How the Classic Monsters Saved Universal Studios

The Great Depression was a really interesting time in movie history. The movies were a great escape for people wanting to get away from the misery of the outside world. Many movie studios still struggled during the Depression, but one studio struck gold in the early days, and it allowed them to keep the lights on year after year. And that studio, of course, was Universal. Today, we are talking about How Monster Movies Saved Universal in the Great Depression. 

When the Great Depression started in 1929, the industry was in a time of transition from the silent era to the sound era. Studios had spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the late 1920s converting theaters to sound all over the country, and when the stock market crashed, suddenly they didn’t know if they could recoup their investments. Before the Depression, there were about 90 million weekly admissions to the theaters, but over the next few years, admissions would drop to less than 60 million, and admission prices dropped by more than 10 cents to boot. The film industry, still relatively young at this point, wasn’t sure it would survive.

Universal did invest in theaters throughout the ‘20s, but they weren’t in nearly as precarious a position as the Big Five Studios, which were MGM, Paramount, Fox, Warner Brothers, and RKO. Universal was going through a little extra of a transition though with Junior Laemmle taking control of the studio when he turned 21 years old. Junior had grown up in the business, and had big ideas when he took over. He had a great sense of what audiences wanted to see, and he thought horror was the way to go. I think my Uncle Carl wasn’t totally convinced at first, but Junior kept pushing, and Uncle Carl decided to support him.

They bought exclusive rights to Bram Stoker’s Dracula for $40,000, and got to work on a movie. Initially, Junior wanted a lavish film similar to Hunchback of Notre Dame or Phantom of the Opera, but in that economic climate, it just wasn’t feasible, so the production was pared down quite a bit into what we see today. If you’ve been watching my videos, this won’t be new information for you, but Universal doubled down on their investment by creating the multi-language version of the film as well to broaden their audience. Spanish Dracula filmed every night on the same set after the English speaking cast went home. 

I really want to drive home the risk that Junior and Universal were taking by making Dracula. Hollywood hadn’t really made a fully supernatural film like Dracula before, and nobody - except for maybe Junior’s intuition - was sure how audiences would respond to it. But when Dracula came out, audiences flocked to theaters. Partly out of curiosity for this new, terrifying film that was making audience members faint from fear, but also because in the depths of the Depression, the film was a true escape. Historian David Skal said of the year 1931 - “America’s worst year of the century would be its best year ever for monsters."

With the success of Dracula, Universal rushed to follow up with Frankenstein. And then with each success they continued the monsters. The Mummy in 1932, The Invisible Man in 1933, Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, and more. But what was it about these movies that left such a mark on the world? Why did audiences keep seeing these movies in droves? I think it’s because these films really hit on the zeitgeist - the spirit or mood of the moment. 

In the case of Dracula, some saw Dracula as the Depression itself, draining them of their life. Frankenstein donned the outfit of the proletariat, ill-fitting clothes, big working boots … he was the outcast, misunderstood, just trying to make sense of the world around him. The Great Depression brought other cultural issues to the surface that I think made the monsters even more relevant. It’s not uncommon in times of national turmoil for people to look for an enemy or a villain. And in the 1930s - not so unlike today - it was easy to point to immigration as a driver behind the economic strife.

The 1880s through 1930 brought an influx of European immigrants never before experienced in the United States - among them was Uncle Carl himself from Germany. But this also led to an increase in immigration policy on the US Congressional docket: things like literacy requirements and quotas. How perfect then, that our antagonist in Dracula looks a little different, and speaks with an accent. This is even more pronounced in Frankenstein, which may have struck a chord with audiences, as it could be interpreted to depict the experience of a “less desirable” immigrant in the United States. 

With the Mummy in 1932, audiences were transported to Egypt - a country many of them would have never seen without the movies, especially given the financial climate. While simply capitalizing on the Egyptomania of the time, this film also managed to touch upon some genuine sentiments from the movie-going public: some have interpreted The Mummy to highlight the dangers of faraway places or other cultures, but this goes against most of what I know my Uncle Carl to believe. I think in the time of the Depression, in the time of escape, audiences saw Ardeth Bey as a stand-in for an unfulfilled life. Someone doomed to live just going through the motions, dreaming of something more … and maybe again, maybe there’s a connection to immigration at the time. He’s in a new world, disconnected from his past, trying to find what’s familiar. 

Then 1933’s Invisible Man. The villain can’t be seen, but causes mayhem for others. I remember making a video a while back about the high kill-count in the Invisible Man film. The Invisible Man can also be interpreted as a man feeling perhaps insignificant or underappreciated, on a quest to be seen … to have the power he thinks he deserves. The same way we have wealth inequality and disenfranchisement today, people felt their situation wasn’t fair and wasn’t in their own control during the Depression. The Invisible Man is a great metaphor for the forces they felt opposed them at the time. The Invisible Man was an international sensation, the New York Times named it one of the 10 Best Films of 1933, and it was one of Universal’s top grossing films that year, allowing Universal to continue on another year, when some other studios weren’t quite so lucky. 

And finally, the last monster movie that carried Universal through and allowed my Uncle Carl and Junior to hang on to the studio a bit longer as well - The Bride of Frankenstein. Of course this movie continues many of the themes from the first Frankenstein film, but it approaches some new ground. A quick note, I’d like to thank Tyler Mattis who is a long time viewer, and who I’ve collaborated with in the past for helping me understand some of these themes specific to Bride of Frankenstein. Frankenstein in this film, wanders from place to place, similar to those traveling in search of employment opportunities. He himself may be a representation of a victim of neglectful parenting - his creator abandoning him, and the search for someone new to fill that role. 

After half a decade of hardship, many were losing hope, and it was unfortunately all too real and relatable for the monster to proclaim, “I love dead…hate living.” And seeing no reason to go on, saying, “We belong dead” and pulling the lever to their demise. Again, Bride of Frankenstein was a financial success and gave Universal a little breathing room. But of course, I’ve made my videos about Show Boat and how my family lost Universal Studios, and it’s unfortunately true that the monster movies alone could not save my family’s ownership of Universal. 

I feel really confident saying that if it weren’t for the Universal Monster Movies of the 1930s, Universal Studios would not exist today. They were that important and they were that successful. The nation was in a dark place, and these movies, these monsters, helped people make sense of the world around them, and feel seen, heard, and less alone. Of course my interpretations of the films here are not the only interpretations, and they’re not the only reasons people connected with these films, but I believe they’re the pieces of the story that allowed Universal to survive year after year when other studios and other production companies couldn’t.