’s narration and the Arctic framing that later films drop. The novel is about 75,000 words, roughly 250 minutes of reading.
Is Young Frankenstein an adaptation?
No. Mel Brooks’s 105-minute film is a comedy sequel to Whale’s 1931 film, and it is listed here because it is often mistaken for an adaptation.
The novel itself is on editions.ink as a free ebook: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, with EPUB, AZW3 and KEPUB downloads. The full list of filmed classics covers 13 books, and the rest of the catalogue sits under classic fiction.
Other books on screen
- Dracula on screen — 4 versions from 1931 to 1992
- Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde on screen — 4 versions from 1920 to 1968
- The Hound of the Baskervilles on screen — 4 versions from 1939 to 2002