Terror of Frankenstein

Rounding out the sci-fi films of 1977 is the obscure Terror of Frankenstein (ToF). For its original european release, the film was titled Victor Frankenstein. The American distributors must have felt the film needed a more sensational title. ToS has the distinction of being one of the first films that attempted to be faithful to Mary Shelley’s novel. Calvin Floyd wrote the screenplay adaptation and directed the film. This swedish-irish production is low-budget, featuring a cast virtually unknown to American audiences. Per Oscarsson plays The Monster. Leon Vitali plays Victor Frankenstein.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A man dressed in furs staggers along, collapsing near a ship stuck in arctic sea ice. He is taken aboard and warmed. He tells the captain his tale of woe. The flashback begins. Young Victor is intrigued and obsessed with discovering the secret of life. He leaves to study medicine, despite a cozy home life, a good friend (Henry) and pretty fiancee, Elizabeth. At the school in Ingolstadt, he learns much and experiments. First, he works on animals. His professor tells him to try his work on a ‘grand scale’. Victor takes this to mean human-scale. He collects body parts (kept on ice) and shops for bodies and parts at the town morgue. He does his work with little explanation or exposition. Via a kite flown in a lightning storm, and a wire attached to the neck of his creation, the creation comes to life. Victor is suddenly terrified at his success. He runs away. The creation seeks Victor out, but Victor screams and runs out of the house. Henry comes to take Victor back to his home in Geneva. After being rejected by his creator, the monster wandered into the countryside. He is chased off by farmers with pitchforks. He hides in shed alongside a farm house. He steals some of the farmers’ food, and listens to them. The farmer reads from the Bible, (notably, the passage in 1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”) Via his exposure to the farm family, he learns to speak and read. When the farmer and his wife leave to the fields, the monster tries to befriend the blind grandfather. They return and he is chased away again. He returns to Victor’s loft lab in Ingolstadt. There, he reads Victor’s notes, discovering enough to locate Victor. The monster actually comes across Victor’s young brother William in the woods. He kills him after finding out who he is. Victor finds out it was his monster that killed his brother. The monster tells Victor that he must create a mate for him. If he doesn’t he’ll kill the rest of Victor’s family, one by one. Victor secludes himself on “an island” (Scotland) to work on his next creation. While on an introspective stroll, Victor sees that a nearby farm couple is brutally murdered — the work of his monster. He decides not to finish the she-monster, fearing that he might be unleashing a race that would torment mankind. The monster vows to get his revenge on Victor’s wedding night. Fast forward, Victor and Elizabeth marry. On his wedding night, the monster gets into the bedroom and kills Elizabeth. Victor vows to pursue the monster to the ends of the earth. The story catches up to the ship in the ice. The monster comes aboard and confronts his creator. Victor, enraged, dies of a heart attack. The monster, unsatisfied, says he has nothing to look forward to, but death. He walks off into the arctic night. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
After all of the previously-released films which spun off of the James Whale version of the story, seeing a film that followed Shelley’s original story fairly. The obscure (to American eyes) cast helps the characters be themselves. The stark landscapes enhance the severity of the story.

Saga Connection
Floyd’s screenplay tries to adhere to Shelley’s original story, so is not built upon the James Whale version in any way. Yet, following the original as it does, viewers can see the sources of elements used in the Whale Saga. The Bride, the old blind man playing his violin, the death of a child, etc. One can even see the source of many of the names that got used for starring Frankensteins: Victor, Henry, William.

Notes
Based on the Book — Floyd’s script tries to follow Shelley’s story, almost scene by scene. It opens with the arctic scene as framing device and tells the story in flashback. Within that large flashback are smaller flashbacks to fill in backstory. Such a complex structure was not all that uncommon for 19th century novels (when people had more patience and attention-span), but can confuse (or annoy) the modern viewer accustomed to simple stories told in direct linear fashion. Floyd’s production suffers, as most movies-based-on-novels tend to, for being insufficient time to tell such a complex story. Yet, he gets all the major elements in, and manages to evoke some of the pathos in both characters and never lapses into the sentimental.

Classic Cautionary Tale — Just as Faust was the cautionary tale those who would ‘sell out’ morally, Frankenstein was the primal cautionary tale for scientists. In his myopic zeal to discover the secret of life, Victor never thought about what ‘success’ would really mean (rather like Faust). Like atomic scientists, driven on to ‘discover the secrets of the atom,’ true success was terrifying. Also like the atom, no one could run away and hide from that success. It just kept standing there. Victor even warns Henry, metaphorically, that one should never climb mountains alone. Too late, Victor sees that his creation is terrible, not just frightening. When he sees the Scottish farm couple murdered in the ransacked home, it becomes inescapable what his human ‘bomb’ can (and will) do. He rationalizes that maybe if the monsters stayed on some remote island, mankind would be safe. This is the same thinking of the Nuclear Club in the 50s. Victor refuses to finish the she-monster, as he realizes the monsters could never be contained.

Parental Obligations — On a more moral plane, Shelley has the monster represent the long-term consequences of man’s short term thinking. On a more obvious level, is the propensity of people to think only short term (sex) and want to run from the long term (the resulting child). But, on a more analogous level, the tendency of people to eagerly create, but disown their creation. Men who foment for war, but are aghast at the destruction. Bureaucrats who foment for some new program ‘for the benefit of mankind’, only to see it become a willful beast ‘consuming’ the little people. Mankind is too quick to discover (create), but too prone to disown responsibility for what they create.

Bottom line? ToF is not a highly polished film in the Hollywood sense. It suffers, at times, from a low budget and a non-mainstream crew. Yet, these features also give the film an earnest air. ToF has value as an honest attempt to bring Shelley’s tale to the screen, instead of perpetuating more of the Hollywood myth begun by Whale and copied by opportunists ever since. For its fidelity to Shelley, ToF is worth watching.

Embryo

Jack Thomas’s story for Embryo revisits one of the perennial tropes in sci-fi: man creating life. As is usual for this trope, the story is a sci-fi / horror hybrid. Rock Hudson stars as the customary misguided doctor. Barbara Carrera stars as his creation. In essence, the story is a modern spin on Frankenstein. A well-meaning doctor creates a human being, whose very newness creates problems which ultimately undo him. Though Embryo had a theatrical release, the photography, sets and acting exude 70s television quality. The re-release title of Created to Kill is much less artistic, but also misleading.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Paul Holliston hits a dog while driving home. He takes the hurt dog to his home medical lab, trying to save it. Dog was pregnant. He can’t save the dog, but keeps one pup fetus alive via medical techniques he and his dead wife worked on. It works. The premature pup grows at amazingly fast rate, becoming a full grown dog in a few days. He is able to stop the rapid growth. The dog is also very smart. However, the dog also kills a yappy dog and hides Yappy in some bushes. Paul want to try his formula on a human premature fetus. Doctor friend reluctantly agrees. Suicide girl was 5 months pregnant. Paul gets the fetus. The treatment works, but too well. The fetus grows into a small girl, then a teen. Finally, Paul stops the growth, which was becoming rapid aging. The subject is now a svelte young woman. She awakens. Paul teaches her about the world, but she has an advanced mind, so learns fast. Speed-reads many books. At a party, she makes her debut as Victoria Spencer, Paul’s new lab assistant. She amazes everyone with her wit, charm and beauty. She beats a chess champion (Roddy MacDowell) in her first game. That night, she seduces Paul to “experience” more. Victoria starts to feel pains. She sneaks injections of a drug to slow the aging, but it never lasts. She learns that the cure requires the pituitary gland of a 6 month old fetus. Paul’s sister-in-law, Martha threatens to expose Victoria as a fake. Victoria gives her an injection while she sleeps so she has a heart attack later. Victoria lures a pregnant prostitute to the house intent to steal the baby, but Helen (Paul’s daughter-in-law) interrupts. The prostitute fetus apparently did not work, so Victoria drugs Helen and takes her baby (by C-section). Paul and Gordon interrupt. In the scuffle, Victoria stabs Gordon dead. The fetus is lost. Victoria flees, driving a yellow TransAm. Paul gives chase, finally causing her to crash. The car bursts into flames, but Victoria was thrown clear. Paul tries to drown her in the river, but is stopped by a crowd. Paramedics say that the woman (now with much “old woman” makeup) is having a baby! Nooo! shouts Paul. Fade to black. Sound of a slap and a baby cry. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Rock Hudson manages to bring some first-tier acting to the cast, but Barbara Carerra steals the show. Besides being excellent on the eyes, she manages to give depth to the Victoria role. While the first three quarters of the film are fairly slow paced, the final minutes are very fast paced. The twist ending is intriguing too. Roddy McDowall gives an entertaining performance as the high-strung chess master.

Cultural Connection
The Abortion Debate had people arguing about when an unborn baby (a fetus) was a “person” or not. America was still trying to adjust to the new Roe v Wade decision. Dr. Holliston’s goal to save very-premature fetuses seems to come from the pro-life side. Victoria’s cold approach to getting a fetus — even if it meant murder — seems to represent the pro-abortion side. The story manages to pre-sage the embryonic stem cell debate that would rage 30 years later.

Notes
Dr. Frankenstein, I presume — The story in Embryo is a modern retelling of the classic Frankenstein story. A well-meaning doctor thinks he has a special process that will benefit mankind. He steps over moral lines to experiment on human material. In both cases, the human material was technically outside of the law (already dead for Frankenstein, not yet a viable “human” for Holliston). Both manage to ‘create’ an adult who is totally new to the world — the emotional development of an infant, but the body of an adult. The creation kills people, more out of self-preservation than malice. The creation destroys the doctor’s life. (Literally, in the 1931 film, figuratively in the novel, legally/ethically in the Embryo film)

Untempered Intellect — Victoria gets to symbolize the cold scientific mind: highly capable, but morally rudderless. She reads the Bible, thinking it was an interesting story but “highly illogical.” Logic was not the point of the Bible. She totally misses morality. When she plays chess with McDowall, she has no social experience to see the wider scale of human games (ego, etiquette, deference, etc.), only winning. So, when Victoria recognizes a threat to her happiness, she reacts without scruples, killing Martha. When it came down to killing people (the prostitute) and Helen’s baby in order to live, she acted without hesitation. She had the intellect to act, but no ethics to restrain that action. The point being, that intellect might be innate, but morality must be learned.

Computer Room — The greasy Liesure-Suit-Larry character is a computer manager. He shows Victoria his room-sized computer (and it’s a really big room too). This was the pinnacle of high-tech computing the mid-70s. Tall cabinets of blinking lights and spinning tape drives line the walls. She types into an input station. He monitors at a different station. He retrieves the answer from a printer larger than a chest-style freezer. Those were the days. Big was impressive back then.

Car Nut — Cars don’t factor into the story much, but Martha’s bright yellow TransAm is so symbolic of the mid 70s. It’s hard not to point it out.

Bottom line? Embryo is a decent enough sci-fi / thriller. Some decry it as cheap horror, but there isn’t much horror in it. Victoria doesn’t go ‘psycho’ so much as she simply lacks morality. Hudson’s acting is okay, if not up to his caliber. Carrara does a good job, looking naively happy, conflicted and panicky-resolute. The director (and producers?) included some gratuitous nudity as de riguer for film in the 70s (and beyond). Embryo may be slow paced and a bit talky for some, but it is actually a fairly thoughtful rendition of the classic Frankenstein story.

The Man They Could Not Hang

Continuing in the theme of science and immortality, is Columbia's 1939 film, The Many They Could Not Hang (MCNH). This was the first of four similarly themed movies by Columbia, all starring Boris Karloff in roughly the same 'mad scientist' role. While there is predominant crime-drama flavor to the film, it has some science fiction as a necessary component. In this case, it is an artificial heart that can revive a recently killed person. There is more than a little bit of cross-pollination from Universal's Frankenstein series, which was up to it's third installment.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Savaard (Karloff) has developed an artificial heart machine. He has revived dead animals with smaller versions. The next step is to do it with a human. Why? So doctors can perform long complex surgeries on non-bleeding patients, then revive them. Savaard's assistant Bob volunteers to be 'killed' and revived. His fiancee, Betty, panics and tells the police. They interrupt the process and arrest Savaard before he can revive Bob. Bob then stays dead. Savaard is put on trial for Bob's death. He tries to appeal to the jury about the benefits of science, but most of them just want him dead. Savaard has arranged for his secret protege, Lang, to take his body after the hanging, "for science". Lang does so, and revives Savaard's dead body after 3 months of surgery to repair his broken neck. Once alive again, Savaard plots revenge. Six of the jurors mysteriously hang themselves. The judge, District Attorney, prosecutor, police doctor, Betty and remaining jurors are all summoned to the Savaard mansion by fake telegrams from the judge. Once everyone is there, Savaard tells them he will kill them all, one by one. The judge dies first, grabbing the electrified iron grating. The prosecutor, Mr. Kearney, is next, dead from a poison needle in the telephone earpiece. Betty is to be next, but the plan is interrupted by the arrival of Janet, Savaard's lovely adult daughter. She pleads with him no to. He rants about how all of science's gifts have been used for evil. She agrees to leave, but threatens to touch the electrified grate to let the people out. Savaard pleads with her not to. She does, and dies. The DA shoots Savaard when he rushes to fallen Janet. He says he can save her with his machine. They take dead Janet upstairs and hook her up to the machine. After awhile, she lives again. Savaard, mortally wounded, waits until everyone is out of the lab, then shoots his glass-and-tubes heart machine to bits. He then expires. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Boris Karloff is the main reason for viewing pleasure. He turns in another fine example of the fragile genius "mad scientist." The prescience of an artificial heart is a fun bit of (now) retro science fiction -- an interesting gizmo of glass flasks and rubber tubes.

Saga Connection
MCNH was not directly part of Universal's Frankenstein franchise, but it borrowed from it. In Son of Frankenstein, the year before, was the trope of a hanged man who did not die, extracting revenge on the jurors and magistrate. In this case, it was Ygor (Bela Lugosi) using the monster do this. In MCNH, it is Karloff (the former monster) who is the revenger.

Notes
First of Four -- Karloff's 1936 film with British-Gaumont, The Man Who Lived Again, got the ball rolling. Columbia pictures decided the idea "had legs" and signed up Karloff to do four more films like it over the course of 18 months or so. MCNH was the first of the four. It was shot and printed in 1939. The others are, The Man With Nine Lives, Before I Hang, and The Devil Commands. All follow the basic pattern of a scientist with some boon for mankind, but he is rejected and turns into the stereotypic mad scientist. Apparently, audiences in the early 40s had quite an appetite for such films.

Self-fulfilling Hypocracy -- Dr. Savaard rants to his daughter that the world doesn't deserve his science gift. "We gave them wings to fly and the rain death upon us. We give them a voice to be heard around the world and they preach hatred to poison the minds of nations. Even the medicine we gave them has been used to enslave half mankind for the profit of a few. Every gift that science has given them has been twisted into a thing of hate and greed." On the one hand, this is a subtle condemnation of the Nazis, who were conquering France at this point in time. Yet, was Dr. Savaard himself really any different from the Nazis he disliked so much? He, himself, was using his science gift to rain down death, to speak hate, etc. for his own selfish ends.

Heart of Glass -- A fun, and almost steampunk, bit of propping is Savaard's mechanical heart. An elaborate "pump" of glass flasks and rubber tubes, the central two chambers tick-tock back and forth. This artificial pump forced the flow of blood which somehow was supposed to restart the dead person's heart. Curiously, the glass heart only seemed to pump clear water, not blood. Perhaps a darker fluid (this was black and white, after all) would have hidden the bubbles which were half the "animation". Or, perhaps the thought of a few gallons of blood sloshing around in beakers was thought to be a bit too much for sensitive viewers. Either way, it was a cool "machine."

Who Was First? -- The trope of a vengeful man inviting his victims to a lonely location and killing them off one by one, is probably older than this 1939 film. Some reviewers on imdb.com see the second half of MCNH as copying from other movies. One movie they say MCNH was Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" (aka "10 Little Indians). Trouble is. Her novel was released in 1939, too. Another film incorrectly deemed the original was The House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price. But this film was 1959. The trope is, no doubt, an older one, but MCNH did not copy these two more famous examples.

Bottom line? MCNH is fast paced and well shot. Karloff turns in another good performance as the brilliant-altruist-turned-'mad"-scientist. Granted, the sci-fi component is secondary to the crime-revenge story. Still, it's better entertainment than many other films with weak sci-fi that filled the decades to follow.

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

Last up for the year 1971 is The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (RZW). This low-budget B film not have actually had a theatrical release, but was released directly to video. Hence the VHS cover art in lieu of a poster. RZW is included here as a precursor to several later films dealing with cloning and the ethics thereof. It stars Leslie Nielsen, in a serious role, and Angie Dickenson as the obligatory pretty doctor. Bradford Dillman stars in the title role. Wheeler is near dead from a car crash, but "resurrected" in a secret shadow-government medical lab.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Note: the dual story threads are more consolidated in this synopsis. In the film, they are intercut in small segments) Senator Wheeler is driving home from a party at night. A man in a big Suburban crosses the centerline. In the "horrible" crash, the man and his lady friend are killed. Wheeler is mortally injured. TV reporter Harry Walsh (Nielson) happens on the scene. He recognizes Wheeler, has a scoop news flash, then accompanies Wheeler to the hospital. After a mysterious phone call, the hospital denies Wheeler was ever there. Walsh is adamant, but not believed. Wheeler is flown to a secret hospital in New Mexico where the undergoes multiple transplants of his many damaged organs. The donors are "Somas", human body clones injected with a patient's DNA to make them compatible. Due to the massive coverup, Walsh is not believed, and fired from his job. He sets out to investigate, uncovering bits here and there that lead him to New Mexico. The secret lab, headed by a Dr. Fielding, performs their miracle transplants on key world leaders, giving Fielding and his "Committee" unprecedented power over the men they "save." Wheeler awakens and is nursed to health by Dr. Johnson (Dickenson). A romance buds. When Wheeler learns of the whole scheme, he is righteously indignant and refuses to be a part of it. Walsh eventually eludes his pursuers and sneaks onto the secret base. He finds a room full of generic humanoid clones, physically adult, but mentally vegetables. He finds Wheeler's extra Soma, which with the extra time has come to look like him. Walsh 'rescues' the Soma, thinking it's Wheeler. He carjacks Dr. Johnson's car. In the ensuing car chase, they crash. Dr. Johnson is critically hurt. Fielding uses his power to save Johnson to force Wheeler to cooperate. Wheeler refuses. Fielding makes vague threats to both Wheeler and Walsh, should either leak the truth. A call comes in that Chinese Premier Chou Enlai had a heart attack and needs their special resurrection process. Fielding and his chief surgeon stride off to do another "good deed." Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is actually a good amount of ethical issues content to keep many a long conversation going. The issues are still relevant today, 40 years later. While not a "praise", exactly, the very low production qualities of the film are a nostalgic reminder of 70s style crank-em-out television programming.

Cultural Connection
The trope of cloning as a means to an end (usually nefarious) was growing in popularity. While RZW is a fairly obscure film, it is a precursor to other, more famous works along the same lines, such as Coma and The Sixth Day.

Notes
Ethic Battle -- Central to the story is the ethics of (a) growing generic humanoids and (b) using life-saving surgery solely as a socio-political tool. On the cloning front, the question is raised (but not resolved) as to whether Fielding's Soma creations are human life or not. Does one have to be articulate, or intelligent to have a soul? On the other front, there is the running debate over men (the Committee) deciding who ought to be "saved" and who should be allowed to die -- particularly when the deciding criteria is how useful the person is to The Committee's vague agenda. The questions raised in RZW will show up again in many later movies.

It's Da Gub'mint -- Government conspiracy themes were growing in popularity in the early 70s. The Andromeda Strain is the more famous of them. Perhaps it was a natural outgrowth of the counter-culture of the 60s -- who distrusted the establishment, presuming they could only be up to no good. In RZW, a sort of shadow oligarchy rule the nations of earth by manipulating their leaders. Blackmail for life. It takes an audience already convinced that there are shifty goings-on, secret government labs, etc. etc., for the premise to work.

Henry Ford-enstein -- Dr. Johnson describes how Fielding's lab grows generic human bodies from eggs made to grow without fertilization. Thus, the bodies are "not human", as (for some reason), the brains do not develop, so they don't think or have a soul. (how do they know this?) Thus, Fielding can mass produce Soma bodies as living organ farms. He was a cross between Frankenstein (make bodies) and Henry Ford (mass producing them).

Nielsen, Seriously -- Given his later success in comedy, seeing Leslie Nielsen in a serious role as dogged reporter, has a fascination to it. Careful watching can reveal some of his comedic style present, despite the serious role.

Uninspired Vision -- Devotees of camera work or directorial art will note the nearly constant visual "desert" in the production of RZW. Director Bob Wynn was more in his element doing television documentaries or gala specials and tributes. He was not so much a cinematic artist. Note the very many shots with plain empty backgrounds. A single actor's face or head filling the center of the screen. The fixed camera shots where a simple pan left-right counts as "action" shooting. Almost all shots are done from eye level, giving the movie a very stolid feel. The music, such as it is, is often poorly matched library tracks, enhancing the cheap TV feel.

Squeal On Dirt! -- A favorite peeve, and hallmark of B-grade productions, is when the director (or editor) dubs in tire squeal to spice up a chase scene -- even if the cars are on dirt roads. Wynn has several of these.

Bottom line? RZW is a mixed diet of interesting concepts and really poor execution. The good outweighs the bad, however. Especially since there will be several sinister cloning movies coming down the pike. RZW is not nearly as well known, but was there before its more famous siblings.

The Revenge of Dr.X

This review is a bit out of chronological order. The Revenge of Dr. X (RDX) was released in February of 1970. As such, it would have appeared at the same time as The Horror of Frankenstein, which is fitting. RDX is a variant on the Frankenstein trope, and a very low B-grade production that looks like a poor quality made-for-television movie. RDX went by many titles (see below). Some copies have the wrong credits. The film appears aimed at the drive-in market, as the topless pearl divers would obviously not have been television fare.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Bragan is an over-stressed NASA scientist. His rocket lifts off successfully, but he suffers a bit of a breakdown. His associate, Paul, suggests a summer vacation in Japan to dabble in botany, as a way to relax. Driving up to New York from Florida, he has car trouble. At the country gas station and snake pit, he collects a venus flytrap plant. He flies with it to Japan. Paul's niece, Noriko, will be Bragan's guide and assistant for the summer. She's a botanist. They travel to a remote abandoned hotel owned by her father. The caretaker is a creepy hunchback who like's to play Bach's Toccata in D on the pipe organ. Bragan sets up shop in the greenhouse, nurturing his venus flytrap. He also seeks a sea plant of similar habits. He and Noriko dive around but can't find one. Noriko enlists the aid of a group of topless pearl divers. They find one. Bragan packs it off to his lab. There, he grafts the two together surgically to create a human-sized plant man. He brings it to life with lightening from a storm. They figure out that it eats animals. Noriko worries about the monster, but Bragan sees it as his triumph. All it needs is the blood from a human heart. He sneaks into a sanitarium and withdraws a syringe of blood from a bare-chested patient. Once he injected the blood, the monster can move. It emits a sleeping gas which knocks out Noriko and Bragan. It escapes, terrorizes the village and kills some hapless villagers. The villagers turn out as a mob with torches. Bragan says he will destroy the monster, but really wants to rescue it and flee. He finds the monster in the rocky hills, but the two of them fall off a cliff and presumably die. Noriko carries the baby goat down the mountain. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
RDX is so low budget that it's almost fun to watch for its lack of production value. James Craig's manic over-acting can be amusing too. RDX is just bizarre enough to have a sort of eccentric charm.

Cultural Connection
The Frankenstein story was an easy sell (and easy to write). The market for really cheap second features for drive-ins was still there in 1970.

Notes
By Many Names -- RDX went by many names. Ed Wood Jr. is said to have listed a film called Venus Flytrap among his works. This film has also gone by the benign and cryptic title of The Double Garden. It has also appeared with the title Body of the Prey. The copy for this review carried the title The Revenge of Dr. X -- which doesn't fit very well, as Dr. Bragan is never called Dr. X, nor does he have any wrong to be avenged. He's just mad -- and angry.

Frankenstein Roots -- Much of RDX is a remake of Frankenstein, but with the mad doctor being a botanist instead of a biologist. Matching features include: The doctor sewing up various parts to make his man-like creation. The use of lightening to animate it. The creature is hoisted to the roof on a tilting table so the lighting can strike. It emerges off of a tilting lab table. Noriko says, "It's alive!" The doctor has a hunchback minion. The hunchback taunts the monster. The monster escapes and kills some villagers. The villagers assemble a mob with torches. The monster and its creator die.

Intriguing Loose Thread -- Nothing is made of it, but apparently Bragan was turning into a plant monster himself, after getting some plant juice in an open cut. He covered up one hand with a big black rubber glove, and put a mouse into it. The mouse never came out. His other hand is turning green. Curious that nothing was made of this thread.

In the Woods? -- The credits on some copies of the film are for a completely different film -- the Mad Doctor of Blood Island. Conventional wisdom says that Ed Wood Jr. wrote the story. The tale certainly has its bizarre quirkiness enough to have come from Ed.

Budget Gable -- James Craig, who usually played in westerns, looks vaguely like Clark Gable after a hard life. Craig plays his part with exaggeration and hamminess all the more obvious by the sedate acting of the japanese actors. His manic bouts of being a total jerk have a sort of morbid fascination to them.

Car Nuts -- There are many late 60s japanese cars on display. The nice red Honda S600 gets almost as much screen time to get third billing in the credits.

Bottom line? RDX is a deservedly obscure film with such low production values that early 50s TV shows look slick. The "music" is canned generic stuff that only occasionally fits. Most of the time is jarringly wrong. Fans of Ed Wood-style films will find plenty of what they like. Frankenstein fans might be amused at the parallel universe remake. RDX must be seen to believe such a film could exist.

The Horror of Frankenstein

Hammer Films' Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed ('69) was well received, but Hammer's revenue continued to decline. The studio sought to reinvigorate their Frankenstein franchise with a younger actor (Ralph Bates) instead of Peter Cushing. Hammer added more gore, and more sex, the later via the cleavagy Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson. HoF was written, produced and directed by Jimmy Sangster, a writer of the earlier Hammer Frankenstein films. Despite having "more" of what the studio executives imagined young 70s audiences wanted, The Horror of Frankenstein (HoF) was not all that well received by those audiences.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Young Victor wants to study anatomy, but his father, the Baron, says "over my dead body" (essentially). So, Victor arranges for one of his father's guns to explode in his face. Having inherited the title and wealth, Victor goes to Vienna to study anatomy, leaving behind his school friends: Henry, Elizabeth, Stephan and Louise. In Vienna, he makes a new friend, William. The two of them return to Castle Frankenstein for the summer to do experiments. The housekeeper, Alys, was the sex toy of the father, and carries on those duties with Victor. His equipment and experiments are benign enough at first. After reviving a dead turtle, Victor confesses his true plan, to build a person. This is too much for William. Victor employs a grave robber to bring him body parts. He does. William threatens to expose Victor for his horrors. Victor electrocutes William, and uses some of his body parts. The last part he needs is a brain. William poisons Elizabeth's father. Digger gets his brain after the funeral. When Digger brings it up to the lab, the assembled monster startles him, so he drops the brain. It is damaged. Victor pushes Digger into his vat of acid. He knew too much. Meanwhile, Elizabeth finds out her dead father was deep in debt. She is cast onto the streets by the creditors. She goes to Victor's castle for help (she has always loved Victor). Victor installs the damaged brain and jolts it alive with help from lightening. The monster knocks Victor out and goes out into the woods. There, he encounters a wood cutter, whom he kills with his own ax. Stephan, now Victor's cook, sees this and tells the police. Victor plays coy, but had knocked out his monster and brought him back to the castle. Chained in a dungeon, Victor trains the mute creature, using raw meat rewards. With no other suspect, the courts condemn Stephan for the crime. Digger's wife comes looking for her husband. She says she must tell the police about him delivering body parts and all. Victor says fine, take the short cut through the woods. She does, and Victor has his monster waiting. She dies. When the police come asking around, Alys tries to blackmail Victor for what she knows. Victor shows her the dungeon and tosses her in with the monster. She dies. Later, the monster breaks free and wanders off. He scares a young girl in another poor man's forest cabin. Victor anesthetizes the monster to hide him. When the police come to search his lab, the young girl pokes around the lab curiously. She pulls the ropes, dumping acid into the vat where Victor had hidden his monster. A win and a loss. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The visual charm of Hammer's Victorian gothic style is still much in evidence.

Saga Connection
HoF amounts to a remake of Hammer's hit Curse of… ('57). It follows young Victor, who inherits the title, has a servant as a mistress, who is killed by the monster. His monster also kills some other people. In the end, the monster is destroyed in a vat of acid, so there is no evidence of it. Sound familiar? Since JImmy Sangster wrote the screenplay for CoF, it's little surprise that the two stories are so much alike. As a remake of the first chapter, HoF is not really part of the larger epic.

Notes
Hammer Falls More -- HoF was supposed to appeal to the modern (70s) audience, especially young males. It had a younger star for the Baron, it had more blood and violence and more cleavage. Yet, the added bells and whistles did not help. HoF was not a box office hit. Perhaps Cushing's Baron was more important than youth. Hammer did bring him back for one last Frankenstein film. Perhaps the Victorian gothic style -- which sold so well in the 60s -- was just not the 70s' cup of tea. Perhaps word got out that the plot was just a rehash and nothing new.

More Sex, More Violence -- Hammer was trying to compete with the newer cheap gore films and blatant sex content. They tried to wedge more of both in a Frankenstein movie, but it still didn't help. They put Kate O'Mara (Alys) into an absurd costume that gave her a nearly bare chest. Director Jimmy Sangster kept having her curtsey deeply as if hoping to entrance (male) viewers into expecting overflow. Veronica Carlson (Elizabeth) had her amplitude threatening to spill over too, but with a bit more dignity. There are a few sex scenes too, though mild enough for 21st century television. The violence is cranked up a notch too, with the monster brutally chopping a victim with his own axe and more bloody body parts on tables and in jars. Boosting the sex and violence, however, did not help.

Buff Monster -- The monster in HoF is played by David Prowse. He would later gain fame playing Darth Vader (though with the mask, who'd know?). The makeup was confined to the upper head and vaguely reminiscent of Jack Pierce's famous Universal monster. The rest was just David's muscular physique. with de facto shorts made of bandages. This buff version of the monster is incongruous with the whole frightening-monster idiom begun by Shelley. It may have been another (desperate) attempt by Hammer to appeal to younger viewers. That didn't work either. Prowse came off more like a dim-witted jock than a monster.

Bottom line? HoF is considered by Hammer Frankenstein fans to be the weakest of the series. As a remake of CoF, it certainly lacks novelty. HoF isn't a bad film, per se, it just had bigger shoes to fill than it could manage. There is the usual small dabble of science via surgery, but this is even smaller in HoF.

Colossus: The Forbin Project

In the spring of 1970, Universal released a powerful sleeper of a sci-fi: Colossus: The Forbin Project (CFP). Unjustly, it seldom makes it onto lists of great sci-fi. CFP does not star big name talent. Eric Braeden and Susan Clarke were more known in television series roles. Nor does it have flashy special effects. The story is an excellent follow-up to our recent Frankenstein study, with a high-tech (for 1970) monster and its creator. Based on the 1966 novel "Colossus" by D. F. Jones. The poster makes a dark recasting of the 1967 musical "Hair" and the song "Age of Aquarius," by stating "This is the dawning of the age of Colossus."

Quick Plot Synopsis
Deep beneath a Colorado mountain, Dr. Charles Forbin turns on a super computer the size of an office building. He seals it up, and leaves. Forbin, the President and a room full of dignitaries congratulate themselves on their national defense success. Colossus would handle American nuclear missile defense faster and without human failings. Colossus interrupts the parties to announce: "There Is Another System." It detected that the Soviets had a matching super computer named Guardian. Colossus requests a data link between the two. Both sides are reluctant, but agree. Colossus and Guardian develop a common language, beginning with math, through calculus and into binaries. Worried that they don't know what their computers are sharing, both sides cut the link. Colossus demands it be restored. When the humans say no, Colossus and Guardian launch a missile. They refuse to intercept the incoming missiles unless the link is restored. The humans relent, but not in time. A Russian oil complex and town are destroyed. Forbin and his Russian counterpart, Kuprin, meet in Rome to discuss what to do. Colossus finds out and orders Kuprin shot (or it would destroy Moscow), and Forbin brought home to house arrest and 24 hour surveillance. Forbin tells Colossus that he needs privacy for sex. He names as his mistress, his cohort, Dr. Cleo Markham. In these pretend romantic interludes, Forbin and Cleo exchange news and plans. Programmers Johnson and Fisher plan to run some mega-complex program in hopes of overloading Colossus's circuits. Colossus orders all missiles retargeted to other nations so it can control them too. The army generals plan to swap out missile detonators for dummy detonators, eventually depriving Colossus of weapons. Fisher tries the overload program, but Colossus knew. It orders Johnson and Fisher shot, as a lesson to all. It also detected the missile sabotage and blows up two missiles in their silos as a lesson to everyone. In its eerie electronic voice, Colossus addresses the world to say that it is now in control of the world. "Obey me and live. Disobey and die. The choice is yours." Colossus tells Forbin that he will someday regard him with respect and awe, and eventually love. Forbin proclaims: Never! The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Even though the visuals are sorely dated (punch tape?) the story line remains very relevant even today. There is much food for thought in this film. All that room-filling computer equipment is a nostalgia treat for those "into" computers before there were desktop PCs.

Cold War Angle
The stalemate between the West and the East serves as a background, but the old squabbles pale in comparison to the solution. The horror we thought we feared from THEM, instead comes a compassionless third party -- of our own making.

Notes
The REAL Frankenstein 1970 -- Unlike the Boris Karloff film of 1958, by that title, CFP truly is the story of Frankenstein modernized for the world of 1970. Forbin is the computer-age incarnation of the well-meaning (if naive) genius doctor. The monster he creates is a powerful giant. As in the classic tales, the doctor loses control of his monster. It kills and cannot be stopped. The writers clearly had this in mind. At one point, Cleo tells Forbin that her mother thought the novel Frankenstein should be required reading of all scientists. Forbin agreed.

Technophobia -- The 1950s' infatuation with science and technology was fading during the 60s. Technology was becoming something to fear. Early examples of the technophobia sub-genre include: Gog ('54) in which a computer which controls an entire defense base begins killing people off; The huge Krell computer in Forbidden Planet (56) is a forerunner of Colossus. The Invisible Boy ('57) is a story of a super computer secretly improves itself until it begins taking over control'. As computers began to show up more in the lives of middle-america, the more resonance there was for technophobia films.

Political Parallels -- CFP works well, too, as a political allegory that is relevant for today -- even 50 years later. Men seeking relief from some great fear, can rush too quickly to create a government powerful enough to relieve that fear. Their "creation" will succeed in its task, but become a "monster," a new tyrant worse than the old fear. In the early 1930s, the German people sought relief from an economy in shambles. They created a government that would become the Nazi state. Russian peasants and workers sought relief from the oppression of the Tsarist system, but created the Stalinist state.
"A government big enough to give you everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have…." -- President Gerald Ford,, 1974
The lesson in CFP fits today. Whether the "great fear" is global warming, or terrorists, a rush to create a government powerful enough to solve it quickly, will become an even more terrible tyrant. Beware of politicians in a hurry for you to approve their plans.

Non-Silent Screen -- Note how messages displayed on Colossus' screens are always accompanied by loud printing sounds. CRTs and message boards make no sound. That would be too underwhelming, so director Joseph Sargent had most of the displays make a printer sound. People like audio clues to visuals. A real life example of this is in Boston's South Station. The big schedule board is all LEDs, therefore silent. But when it changes, a sound is played -- that of the cascading split-flap style boards of the 1980s. We like sounds with our visual messages.

Bottom line? If you haven't seen CFP. Find it. Watch it. Just as Cleo's mom thought "Frankenstein" should be required reading for scientists, CFP should be required viewing for people eager to give governments more power to solve some issue. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: Those willing to give up freedom for safety, will end up with neither. Fans of action sci-fi flicks, accustomed to fireball explosions, zipping spaceships or magical special effects, will likely find CFP boring, so will miss the warnings.

Frankenstein Films

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, "Frankenstein: or The New Prometheus" was one of the first modern science fiction novels. Modern, in that it was science, not the supernatural, that created the monster. Her story is probably best remembered by the iconic image of the monster with flat-topped head, bolts in his neck and green skin. This images was created by Universal Studios makeup artist Jack Pierce. His monster was featured in seven Universal films from 1931 to 1948. Britain's Hammer Films took the concept and created seven of their own Frankenstein films. Though, their films were focused on the doctor more than the monster. Below are the films reviewed in this study: FrankenFEST.

 Edison's Frankenstein -- A 1910 silent movie short based on Shelley's book, featuring alchemy as the science.

Homunculus -- 1916 Silent film series in six parts. A chemically-created person, unable to love, antagonizes humanity because he cannot feel love.

1931: Frankenstein -- THE film that created the cultural icon. Boris Karloff stars as the monster.

Bride of Frankenstein -- The sequel in which the doctor creates a mate for his monster. The monster speaks, but the relationship is doomed.

Son of Frankenstein -- Basil Rathebone stars as a son of Henry. Karloff stars as the monster for the last time. Bela Lugosi plays the hunchback, Ygor.

Ghost of Frankenstein -- The ghost of Henry persuades his other son, Ludwig, to fix the monster and vindicate him.

Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man -- Dual sequel with two monsters who fight to an inconclusive end.

House of Frankenstein -- Plot mashup with the monster, Dracula, the Wolfman, a lovelorn hunchback and an evil doctor, played by Boris Karloff.

Three Frankenstein Miscellany Non-saga and indie films: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and Frankenstein 1970. The latter starring Boris Karlof.

Curse of Frankenstein -- Hammer Films' start of a new saga. Peter Cushing stars as Victor Frankenstein. Christopher Lee plays his monster.

Revenge of Frankenstein -- The Baron escaped the guillotine and tries to help his hunchback friend get a new body.

Evil of Frankenstein -- Story retold and loosely akin to Universal's saga. Baron returns to old castle to find his flat-headed monster frozen in ice.

Frankenstein Creates Woman -- The Baron remakes the body of a crippled suicide victim into a hottie, then transfers in the "soul" of his dead assistant. The dual-personality Christina stalks and kills the three men who framed Hans for murder.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed -- The Baron blackmails a young doctor to kidnap an insane brain-transplant doctor, to learn his secrets.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Released in late 1969 in the UK, but early 1970 in the USA, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (FMBD) is the beginning of 70s sci-fi for American audiences. FMBD marked the fifth film in which Peter Cushing plays Baron Frankenstein, still up to his old dream, but now as a poor outcast. This film makes more sense when viewed after the previous four. Terance Fisher returned to direct. As usual for the Hammer series, the focus is much more on Victor than on his creations.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A doctor is decapitated on the streets of London. A burglar breaks into a house, but finds inside a macabre lab. The decapitator comes back and finds him. They fight, trashing the lab. Burglar flees. The decapitator is Dr. Frankenstein. He quickly disposes of bodies and parts and flees. The police eventually follow up, but find the lab abandoned. Victor, under the pseudonym of Mr. Fennel, takes up lodging in the rooming house of Anna Spengler. He discovers that Anna's fiance, Karl, has been sneaking out cocaine from the asylum he works for. They sell it to pay for Anna's mother's nursing care. Victor finds out and blackmails them into helping him. Victor wants Karl to smuggle out a Dr. Brandt who has gone insane. Before insanity, Brandt had developed a process for freezing brains without damage. Victor plans to put Brandt's brain in a good body, cure the insanity and get the formula. Karl and Anna help, under duress. They steal equipment to make a new lab in Anna's basement. A night watchman is killed by Karl. Karl barely manages to get Brandt out of the asylum. A doctor Richter becomes the host body. They operate and transplant Brandt's brain. Victor also repairs the damage. Brandt's body is buried in the garden. Police search but find nothing. A water main breaks under the garden almost exposing the body. Mrs. Brandt recognizes Victor and finds him at Anna's. Victor, Karl, Anna and New-Brandt flee by carriage to an abandoned mansion. Brandt wakes up sooner than expected. He startles Anna who defends herself with a long scalpel. She stabs Brandt, who staggers off. Victor discovers Brandt's missing, and causes Anna to stab herself (dead). Brandt travels to his home to see his wife. She rejects him as a mad man. Victor, figuring where Brandt would go, follows. Brandt has, meanwhile, doused much of the house in lamp oil and gathered a bunch of lit oil lamps. Victor comes in demanding the formula. Brandt throws lamps creating walls of fire. Victor manages to get into the study and get the formula. He runs outside, but runs into Karl who fights him over the death of Anna. Victor wins, but Brandt knocks him out and carries him back into the well-engulfed house. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
There is far more horror than sci-fi in this hybrid. There is a bit of surgery, and the requisite brain in a tank of water. There is little of the massive electricity (sparky things). There is Victor's monologue about cryogenics -- his dream being to be able to save the brains of great people when they die, freeze their brains for later, and then transplant them into fresh bodies for the benefit of all mankind. FMBD has a background theme about the dispassionate march of "science" even if under the banner of altruism. Is killing men okay if it's for some supposed benefit for "mankind"?

Saga Connection
Even though the stories of movies three, four and five do not closely follow that of movies 1 and 2, we do have a sort of overview image of Victor Frankenstein. He began as a young, idealistic, (if a bit ruthless) rich man. He had to flee his home for England, but was still apparently well-off. In movie three, he's less well-off. In movie four, he is penniless. Even then, in film three he had an able and idealistic cohort. In movie four, his cohorts are an alcoholic doctor and a peasant. By the time we find Victor in movie five, is alone as a penniless shadow in the underworld.

Notes
Hammer-dämmerung -- Some Hammer fans consider FMBD as the last great Frankenstein film. It is a very full film, and well directed by Terrance Fisher (again). Yet, within all the Wagnerian majesty of the tale, lurk the telltale traces of the twilight of Hammer's reign as the Kings of Horror. They could not compete in the market's race to the bottom -- explicit sex and violence movies and the rise of gore movies whose sole (apparent) motive was to gross out their audiences. Hammer tried to stave off their twilight by injecting more sex, violence and gore, but they couldn't compete. Two notable cracks in Valhalla are cited below.

The Rape Scene -- After most of the film was shot and in the can, Hammer executives decided they needed more sex and violence. (That was what they figured audiences wanted). So, they insisted that Fisher film a rape scene. Cushing and Carlson seriously disliked the scene, but did as their employers wished. It was quite a departure for a Hammer film. The scene adds nothing to the plot. In fact, in all subsequent scenes Anna acts like it never happened -- because in the original shooting, it hadn't. Ironically, the American release was said to have omitted that scene.

Gore For Gore -- The gore factor was ramped up in FMBD. We have a violently decapitated bloody head rolling around and lots of red paint splattering But, note how the sounds of grossness are cranked up. Victor cuts with a scalpel and there is quite the ripping-squishing noise. Then Victor saws open the skull with plenty of scraping gritty saw sounds. Fisher and Hammer were going for gross. This is a tough field to compete in. Many far cheaper films could be far more gross.

A Touch of Shelley -- The screenplay offers a touch of Shelley's novel, in that the "monster" is intelligent and articulate. He is not the customary mute and lumbering "monster." There is a trace of Shelley in the pathos of how Brandt (in Richter's body) can never return to his wife. He is doomed to a life alone. He is also aghast at Victor for what he's done and seeks to destroy him.

Comic Relief -- Interlaced within the very dark story of Victor and brain transplants, are scenes of the pompous police inspector Frisch, played by Thorley Walters, who played Victor's accomplice, Dr. Hertz, in the previous film.

Bottom line? FMBD has much of what Hammer fans enjoyed. As a film, there is plenty of action and some effective set pieces. The extra gore and rape scene tarnish an otherwise engaging film. Horror fans will find enough of what they like. Sci-fi fans will find far less.

Frankenstein Created Woman

In 1966, Hammer released their fourth Frankenstein film, starring Peter Cushing as the mad genius baron. Frankenstein Created Woman (FCW) is (roughly) Hammer's rendition of Bride of Frankenstein. The story has less "science" and more crime-thriller elements as well as some classic gothic horror twists in an Edger Allen Poe sort of way. Despite publicity shots, and the poster art, Susan Denberg does not appear in a bikini or sporting wild "Bride of…" hair. The setting and costumes stay very 1860.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A man is guillotined for murder. His young son, Hans, witnesses it. Fast forward and adult Hans is Dr. Frankenstein's assistant, as is the alcoholic Dr. Hertz. They pull frozen Victor from a freezer. He has been dead a full hour, but they revive him with sparky gizmos. Victor enthused that he's proven that the soul remains in the body after death, at least an hour. Victor has a new gizmo which can create an impenetrable force field. He wants to use it to contain a soul for later transference back into a repaired dead body. His chance comes soon. Three arrogant dandies insult Christina, disfigured daughter of the innkeeper. Hans, who loves her, fights them, eventually drawing a knife. The innkeeper takes the knife from Hans who, in the heat of the moment, says "I'll kill you." Later, Hans meets Christina upstairs and they get seriously romantic. The dandies return to the hotel after hours, find the door unlocked and drink more. The innkeeper returns for his keys. They kill him. Hans is blamed for the murder, but refuses to cite Christina as his alibi. He is guillotined. Christina, distraught, drowns herself in the river. Victor gets Hans' body and extracts his soul. The villagers bring in dead Christina. Over the course of six months, he fixes up her body. Victor puts Hans' soul in her. She has amnesia at first, but Hans' soul takes control and makes Christina seek out the three dandies, one at a time, and kills two of them. The police accuse Victor of black magic. He tells them all, but they disbelieve. Victor races to stop her from killing the third, but arrives a moment too late. The head of Hans (kept in a hat box) tells Christina she has avenged him. Christina, distraught at the truth of it all, throws herself off a cliff into a river. Victor walks off, sad. The End,

Sci-fi Connection
There is less surgery and fewer gizmos in FCW than in the previous films. However, in a neat nod to the atomic age, watch for Victor's steampunk gizmo which appears to be a three-rod nuclear reactor. Once inserted, the rods glow. Power from the earth itself! There are also a pair of parabolic dishes which focus the energy and capture the white-glowing soul of Hans. Interesting effects for 19th century setting.

Saga Connection
The story line does not directly follow from the previous films, but is more akin to the Further Adventures of Frankenstein. He still has an assistant named Hans, but he is no longer the doctor/seeker of Revenge of… or Evil of…. He's just a simple peasant. Dr. Hertz assumes the assistant role, but as a sort of necessary accomplice. Unexplained, is that Victor does not have sufficient control of his hands for fine work. He wears black gloves through most of the film. As in the others, Victor's creation is destroyed in the end.

Notes
Non-Creation -- In keeping with the irony of the past titles (i.e. not much revenge in Revenge of… and not much evil in "Evil of…") there's not much creating in FCW. Unlike Bride of…, Victor does not make Christina. He fixes up her scarred face and bad leg, but she already existed. It's a bit of a stretch to say that he created a Woman (sexy, confident and dangerous) out of an innocent girl, but that might be the angle intended.

Spiritual Dimensions -- In a first for the Frankenstein legend, things move beyond the purely physical. "Death is only physical," says Victor. "The soul remains alive." This metaphysical dimension sets FCW apart. The essence of what makes a person who they are, lies in the soul. Earlier films posited that this essence belonged in the brain -- hence the transfer of Ygor's brain into the monster's body, made it essentially Ygor. In FCW, repaired Christina awakens without any identity. Yet even after the transfer of Hans' soul into her body, she was not just Hans in drag, but more akin to a multi-personality person. Repaired Christina seemed have received a new (blank) soul.

Shades of Dippel -- FCW makes a curious connection to Mary Shelley's novel. The real life person of Johann Conrad Dippel, who as born in the real Frankenstein castle in the 1700s, was said to mess around with anatomy and even to have tried to transfer the souls of cadavers. All rumor, of course, but an interesting minor connection.

Dubbing Denberg -- A curious detail in FCW is that Susan Denberg (who plays Christina) is dubbed. Denberg spoke english well enough, but did have a noticeable German accent. You can hear some of it (she doesn't get many lines) in her role as one of Mudd's Women in a 1966 episode of Star Trek. Her actual voice and accent are more evident in An American Dream ('66) as Ruta the seductive maid. Since FCW is supposed to take place in a German village (the police even wear the quaint spiked helmets -- pickelhauben), you'd think a German accent would be perfect. Perhaps her speaking with an accent made the others non-accents too obvious.

Bottom line? FCW is worth checking out. It is pretty well paced, with action or events never far away. There is certainly a heavy dose of chopping and killing, though sensibilities keep the gore mostly off camera (except for spatters of red paint). FCW is refreshing for not being a retread of the same old trope. It is also pretty good as a ghost story and crime thriller, as Christina lures her victims to their deaths.

Evil of Frankenstein

After a five year hiatus, Hammer Films released its third Frankenstein film: The Evil of Frankenstein (EoF). Somewhat in keeping with the previous film, (Revenge of…) which contained little recognizable revenge, EoF contains scant evil by the doctor. Peter Cushing stars again as the baron. The story line is not a continuation of that in RoF, but is instead a near-total rewrite. This prompts many Hammer fans to consider EoF the weakest of Hammer's series.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A scruffy man steals the body of a recently deceased young man from his ramshackle cabin. He is seen by a small girl. The man brings the body to another cabin, in which Victor and Hans have set up a rustic lab. However, a local priest traces the body theft to Victor's cabin. He smashes some of Victor's gear and leaves to get help. Victor and Hans pack up and leave. They ride back to Karlstaad, where Victor's chateau is. He planned to sell some of the furnishings and paintings to finance a new start, but the chateau is bare. In flashback, Victor tells how he created his first creature, which escaped and killed local sheep. Hunters found it, shot it, and it was lost in the Alps. The flashback ends. Victor and Hans go into town, mingling amid the carnival wearing masks. Victor sees the Burgomeister wearing his (Victor's) old ring and talks too loudly about him being a thief. They narrowly escape the police. A deaf-mute beggar girl leads them to a mountain cave for shelter. In the cave, Victor discovers his creature, frozen in glacial ice. They make a fire, thaw him out and sneak back into the chateau. They repair the gizmos and revive the creature. It lives, but in a coma. Needing a mental jolt, Victor enlists the aid of a sideshow hypnotist. Zoltan does revive the creature, but is the only one the creature will obey. Zoltan abuses this power, having the creature steal gold objects from the village church, then kill the Burgomeister and a policeman. Victor banishes Zoltan, but Zoltan sneaks back and orders the creature to kill Victor. The creature, conflicted, stabs Zoltan instead, and flees to the mountains. The police arrive and arrest Victor for all the murders. In town, the police and villagers finally believe it was the monster, not Victor, so they travel in the typical mob to the chateau. Victor escapes and beats them there. The creature suffers from headaches. The beggar girl offers him wine to soothe him. He likes it and gets drunk. When drunk, he drinks from a bottle that isn't wine. Angry and in pain, he wrecks the lab sparking a fire. Hans and the girl escape. Victor and the creature remain in the flames. The chateau tower blows up. The End.

Sci-fi Connections
There is the usual small amount of steampunk equipment and bio-medical stuff. Victor's lab is more "classic" because of the deal with Universal (see Notes below). The theme of science/research being harassed by society, has relevance even today. The notion of unscrupulous men abusing science for their own selfish agenda, is also relevant.

Saga Connection
Jimmy Sangster, who wrote the screenplay for the first two films, and Terrance Fisher, who direct both prior films, were not involved. As a result, the story line is almost completely unconnected to the prior one. Only the presence of Victor's assistant, Hans, is a carryover. Via flashback, the whole story is recast as if the first two films had not existed.

Notes
Universal Influence -- In the making of the prior two films, Hammer was careful to avoid similarities with Universal's story lines, characters or the look of their sets and costumes. In the late 50s, Hammer and Universal had a distribution agreement. Hammer also bought the rights to remake all of Universal's prior monster themes. EoF seems to showcase this now-legal ability to copy. The monster's make-up takes on the tall forehead, flat top and clomping big shoes of Jack Pierce's makeup. The monster is found encased in ice in a cave, thawed out and brought back to life, ala Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man and House of Frankenstein. There is a schemer who uses the monster to commit crimes, ala Ygor in Son of…. There is the fire and explosion in the lab, at the end, destroying a tower of the castle, ala Bride of…. The homage (or cheap copying, depending on your point of view) of Universal sometimes puts off Hammer fans.

Mild Scientist -- Despite the title, Baron Frankenstein is the mildest he's been since Bride of…. Far from being evil, Victor is not-unjustly angry at the Burgomeister for stealing all his possessions. Victor still steals bodies, but isn't killing anyone for their parts, ala Curse of…. In fact, Victor is aghast that Zoltan used the monster to kill people. Victor seems genuinely worried about the village when the monster had escaped. At the end, it was Victor who assumed the monster's altruism at the end of Bride of…, telling Hans to take the beggar girl to safety. All in all, this was a very un-evil Frankenstein.

Sets Dejavu -- A sharp eyed viewer will notice reuse of Hammer sets in EoF. The lab set is the same (even if slightly redecorated) as in Revenge of…, and the same as Dracula's crypt. The village buildings should look familiar too.

Bottom line? EoF will well paced and entertaining enough on its own. Hammer fans may hold it in lower esteem, but Universal fans may enjoy the homage to the classics. Cushing, as always, is worth watching.

Revenge of Frankenstein

Hammer Films quickly followed up the success of their 1957 hit Curse of Frankenstein the next year with a sequel: The Revenge of Frankenstein (RoF). Again, Peter Cushing stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein. RoF is a direct sequel, picking up the story line exactly where the first film stopped. It is one of the better sequels, in that it was, in many ways, as good as the first film.
Despite the posters, the new monster is not green. Nor is it nearly as sensational as the poster suggests.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Victor is led to the guillotine by the priest. The executioner and hunchback Karl exchange a glance. The blade falls. Later, two grave robbers dig up Frankenstein's grave. Inside, is the headless body of a priest. (Flash forward) In the city of Carlsbrück, a mysterious Dr. Stein has set up practice. The local physicians complain that Stein refuses to join their guild, AND has also taken half of their rich patients. He also does charity work in the poor hospital. (this where he gets his body parts, btw) A delegation of doctors come to investigate, but are rebuffed. A young doctor lingers. Hans recognized Victor from the funeral (first movie). Hans wants Victor to take him on as a pupil. He agrees. Victor has already assembled a new body. Karl, the crippled hunchback, volunteered to be the brain donor to get a perfect body. After the operation Victor and Hans taken New Karl to an attic at the poor hospital, so they can tend him regularly. Hans tells New Karl that he'll be famous and studied by thousands. New Karl is aghast at the bar-less prison of fame. Later, a pretty volunteer at the charity hospital learns of the special patient in the attic, so goes up to bring him cheer too. New Karl convinces her to loosen his straps. She leaves her address to help him find a job when he's better. Later, Karl has freed himself, dressed and escapes out a window. He goes to Victor's lab to dispose of his old body. A janitor catches him. The cruel janitor beats up Karl, which damages his brain. Karl becomes savage and kills the janitor. Meanwhile, Victor and Hans go looking for Karl. He's nowhere to be found. Later, at dinner party at the Countess's estate, Savage Karl busts through a window. His arm is paralyzed, his leg is gimpy again. His hunch is back. He implores, "Frankenstein, help me…" but dies. Now everyone knows Victor's true identity. All his rich patients are gone. His poor patients turn on him, mercilessly beating him. Hans rescues him, but the injuries are too great. "You know what to do," whispers battered Victor. After putting Karl's brain in his new body, Victor made another body with a face that looked like himself. Hans transplants Victor's brain into the new body. The police arrive to arrest Victor for murder. Hans shows them his dead, battered body. (flash forward) London, and the office of Dr. Frank. Hans, and Dr. Frank (Peter Chushing with a mustache and monocle) go out to greet a rich patient. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
There is more of the medical/surgical element in BoF than there was in CoF. Brains were a popular topic in 50s sci-fi. Check out some of the other Brain-themed titles here: Brain Films. Check out some of the story lines. You'll see that brains were big. That popularity shows in RoF. We get a couple good views of brains floating in jars of water. The sparky, buzzing equipment from CoF returns to Victor's new lab. As a horror film, BoF is rather mild. It's almost more of a steampunk sci-fi film.

Saga Connection
RoF picks up exactly where CoF left off. The two films are really Part 1 and Part 2 of a single thread. Karl, the hunchback and the priest replace the two guards walking Victor to the guillotine. Christopher Lee is no longer the monster, of course (acid bath).

Notes
Where's the Revenge? -- Even though Victor says, at one point, that he'll have his revenge, RoF is noticeably light on the usual revenge. None of the people who either sentenced him to die are "venged" upon. None of the doctors who persecuted him are venged either. Even his supposed proof-of-genius project (Karl) goes wrong, so there's no professional vindication either. Perhaps the "revenge" is more along the lines of outsmarting his enemies. This comes in the form of his identical "new" body, thereby cheating his enemies of true victory.

Dr. Not-So-Bad -- Victor in CoF was cold-hearted, obsessed and self-absorbed. In RoF, he's not quite so evil. He seeks to help poor Karl, rather like how Dr. Niemann promised to put hunchback Daniel's brain into a good body in House of…. But without the duplicity of Niemann. Dr. Stein among his genteel clients seems affable and charming. Even though he was stealing body parts, Dr. Stein was managing to help the poor too, even if just as a byproduct. In his monologues, Victor reclaims some of the misguided altruist flavor of Universal's Henry and even Mary Shelley's Victor.

Blood Sisters -- Hammer shot RoF at the same time it was shooting it's Dracula remake, starring Christopher Lee as the Count. A sharp-eyed viewer will note re-use of several interior sets. The spiral columns of Dracula's castle the easiest to spot. Dracula's crypt (same barred door) becomes Victor's lab, etc. There are many other smaller recycling too, between these two sister films.

Bottom line? RoF is a watchable enough movie in its own right. It is a fine followup to the first film. Even though famous as one of Hammer's Horror Collection, there is little of the gratuitous blood and gore that would mark the genre later. It is more of a gothic horror tale in the old school. Sci-fi fans can enjoy some of the moral/ethical puzzles common to some sci-fi movies.

Curse of Frankenstein

Universal Pictures decided to get out of the horror/monster business at the end of the 1940s. Hammer Studios took up the mantle and created a Frankenstein saga of their own. Curse of Frankenstein (CoF) was the first of their seven Frankenstein films. It was also the first Frankenstein film shot in color. Peter Cushing stars as the mad scientist, a role that would carry through most of Hammer's saga. Christopher Lee stars as the monster. This pair would be the workhorses of Hammer's Horror dominance.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The movie opens to a jail block. A priest has come to take Victor Frankenstein's confession before he is executed. Victor tells the priest his story. (Begin flashback) Young Victor Frankenstein inherits the family fortune upon the death of his mother. He hires a tutor, Paul Kempke, to teach him science. As the years progress, the two explore the secrets of life and death. As adults, they succeed in resurrecting a dead puppy. Victor plans to build a man, created from dead body parts. Paul only reluctantly agrees to help, but quickly loses his taste for the experiment. He gathers parts, but needs a perfect brian. Victor kills a renowned old scientist, then steals the professor's brain from the crypt. Paul interrupts this. They struggle, during which the brain is damaged. Victor installs it anyhow. Victor's cousin, Elizabeth, comes to stay with him. They are to be married. Paul worries about her safety. Victor can't operate all the lab gizmos alone, but Paul refuses to help. A lightning strike on the castle provides the crucial jolt. The monster lives, but immediately tries to choke Victor. Paul knocks it out. Later, the monster escapes. Loose in the woods, it kills an old blind man and his grandson. Victor and Paul find itt, Paul shoots the monster dead. They bury it. But Victor dug it up and does some brain surgery to fix it. Meanwhile, Justine, the maid, is jealous of Elizabeth. She threatens to tell the authorities unless Victor marries her Lacking proof, Justine sneaks into the lab that night, but goes into the monster's room. Victor locks the door behind her. Scream! Later, after the wedding, Victor takes Paul up to show him his new-and-improved monster. He can not take basic voice commands. Paul is disgusted and storms out. Victor follows. While they argue in the yard, a curious Elizabeth goes up to the lab to see what's so important. The monster had escaped again, this time onto the castle roof. Curious, Elizabeth follows. Victor and Paul see all this and rush back in the house. On the roof, the monster lunges for Elizabeth. Victor shoots but hits Elizabeth in the shoulder. She drops. He throws an oil lamp at the monster, whose clothes catch on fire. He staggers back through a skylight and falls into a vat of acid. He dissolved in a half hour. (End Flashback) The priest doesn't believe Victor's tale. Paul arrives to say goodbye. Victor hopes Paul will corroborate his story, but Paul does not. Victor is led away to the guillotine. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
There is more (though still not much) made of the surgery and medical science. There are also the requisite gizmos in steampunk fashion for electricity -- though clearly not with Universal's budget. The bubbling Vat of Life visual, in which first a dead puppy is revived, then later the monster, is an interesting sci-fi element. Of more significance, is how the plot ramps up the conflict between "science" and humanity. Scientific "advances" bring about death. This is a very sci-fi quality.

Novel Connection
Mary Shelley's novel was public domain, so fair game for a screenplay. Indeed, another screenplay based on her novel was in circulation in the mid-50s, but finding no backers. The plot is said to have been uncomfortably close to Universal's Son of Frankenstein. Jimmy Sangster's re-write cast back more to Mary's novel, but focused more on the obsessed creator than the poor creature.

New Saga
Hammer Studios would go on to produce six sequels to CoF, all but one starring Peter Cushing as the same Dr. Frankenstein. In this, Hammer began a new story line that had no connection to the story Universal created. The next Hammer Frankenstein would pick up the story right where CoF left off.

Notes
New Monster -- Universal still owned the rights to the signature look of Jack Pierce's flat-topped bolt-necked monster. To avoid legal trouble, Hammer's make-up artist, Phil Leaky, went for a more lanky, zombie-like monster. Unlike Universal's monster, which could not die, so lived on in six sequels, Hammer's first monster does die, dissolved in a vat of acid. It is the Baron himself who lives on as the unstoppable monster.

Bad Doctor, Bad -- Hammer's Dr. Frankenstein is more of a monster than his creation. He is more in tune with the diabolical Dr. Pretorius character from Bride of… or Karloff's vengeful Dr. Niemann from House of…. Mary Shelley's doctor was a naive victim of the dangers of "science," the doctor of the atomic age was becoming the embodiment of the evils of science.

Old Monsters Got Legs -- When Universal's executives decided to get out of the monster business at the end of the 1940s, it was apparent that the old monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, ) still had "legs." Hammer Studios eventually bought the rights from Universal-International to remake all their old monsters. The old were reborn to frighten a whole new generation.

Horror Hybrid -- Hammer Studios bolstered the sometimes-uneasy horror-scifi hybrid. Their earlier sci-fi films included: The Quatermass Xperiment ('55), X-The Unknown ('57) and Quatermass 2 ('58). Viewers will note that each of these involved a degree of "horror". An astronaut is disfigured into a giant blob monster. A radioactive blob (different blob) monster burns and melts people, etc. Hammer's Frankenstein is more horror (colorful gore) than sci-fi, but there is still some science amid the fiction.

Bottom line? CoF has more blood and gore than any previous Frankenstein film, so viewers not fond of spattering red paint movies might opt to steer clear. For FrankenFans, CoF is a fresh restart, a new story line from the same roots, and still loaded with psycho-ethical subtexts to muse on.
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Homunculus

A shadowy old ancestor, of sorts, to the Frankenstein film saga, is a six part series produced in German in 1916. The six hour-long films were semi-complete stories unto themselves, but together told the larger story of the life of "Homunculus": an artificial human. The films don't claim to be inspired by Shelley's novel, but bear many similarities. The lonely, tormented and ruthless "monster" shares an ethos with both the Frankenstein monster, as Universal spun him, and the later mad scientist Frankensteins. As such, it seemed worthy to include Homunculus in this study. This is a review of the 74 minute compilation of fragments from the six films.

Quick Plot Synopsis Professor Ortman declares that artificial life is impossible. A colleague, Dr. Hansen, disagrees and says he will succeed. In Hansen's lab, he brews up chemicals and uses a special chamber. Eventually, he succeeds! His assistant, Roden, pulls a baby boy from the chamber. Named Homuculus (latin for "little human"), Hansen is thrilled, but called away to a conference. He entrusts the care of Homuculus with Rodin. At the Ortman house, however, all is sadness, as Ortman's baby boy dies of some illness. Ortman conceives to switch the babies. Rodin and the returning Hansen are distraught that the artificial life experiment failed. The Ortman house is happy that their baby recovered. (Fast Forward) Young Homunculus is troubled in college. His friends talk of love, but cannot feel love. (This, since he was the product of cold science, and not the result of a loving union, btw). He learns of his true identity. He hates Hansen for making him. Hansen's daughter loves Homunculus, but he is unable to feel much beyond hate. He leaves. During his travels, he adopts a stray dog, feeling pity (if not love). They meet pretty Elonore, princess who takes a liking to Homunculus. Elonore's father, a vaguely arabic prince) is dying of some illness. Homunculus enters and heals him by his superior will power alone. The crowd is happy, then terrified of this new sorcerer. They become the stereotypic mob with torches. Homunculus, Elonore, Roden (who searched for Homunculus) and the dog are hiding in a ruined castle. The mob smokes them out, but kill the dog (thrown stone). Homunculus grieves and buries his dog, and vows revenge on humanity. Homunculus and Roden develop a chemical fire weapon to extract his revenge. But first, he still wants to feel love. He seduces a young woman (Anna) in hopes of finding love. She is devoted to him, to the point of abandoning her aged parents. He reveals his true (artificial) nature to her. She cannot accept this, and leaves. Homunculus renews his vow of revenge. Homunculus rises to the CEO-ship of a vague mega-corporation. As CEO, he makes his company neglect the poor workers. Homunculus disguises himself as a poor worker, and incites the disgruntled workers to storm the company. Through all this, a poor (but pretty) working girl named Xenia falls in love with him. Again as CEO, Homunculus returns and uses his fire weapon on the crowd. Despite all this, Xenia still loves him. He leaves, but she follows devotedly, even though she knows he is the much feared Homunculus. He sends her away. She hears the workers plotting. They mob to get Homunculus. Xenia warns him. He escapes. Years pass. A gray-haired Homunculus somberly burns his beloved journal -- all his thoughts. He rages at heaven. Death comes for him. (man in skull mask). Homunculus rages on a mountain top about being without love. Lighting strikes. Homunculus is killed. The end.

Sci-fi Connections
The artificial human is created, not by surgery as in Shelley (and Whale's) version, but by chemistry -- alchemy. In this, Robert Reinert's Homunculus is similar to the monster in Edison's silent film of 1910. Homunculus is a ruthless product of "cold" science. In this sense, he is a metaphor for science in the same way that Godzilla was a metaphor for atomic war. Science has no love. Science can create super-weapons. This part seems especially fitting, as the movie was made and shown at the mid-way point in World War One, where gas, machine guns, airplanes and tanks were all new technology which made killing a wholesale exercise.

Saga Connection
Homunculus predates James Whale's 1931 story that began the saga. It was not seen much outside of Europe, so probably had little direct influence. Nonetheless, the similarities are interesting. Dr. Hansen and Dr. Frankenstein are both idealistic scientists who mean well for mankind. Their creations are both shunned and despised by the world. Both films feature angry mobs of villagers with torches out to get the creation. Both creations just want some human warmth and acceptance. Both rage in response to mankind's rejection.

Notes
Real Roots of Frankenstein? -- Mary and Percy Shelley traveled along the Rhine in 1814 en route back to England. It was there that she passed the actual Castle Frankenstein. She wrote the story two years later. Her journal does not mention any details, but she must have chatted with the locals a bit. Consider the man Johann Konrad Dippel. He was born IN Castle Frankenstein in 1673. He studied philosophy, theology and alchemy. He was a charismatic man, and a bit of an argumentative hothead. He became a medical doctor. He was said to have been accused of grave robbing and working on cadavers. He IS on record for inventing "Dippel's Oil", a compound made from animal bones (which would necessitate cutting up animals). Dippel fancied his oil to be an "Elixir of Life". Granted, Mary Shelley does not cite any of this in her journals, so the connection is conjectural, but still, the parallels are too close to be completely unconnected. Castle Frankenstein, an outcast doctor who is rumored to rob graves and work on cadavers, who thinks he has the secret of life? Coincidence? On a film note, Dippel's alchemy interest -- that human life could be prolonged via alchemy -- meshes neatly with Edison's Frankenstein and Reinert's Homunculus.

Before Star Wars -- Before Spielberg gave the movie world the multi-movie saga format, there was Homunculus. It ran as six one-hour installments. It was not like the shorter style serials with cliff-hanger endings, but each hour a complete story. The next film built upon the first, but had it's own plot. The six chapters were:
Part I: The Birth of the Homunculus (the poster shown above)
Part II: The Mysterious Book of the Homunculus
Part III: The Love Tragedy of the Homunculus
Part IV: The Revenge of the Homunculus
Part V: The Destruction of Mankind
Part VI: The End of the Homunculus

Lost Episode -- Fragments of the six films survived, with more of the first two chapters and less of the others. These were assembled into a single film which tried to follow the overall story line of the six originals. The result is imperfect, but better than nothing. Apparently very little, if any, from Part 5 survived. Neither has the first half of Part 6. There is no inclusion of the second created homunculus and their climactic battle from Part 6.

Watch For Yourself! -- The composite film is available to watch online at Eastmanhouse.org. . There are many films available from their collection. Not all of them are old silent ones, but down in the pack you will find Homunculus. This is an Italian copy, so the intertitles are in italian, unfortunately. But, with a pause button, an online translator, and a bit of linguistic skill, you can make out what's going on.

Bottom line? Homunculus is an obscure film relic, but an interesting fragment of the Frankenstein trope. Here, the "monster" is curiously attractive to women, but feared by mankind generally. As a long-lost relation to the saga, it's worth checking out. If you do, keep in mind that silent film acting in the early days was mostly pantomime an exaggeration so the folks in the balcony can tell what's happening. It's not modern acting with subtle raises of eyebrows or hints of smiles about the corner of the mouth.