Mainstream Outsider: Burton Adapts Burton

The original Frankenweenie (1984)—a 25-minute black-and-white reworking of James Whale’s 1931 version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) with nods to Whale’s 1935 sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein—was Tim Burton’s third professional directorial effort. It followed Vincent (1982), a six-minute black-and-white stop-motion film made while Burton was working at Disney, and a live-action version of the Grimms’ fairy tale Hansel and Gretel (1982) for the then embryonic cable Disney Channel.1 Championed by Burton’s advocate at Disney, Julie Hickson, Frankenweenie was financed by Disney at a cost just shy of $1 million and featured the voices of Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern, and Paul Bartel. Intended to be shown with Pinocchio upon its re-release in 1984, the film was shelved by Disney after it received a PG rating. Parents shown the film as part of its two test screenings found the film too “intense” (Smith and Matthews 37) for children, and Smith and Matthews observe that the reason for Disney’s lack of support for this venture was similar to that offered for its lack of support for Vincent: the film’s approach to childhood and death was too dark.