View-Master World presents all 21 scenes from the View-Master packet Frankenstein (B323) with restored color and the original captions!
Packet Cover
Booklet Cover
From the original packet cover:
THE STORY
Doctor Frankenstein tried doing what no man had ever done before!
With his own hands, he made a human body. Then the Doctor did the impossible! Helped by a lightning machine, he brought the body to LIFE . . . only to find—Too late!—that he had created a MONSTER!!!
Scene A1
Dr. Frankenstein, his wife and son were happy . . .
From the 16-page booklet:
On a stormy night in the mountains . . . ever heard wolves howl at the moon? Seen lightning rip the sky? Now . . . listen! Imagine. Hear the wind scream, thunder roll! Feel rain and sleet sting your face. For it was on such a night I first met Dr. Frankenstein!
I was hiking in the Swiss Alps when a lightning bolt struck an old castle nearby. I rushed to the spot and found Dr. Frankenstein in the rubble. Near death, he spoke to me in a whisper, “Stranger, listen to my story!” I begged him to rest, but he went on. “Once my wife Elizabeth, my son William and I were happy. We would swing and gather flowers in the summer sun. But then, one day . . .
Scene A2
. . . until the day lightning struck their tree
From the 16-page booklet:
. . . a bolt of lightning struck the tree where we had swung only the day before ! ! !
Scene A3
As Frankenstein watched the tree burn . . .
From the 16-page booklet:
The tree burned so brightly that it hurt our eyes!”
Scene A4
. . . the lightning’s power gave him an idea
From the 16-page booklet:
Dr. Frankenstein gasped for breath. I tried to comfort him, but he shook his head. “As I watched the tree dying in the flames, an idea came to me. Perhaps the lightning could help me in my work!
Scene A5
He was building a man in his laboratory
From the 16-page booklet:
You see, ever since my father’s death, I had been working on a way to create LIFE! Indeed, I had been building a human being in my laboratory. The body was huge, over eight feet tall, and ten times as strong as a normal man!
Scene A6
He invented a lightning machine
From the 16-page booklet:
From the time I saw the lightning strike the tree, I worked feverishly day and night! I vowed to bring the creature I had built to life. I ate little. Talked to no one. The promise of success drove me on!
In a few days, I had built a lightning machine. Then one dark evening, near midnight, I put the thing in motion. Electricity leaped through the air . . . !
Scene A7
Its power brought the monster to life!
From the 16-page booklet:
The machine hissed and snapped, but still the creature did not live. I peddled the machine harder. White popping rays circled the creature’s head. Then, as if by magic, the body began to move! First the fingers twitched, then the eyelids fluttered. The air itself seemed charged with life!
The creature suddenly sat upright, watery eyes opened, arms rising slowly. THE THING HAD COME TO LIFE!
Scene B1
The man walked! Frankenstein shrank in fear.
From the 16-page booklet:
Who could know my joy at that moment? Could you? But it was a joy soon ended! For as the creature turned I saw his yellow eyes, green skin and straggly hair! The creature of my dreams was really a MONSTER!
I cried out. Moved back as the thing came toward me!
Scene B2
The monster lurched by them and escaped
From the 16-page booklet:
Elizabeth and William heard my cries. ‘What is it, Jacob?’ Elizabeth shouted. William screamed as my monster ran by us. A point of light seemed to strike the monster’s eyes, blinding him, and saving us from harm. The terrible creature reeled. Sprang through a window and vanished in the night!”
Scene B3
He hid in the woods beside a cottage
From the 16-page booklet:
Dr. Frankenstein shook with pain. “You must rest,” I told him. Lightning split the sky and suddenly I saw the Doctor’s face. His voice was young, but he looked a hundred years old!
“No,” Dr. Frankenstein pleaded. “You must know my story before I die!
After my monster ran into the forest, I tried to find him! But I could not.
The terrible creature had hidden himself near a cottage. A blind old man and two children lived there.
Scene B4
He peeked in the window at the family . . .
From the 16-page booklet:
One day my monster crept quietly toward the house. It’s horrible to think about! What if you were a child and my monster were right outside your window? His eyes glowing, his green face twisting a hundred horrible ways!
Inside the cottage, the old man was teaching his granddaughter to read. She would spell out the hard words, and he would say them for her.
Scene B5
. . . a blind man and his two grandchildren
From the 16-page booklet:
Late that night my monster crept into the cottage and took the word book. He also wanted to know how to read.
Scene B6
The boy, in fear, struck the monster!
From the 16-page booklet:
My monster returned the book next morning. The boy, coming back with a load of wood, thought the beast was trying to hurt his grandfather! He struck the creature with a club! Hurt and surprised, the monster ran away.
Scene B7
“You’re a beast for creating me, Doctor!”
From the 16-page booklet:
What torture it was for me! For weeks I circled the cottage, looking for some sign of the monster. If only YOU could have been there to help! Finally I tracked the beast to a cliff high in the mountains.
‘You are the true monster, Dr. Frankenstein,’ the beast cried. ‘You’ve made me ugly and have given me no friends! You must make another creature like myself!’ I refused. One such terrible creature was enough!
I tried to force the monster to come with me, but he only laughed and ran away. I tracked him for days, but each time he escaped. My hair was turning white! When would I capture him?
Scene C1
He followed the Doctor’s son to a cliff
From the 16-page booklet:
Not soon enough! For, barely a year later, William wandered into the forest and the monster followed.
Scene C2
Frankenstein saved the boy just in time!
From the 16-page booklet:
Somehow my monster talked the boy into playing with him. He and William were near the cliff when I found them. The monster snarled at me angrily. William stumbled in fright. I pulled the boy from the brink of the cliff just in time!
‘Make a friend for me or you’ll be sorry!’ the monster demanded.
‘Never!’ I shouted and carried my son away.
Scene C3
The monster spied on the Doctor, then . . .
From the 16-page booklet:
My fears were many! When would the monster strike? Would he kill us all? I couldn’t sleep. My face grew worried and older. I even began work on another monster so that we could live without fear.
Scene C4
. . . seized his wife, Elizabeth!
From the 16-page booklet:
‘You must not make another creation,’ Elizabeth pleaded one night in my laboratory. ‘Think what could happen to other people.’ I could do no more than nod my head.
Elizabeth sighed and left the room. Little did we know the monster was watching! He sprang into the entrance and carried Elizabeth off!
Scene C5
She fell over the cliff to her death.
From the 16-page booklet:
I followed them to the cliff! Elizabeth fought free of the monster’s grip, but she was too close to the edge. Elizabeth fell to her death! Confused, the beast ran in fear. I remained, frozen to the spot!
Scene C6
The Doctor lured the monster to his lab.
From the 16-page booklet:
It took years, but finally I gained the monster’s friendship. I lured him to my laboratory in this old castle. Told him I would make him handsome, but secretly I meant to kill him!
Scene C7
Lightning struck the castle and destroyed it!
From the 16-page booklet:
Before I could do that terrible deed, however, the lightning struck again and destroyed all. Stranger, can you . . .”
Dr. Frankenstein struggled to sit up, but fell back in my arms, dead! I searched the ruined castle for the monster, but he was nowhere to be found! Do you know where the monster is now? If you do, please tell me! !
8 comments:
Wow, thanks do much for posting these awesome pictures. I had the Monster gift box set of View-Master slides when I was a kid and spent hours looking at them they were so cool :)
FANTASTIC !
Thanks to everyone. I'm glad you all enjoyed it!
How did you restore these? Also, how did you photograph them? It's great to see them without the reddish color. Thank you!
It's difficult to say what was done as it was different for each scene. This restoration was two years in the making and it involved many tools in Photo Shop and other software.
I'm glad you like the results.
To everyone who wrote a comment: Thank you for the compliments!
A thousand thank you's! A wonderful memory of my childhood restored. A heroic deed for sure.
I was so happy to stumble across this. I remember getting the monster pack for Christmas one year as a kid. I'm convinced it's what got me started as a classic horror movie fan and all things Frankenstein. Thanks for the great effort of restoring these.
I have posted a 3D transfer of the same reels on YouTube, but from Kodachrome. The colors are the same as in this blog. Unfortunately neither Wolf Man nor Dracula are available in Kodachrome, but Kodak Digital Roc makes color restoration easy.
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