Lugosi test footage.

[Michael O'Regan]

Has the fabled test footage of Lugosi as the Frankenstein Monster ever surfaced?

[bobfells]

Like sightings of Bigfoot or Nessie, everybody seems to know about the test footage but nobody has apparently seen it. The version I read about long ago is that Lugosi was made up to look like the Golem, then footage was taken of him stalking around the Dracula castle set, directed by Robt Florey. The problem I have with this account is that it tested nothing about Bela's characterization. I could believe in test shots with the girl by the lake, or when he first enters and Dr. F tells him to sit down. But I can't figure out what stumbling around would prove. Also, I think an actor like Lugosi would be more interested in the Dr. F role, indeed Colin Clive received first billing. I can believe that Florey and Lugosi discussed the project and may have even pondered the role and looks of the Monster, but beyond that my credulity is strained.

[Scoundrel]

I believe the legend is that the test reel was in cameraman Paul Ivano's garage...

By the time it was "rediscovered", it had already crumbled due to nitrate decomposition.

[Jay Salsberg]

Around 1947, Universal-International junked all their silent films, screen tests, and original trailers. Since Lugosi's screen test didn't acquire "legendary" status until the late '60s (it wasn't worth diddly squat when he was alive), I'd say there's a 100% chance that it became nitrate soup in the late '40s... Paul Ivano urban legends not withstanding.

[The Blackbird]

Edward Van Sloan was reportedly "menaced" by Lugosi in the test reel and later commented his co-star "looked like something from BABES IN TOYLAND....

[todmichel]

The most surprising is that not a single still seems to have survived. After all, for other Universal movies of the same era, for instance "Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House", we have stills of the alternate makeups on Boris Karloff, not seen in the final films. Same thing for Lugosi, with his first (and, I think, better) make-up for "Island of Lost Souls" for Paramount. It seems curious that nobody was (apparently) on the set for some still photographs...

[Jay Salsberg]

The most surprising is that not a single still seems to have survived. After all, for other Universal movies of the same era, for instance "Frankenstein" and "The Old Dark House", we have stills of the alternate makeups on Boris Karloff, not seen in the final films. Same thing for Lugosi, with his first (and, I think, better) make-up for "Island of Lost Souls" for Paramount. It seems curious that nobody was (apparently) on the set for some still photographs...

The Karloff test shots which exist for FRANKENSTEIN, THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE RAVEN were all makeup reference stills made by/for Jack P. Pierce. Because Lugosi insisted on doing his own makeup for the FRANKENSTEIN screentest, Pierce wasn't involved and wouldn't have shot any reference photos.

It could also be argued that no still photos of anybody were shot for the screentest. After all, a screen test is created so the actor's movements, dialogue delivery and performance can be evaluated. A still photo can't do any of this, so it would seem to be a waste of time to shoot them. Who knows how many of the DRACULA contenders (Ian Keith, William Courtney, John Wray, Paul Muni) did screentests. Bernard Jukes certainly tested for "Renfield". And Bette Davis auditioned for "Elizabeth" in FRANKENSTEIN. No photos exist of them, either.

[todmichel]

You are right of course, but I was specifically thinking of an elaborate makeup, not stills of actors as themselves. I forgot that Pierce wasn't involved, but Lugosi himself having a full scrapbook of stills even for some of his old roles in Hungary, it seems strange that nothing subsists of this test.