The Evil of Frankenstein
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| The Evil of Frankenstein | |
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| Directed by | Freddie Francis |
| Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
| Written by | Anthony Hinds (as "John Elder") |
| Starring | Peter Cushing Sandor Eles Peter Woodthorpe Katy Wild Duncan Lamont Kiwi Kingston |
| Music by | Don Banks |
| Cinematography | John Wilcox |
| Distributed by | Hammer Film Productions |
| Release date(s) | May 8, 1963 (USA) |
| Running time | 84 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Revenge of Frankenstein |
| Followed by | Frankenstein Created Woman |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Evil of Frankenstein is a 1963 British horror films made by Hammer Studio. This film version of Shelley's tale was directed for Hammer by Freddie Francis. The film stars Peter Cushing as Frankenstein and New Zealand wrestler Kiwi Kingston as the Monster. The film's version of the Monster is noted for closely resembling Universal Pictures' famous Frankenstein series of the 1930s and '40s, including the flat-headed look of Jack Pierce's monster make-up originally designed for the legendary Boris Karloff as well as the distinctive laboratory sets.
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[edit] Plot summary
Forced to leave town because of their experiments, Frankenstein and Hans return to Frankenstein's hometown of Karlstad and set up laboratory in the abandoned Frankenstein chateau. Frankenstein then finds his original creation frozen inside a glacier and restores it to life. Only it will not respond to his commands. And so he comes up with the idea of obtaining the services of Zoltan, a disreputable carnival hypnotist, to hypnotize the monster into obeying him. Zoltan is successful but has less than scientific interests at heart and, with the monster responding only to his commands, uses it to rob and take revenge upon the town authorities.
[edit] Reaction
While loved by some, others regard the film as a less-than-satisfactory entry in the horror studio's run of Frankenstein films (which began with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 and ended with Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974). Like the studio's later The Horror of Frankenstein, The Evil of Frankenstein is considered by most fans to be a "one off" from the series proper, rather than part of the actual continuity, partly because of its stylistic differences from the other films, and partly because Frankenstein's thawed out 'original' monster and the circumstances of its creation bear no resemblance to the creature from The Curse of Frankenstein. However, Frankenstein's burnt and useless hands in the next entry in the series, Frankenstein Created Woman, are likely to be a reference back to the climactic conflagration in this movie.
[edit] US TV version
When the film was shown on US network television in 1968, it had been altered. Some "intense" scenes were excised or shortened and new footage, shot by a different director, was added to pad the film's length. These scenes involved a reporter wringing his hands over having to catch a train and so missing an opportunity to do a story on Frankenstein, and the mute girl's father hoping that an operation will restore his girl's speech. These new scenes featured a cast not associated with the rest of the film and were filmed in the US. This was a common practice at the time and also occurred with The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), whose re-edited version was retitled Kiss of Evil.
[edit] Cast
- Peter Cushing (Baron Victor Frankenstein)
- Peter Woodthorpe (Zoltan)
- Duncan Lamont (Karlstaad Chief of Police)
- Sandor Eles (Hans)
- Katy Wild (Rena)
- Kiwi Kingston (the Creature)
[edit] External links
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