A great Hammer film which puts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee together in their first horror film. This is Hammer studios first colour horror film, and their first foray into Frankenstein films. A real ground breaker and one of the goriest films of its time with blood and guts in colour on screen for audiences to see for the first time. In fact this was a first cinema outing for Cushing, who up until this film had mainly been on TV rather than taking the lead in a cinematic release. Christopher Lee too was lucky to get the role as it was originally offered out to Bernard Bresslaw, but his agent asked for too much money.
You are probably already aware of the Frankenstein story - if not, shame on you and go climb back under the rock from whence you came. Cushing plays a charming and somehow sinister Dr Frankenstein. Lee plays his menacing creation that seems threatening without much emotion hidden behind the eyes. The monster is far removed from the Boris Karloff version you may have seen, this is because Universal threatened to sue if it detracted from their version, or impeded on their image rights in any way. In fact, the script that Terrence Fisher directed from too was an 'adapted' version, the story had to be not only far removed from Universal's versions, but Jimmy Sangsters who came up with the script, had to make it remote from Mary Shelley's source material too - a retelling and 'adapted' version that would be Hammer's alone. An 'adapted' re-hash is an all too familiar concept now, but it was a fairly unique concept back then. The film is scattered with both recognisable and regarded actors of the time (such as Robert Urquhart and Hazel Court). Everyone delivers a top class performance.
Instead of focussing on the monsters creation, we are treated to the character development of the doctor that pieced it together. Showing how obsession takes over after a scientific breakthrough starts the ball rolling on the topic of life and death. Condemned to death and locked up waiting his execution, Dr Frankenstein decides to tell his story to anyone that will listen. His audience is a man of the cloth, but Frankenstein knows he's not going to believe him; instead it's an exercise in venting his frustrations to the religious man that come to his cell. The story unfolds in flashback, showing Frankenstein's life from adolescence to manhood, highlighting some of the things which shaped him along the way.
The pace of the film may seem a little stop/start but if you read into the background of the film and how it was pieced together (much like the monster in it) you'll understand why there are times where it could be quicker. This was never really intended to be the big hit that it became, it was more of a stopgap between Quartermass/SciFi films - who knew it would go onto define the studio! If you go and read about this, why not expand your knowledge and read into how this film came about by accident, and how it nearly never got made, and ultimately how it redefined the horror genre and gave life to small studio from the UK that was just getting started after the success of sci-fi/horror film. The story behind the film is as fascinating as the story within the film.
This is one of my favourite Hammer films - it's far from their best film as a studio, but it's still a good film, and one of the better of the Frankenstein films (they made 6 more). I admit that by today's blockbuster epic standards it looks really dated with it's almost technicolour (actually, it's Eastmancolour) shades, but it's still a quality film using narrative and dialogue to scare as much as the monster itself. It could be faster in its delivery, as I've mentioned there are time it drags a little, but once it gets going it really does. Ultimately forgiven for the impact it had on the landscape. 7 out of 10.
You are probably already aware of the Frankenstein story - if not, shame on you and go climb back under the rock from whence you came. Cushing plays a charming and somehow sinister Dr Frankenstein. Lee plays his menacing creation that seems threatening without much emotion hidden behind the eyes. The monster is far removed from the Boris Karloff version you may have seen, this is because Universal threatened to sue if it detracted from their version, or impeded on their image rights in any way. In fact, the script that Terrence Fisher directed from too was an 'adapted' version, the story had to be not only far removed from Universal's versions, but Jimmy Sangsters who came up with the script, had to make it remote from Mary Shelley's source material too - a retelling and 'adapted' version that would be Hammer's alone. An 'adapted' re-hash is an all too familiar concept now, but it was a fairly unique concept back then. The film is scattered with both recognisable and regarded actors of the time (such as Robert Urquhart and Hazel Court). Everyone delivers a top class performance.
Instead of focussing on the monsters creation, we are treated to the character development of the doctor that pieced it together. Showing how obsession takes over after a scientific breakthrough starts the ball rolling on the topic of life and death. Condemned to death and locked up waiting his execution, Dr Frankenstein decides to tell his story to anyone that will listen. His audience is a man of the cloth, but Frankenstein knows he's not going to believe him; instead it's an exercise in venting his frustrations to the religious man that come to his cell. The story unfolds in flashback, showing Frankenstein's life from adolescence to manhood, highlighting some of the things which shaped him along the way.
The pace of the film may seem a little stop/start but if you read into the background of the film and how it was pieced together (much like the monster in it) you'll understand why there are times where it could be quicker. This was never really intended to be the big hit that it became, it was more of a stopgap between Quartermass/SciFi films - who knew it would go onto define the studio! If you go and read about this, why not expand your knowledge and read into how this film came about by accident, and how it nearly never got made, and ultimately how it redefined the horror genre and gave life to small studio from the UK that was just getting started after the success of sci-fi/horror film. The story behind the film is as fascinating as the story within the film.
This is one of my favourite Hammer films - it's far from their best film as a studio, but it's still a good film, and one of the better of the Frankenstein films (they made 6 more). I admit that by today's blockbuster epic standards it looks really dated with it's almost technicolour (actually, it's Eastmancolour) shades, but it's still a quality film using narrative and dialogue to scare as much as the monster itself. It could be faster in its delivery, as I've mentioned there are time it drags a little, but once it gets going it really does. Ultimately forgiven for the impact it had on the landscape. 7 out of 10.