Frankenstein (1931 film) the deliberately farcical "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948). Though it is unrelated to the Universal series, the later "Frankenstein 1970" has the scientist Frankenstein, here played by Karloff, animate the Monster using a nuclear reactor. Although Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant is often referred to as "Igor" in descriptions of the films, he is not so called in the earliest films. In both "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein", Frankenstein has an assistant who is played both times by Dwight Frye who is crippled. In the original 1931 film the character is named "Fritz" who is hunchbacked and walks with the aid
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923 film) that Alan Crosland would direct the film. The film failed to materialize and the company seemed to have disappeared without making any releases. Irving Thalberg, who had previously worked with Chaney and Tod Browning, desired to make a production that would rise artistically above the otherwise expensive productions Universal produced. In order to convince Universal's founder, Carl Laemmle, to formally approve the production, Thalberg pitched "Hunchback" to him as "a love story". Bolstered by Chaney's recent box office successes, Laemmle agreed. "Universal Weekly", the house publication of Universal, formally announced the production of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in August