The Curse of Frankenstein
Published in 1818 when the author was only twenty years old, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus is often regarded as one of the first works of science fiction and in its merging with the Gothic formed another new genre which persists to this day, an iconic work which, along with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in 1897, serve as bookends of nineteenth century fantastic literature.
The British film studio Hammer having made their name in relatively low-budget dramas, thrillers and comedies since the nineteen-thirties, it was in the fifties that they moved first to science fiction with Four Sided Triangle and Spaceways and then more specifically to science fiction horror with The Quatermass Xperiment and X the Unknown, an “unofficial” Quatermass story in many ways, before raising their game with their first colour feature in 1957.
Inspired by Shelley’s novel, The Curse of Frankenstein was adapted by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Terence Fisher, both of whom would continue a long association with the studio, starring Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein, the first lead film role for the established television actor, his younger self played in confessional flashback by Melvyn Hayes, with Christopher Lee making his Hammer debut midway through the film as the Creation built from the body of a hanged highwayman.
Later a close friend of Cushing’s with whom he would frequently collaborate at Hammer and other studios, the following year in Dracula then in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1959, in Horror Express in 1972 and finally in House of the Long Shadows in 1983, it was to Lee’s chagrin one of the first times but far from the last he was cast by Hammer in a “mute” role, intended to be physically imposing but little more, The Devil Rides Out and The Wicker Man allowing him far more charismatic opportunities down the line.
Here, Cushing is instead paired with Robert Urquhart as Paul Kremper, the Baron’s tutor since he was orphaned at fifteen years old who has now become his assistant in his experiments into the nature of life and how the galvanic force as electricity can act as a catalyst to reverse death, with Hazel Court as Elizabeth Lavenza, the Baron’s cousin and later fiancé, and Valerie Gaunt as Justine Moritz, the Baron’s maid and secret lover.
The limited budget precluding extensive crowd scenes or location shooting, The Curse of Frankenstein is largely tied to the confining soundstage with only a few genuine exteriors at Oakley Court, later the mansion in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Hammer’s traditional forest locale in nearby Black Park, though despite the near-static camera the upstairs chambers of Chateau Frankenstein are prestigiously decorated while the dungeon laboratory feels more cluttered than actually useful, the open-topped acid bath particularly suspicious.
Running to just over eighty minutes, the characters are at most sketches, the dialogue and arguments between Kremper and the obsessive and irrational Frankenstein facile rather than deeply questioning the right or wrong of what they are undertaking, the potential for healing and knowledge versus the atrocities of first graverobbing then murder in order to obtain a brain “of superior intellect,” the Creature denied voice to speak for itself, a frustrating inheritance from Universal’s 1931 adaptation which the film otherwise tries to avoid duplicating.
Restored in 4K from the original film elements, The Curse of Frankenstein is released in a six-disc box with material duplicated across the UHD and Blu-ray formats, supported by new and archive commentaries, discussions on Sangster and costume designer Molly Arbuthnot, a visit to Cushing’s home town of Whitstable with Theatre of Blood’s Madeline Smith and Hammer expert Wayne Kinsey, archive featurettes and interviews, the unreleased pilot for Tales of Frankenstein, an anthology show starring Anton Diffring, galleries, promotional material and much more.
Following the premiere of the new restoration on Wednesday 1st October at Vue West End with Melvyn Hayes in attendance, The Curse of Frankenstein will be on limited theatrical release from Thursday 2nd October prior to the release of the limited edition 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray box on Monday 13th October.
