When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.
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- Lady Fanshawe
- (as Clarissa Kaye)
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe character "Dr. Polidori" is not in Mary Shelley's novel, although he includes elements of Victor Frankenstein's mentors, Doctors Waldman and Krempe. He is primarily based on Dr. Septimius Pretorius from Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but the name had to be changed because the Pretorius character is not in the public domain. He is named for Shelley's friend John William Polidori, who wrote a novella called "The Vampyre," which he began in the same weekend that she got the idea to write "Frankenstein". Polidori served as doctor for Lord Byron, who mockingly called him "Pollydolly", just like Clerval does in the film.
- GoofsWhen Polidori introduces Victor to the creature in his carriage, the interior point of view shot shows a Chinese servant closing the carriage door. A split second later, in a reverse angle shot from the exterior, the servant has vanished.
- Quotes
Dr. Henry Clerval: You're afraid. I was afraid at first. It's the way we've been brought up. We've been brought up to fear! To fear the punishment of the gods. But Prometheus defied them.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein: And they punished him!
Dr. Henry Clerval: He scorned their punishment. So has every other hero that's stolen secrets from nature to give to mankind.
- Alternate versionsThe widely seen version features a prologue with James Mason visiting the supposed grave of Mary Shelley. However, test screenings showed a longer prologue, depicting Mary Shelley and her friends coming up with the Frankenstein story at a Swiss villa, similar to the opening of Bride of Frankenstein (1935). This was cut and replaced by the simpler version after the test audiences were bored by it.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Der phantastische Film: Frankenstein, wie er wirklich war 1 (1980)
Leonard Whiting plays Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who, spurred on by the untimely death of his younger brother, tries to find a way to bring the dead back to life, aided in his quest by the like-minded Dr. Clerval (David McCallum), who has developed a special serum and revolutionary solar power source for just this purpose, and who unwittingly provides the brain for their creation by suddenly dropping dead. The experiment seemingly a success, Victor sets about introducing his surprisingly handsome creature' (Michael Sarrazin) to high-class London society, unaware that a reversal in the reanimation process is gradually causing physical abnormalities. Horrified at his increasingly ugly countenance, the creature becomes suicidal, but, already being dead, finds killing himself harder than he thinks.
Meanwhile, Clerval's previous scientific associate, Dr. John Polidori (the amazing James Mason), arrives on the scene hoping to join forces with Frankenstein to perfect the process. When the first creature accidentally kills the beautiful daughter of a blind man, he supplies Polidori and Frankenstein with the final components for a second creation: a beautiful woman that they name Prima (played by drop-dead gorgeous Jane Seymour). Her introduction to the social elite causes problems between Victor and his pregnant wife Elizabeth (Nicola Pagett), and with the creature, who, now horribly disfigured, is jealous of the attention that Prima is receiving.
Things proceed to go downhill for Victor Frankenstein - as they always seem to do for those who dabble in such ungodly matters - leading to a tragic finale on a ship bound for America, but redirected to the North Pole by the creature.
The incredible cast - which also includes the likes of Agnes Moorehead, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Peter Sallis, and Tom Baker in cameo roles - rarely put a foot wrong, with Sarrazin making for an especially brilliant sympathetic monster, while Seymour's Prima is quite the opposite, a beautiful but soul-less creation, every bit as wicked as her mentor Polidori. Director Jack Smight proves a far more capable director than his primarily TV-based resumé suggests, largely handling the material with restraint, thus making the occasional grisly moment all the more effective: a reanimated severed arm that just won't stay put is quite unnerving, but it is the creature settling the score with Prima in front of a horrified crowd of posh onlookers that is the shocking showstopper. Visually, the film is impressive throughout, with a special mention for the colourful second experiment, Prima brought to life in a vat of swirling rainbow coloured liquids and bubbles - worthy of the great Terence Fisher himself.
8/10. The three hour plus runtime and gradual pace might occasionally have you looking at the clock to see how much time is left, but don't let that put you off, for there is so much here to enjoy.
- BA_Harrison
- Jul 9, 2021
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- Frankenstein, wie er wirklich war
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- Runtime3 hours 5 minutes
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