THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)

 

(Director: Terence Fisher. Screenwriter: Jimmy Sangster, his screenplay loosely based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel.)

 

Review

CURSE, a creative overhaul of the 1931 film FRANKENSTEIN, based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel), is bookended by scenes of Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing, THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1958) in prison. The nineteenth century scientist is about to be executed for murder. He, in a non-repentant tone, tells a priest (played by Alex Gallier), about his experiments that led him to inhabit this filthy dungeon.

Shown in extended flashback, Frankenstein’s backstory runs thusly: Frankenstein and a fellow scientist, Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) work to reanimate the dead. When Frankenstein’s ruthless, blasphemous intentions run afoul of Krempe’s sensibilities, he bows out of the experiments. Tangled in this mix of science, amity, hubris, and betrayal is his maid/lover Justine (Valerie Gaunt, HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958) as well as Victor’s benignly neglected wife, Elizabeth (Hazel Court), who’s blissfully unaware of the details of her husband’s illegal and unethical activities. Then, of course, there’s The Creature, a wild-card personality to reckon with—played with violent intensity by Christopher Lee, his version of the “monster” enraged, murderous, and distinctly disfigured, with no resemblance to makeup designer Jack P. Pierce’s copyrighted 1931 version, is truly a hideous beast.

Inevitably, The Creature escapes. Assault and murder follows, not only in Baron Frankenstein’s castle, but in the nearby village. It bears noting that much of the violence and (imagined) gore is of the offscreen variety, though its atmosphere is effectively harsh and effective, furthered by the excellence of its players, including Michael Mulcaster (Tattoo Harry in THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1958) as a Warder.

CURSE, Britain’s first color horror film (courtesy of Eastmancolor), is one of my favorite Frankenstein works—audiences loved it, though it was critically drubbed upon its initial release. Like many of Hammer Films’ better terror/monster flicks, it’s based on Jimmy Sangster’s tightly penned screenplay, edited by James Needs, directed by one of Hammer’s in-house directors Terence Fisher, and sports intense cinematography by Jack Asher, another Hammer regular.

More grim than scary, this standout Hammer Films adaptation is worth your time, a high mark in atmospheric horror, with a great cast and crew. Followed by THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958).

 

 Deeper film(ic) dive

CURSE is Cushing’s first film for Hammer Films, as well as the first of his six cinematic outings as Victor Frankenstein. It’s also one of twenty-four movies he made with his good friend Christopher Lee (their first movie together was HAMLET in 1948). Cushing made thirteen Hammer films with Terence Fisher at the helm.

THE RAVEN (1963)

 

(Director: Roger Corman. Screenwriter: Richard Matheson.)

Storyline

A malevolent sorcerer targets two fellow magicians, one of whom he has turned into a raven.

 

Review

This Richard Matheson-scripted (and family friendly) comedy horror film, set in 1506 and not-really-based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem, is one of my favorite entries in Corman’s Poe-cinematic hexad. Everything about RAVEN, shot in fifteen days, works: the physical comedy and adroit wordplay; the top-notch acting of its masters-of-horror co-leads (Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff) and other actors (e.g., Hazel Court, who acted opposite Price in 1964’s THE MASQUE OF RED DEATH, and Jack Nicholson, who worked with Boris Karloff in the 1963 movie THE TERROR, shot immediately after RAVEN on the same set); its good-for-its-time FX (Price’s spellcasting is shown as bright green laser beam-like rays); its era-evocative, color-rich sets; and its often playful, mood-varied soundtrack. . .  like I said, everything.

THE MASQUE OF RED DEATH (1964)

 

(Director: Roger Corman. Screenwriter: Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell.).

Storyline

While the Red Plague stalks the peasantry, a cruel prince and his fellow deviants shelter in his castle.

Review

Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story, MASQUE is an excellent, possibly perfect film, from R. Wright Campbell and Charles Beaumont’s tightly penned script, its top-notch acting, its vivid, symbolic splays of colors and lighting, to producer Roger Corman’s waste-no-shots directing. (If Beaumont’s name sounds familiar, he was a staff writer on the original 1959-64 TWILIGHT ZONE series.)

MASQUE stars include: Vincent Price (THE TINGLER, 1959) as the cruel Prospero; Hazel Court, who played opposite Price in THE RAVEN (1963) and whose last film was an uncredited role (“Champagne Woman at Hunt”) in THE FINAL CONFLICT (1981); Patrick Magee, as an envious, toady-like Alfredo─two of his later films include A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) and THE BLACK CAT (1981); and an uncredited JohnWestbrook as Man in Red (a.k.a. the Red Death); Westbrook also appeared in THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964). Be sure to look for the background/visual cue callbacks to earlier Corman/Price films, THE RAVEN and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961)!