THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958)

 

 (Director: Terence Fisher. Screenwriter: Jimmy Sangster, whose script was augmented by dialogue by “Huford Janes” [Sangster’s pen name] and an uncredited George Baxt.)

Review

REVENGE immediately picks up where THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) left off, with Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) being led to Swiss gallows. The camera cuts away from showing his death as the offscreen sound of physical body blows are heard.

Three years later, 1860. Frankenstein, going by the name Victor Stein, is a highly successful medical practitioner in Carlsbrück, running a clinic for the surly impoverished as well treating wealthy clients. The local medical board, jealous of the baron scientist’s popularity and independence, seek to pull them into their organization. He refuses, citing their snubbing him when he originally arrived in Carlsbrück. They, in a huff, leave. However, one of the junior members of the board, Dr. Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews, DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS, 1966) recognizes Stein for who he really is and blackmails the doctor into letting Kleve work with him—Kleve admires Stein’s past and current work and wants to be part of it. He doesn’t bear Frankenstein any ill will.

The medical clinic is not Frankenstein and Kleve’s only endeavor. Karl (Michael Gwynn, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, 1960), the hunchbacked jail attendant who helped Frankenstein escape the gallows, is to be the beneficiary of the Baron and Kleve’s outlier efforts: Karl’s brain is to be transplanted into a well-preserved, handsome male body. The experiment goes well, and Karl, besotted with pretty nurse Margaret Conrad (Eunice Gayson, DR. NO, 1962), is pleased as are the two scientists—in this new body, Karl might have a chance with her! However, his plans to bury his hunchbacked past are threatened when the scientists want to make a big scientific splash by revealing the experiment, Karl and his old body, to their more reputable peers around the world. Karl doesn’t like this, and coupled with Margaret and Kleve’s obvious mutual attraction, Karl goes violently mad even as his limbs begin to wither.

Not only that, superstitious distrust among the villagers (including the ungrateful poor whom he treats without charge) dogs Frankenstein and Kleve, while the local medical board tries to push their own agenda on the two doctors. Throw in a shady and drunken Janitor (George Woodbridge, HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958) in Frankenstein’s employ, and the ingredients for the notorious scientist’s ruination are in place.

Cushing’s Frankenstein is not the callous murderer he was in CURSE. He’s relatively charming and more generous, though he’s still willing to rob graves and, if pushed, kill anyone who threatens him and his experiments. In a lesser story, such a character change might not work but here it does.

Other REVENGE talent, on and off screen, includes:

Michael Mulcaster (uncredited as Tattoo Harry– Mulcaster also played Frankenstein’s warder in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1957).

Jack Asher (cinematographer, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1957, and HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958). 

Alfred Cox (editor, QUATERMASS 2, 1957).

Bernard Robinson (production designer, THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN, 1957).

Phillip Leakey (makeup, HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958).

REVENGE, which confidently builds on its predecessor, is one of the best entries in Hammer’s seven-film FRANKENSTEIN series. Its streamlined script is effectively twisty and tight, with no wasted shots, solid visual representation, good-to-great acting, and a standout ending that’s memorable in any FRANKENSTEIN film, Hammer-produced or otherwise. Followed by THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964).

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.