Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is a 1969 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Films, starring Peter Cushing, Freddie Jones, Veronica Carlson and Simon Ward.[2] The film is the fifth in a series of Hammer films focusing on Baron Frankenstein, who, in this entry, terrorises those around him in a bid to uncover the secrets of a former associate confined to a lunatic asylum.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Theatrical release poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed byTerence Fisher
Produced byAnthony Nelson Keys
Screenplay byBert Batt
Story byAnthony Nelson Keys
Bert Batt
StarringPeter Cushing
Freddie Jones
Simon Ward
Veronica Carlson
Music byJames Bernard
CinematographyArthur Grant
Edited byGordon Hales
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date
  • 22 May 1969 (1969-05-22)

  • 11 February 1970 (1970-02-11)
U.S.
Running time
98 min/U.S.: 101 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office586,439 admissions (France)[1]

Plot

Baron Frankenstein is staying at a boarding house while his former assistant Dr. Frederick Brandt resides in a nearby insane asylum. After discovering that his landlady Anna Spengler's fiance Karl Holst, who is a doctor at the asylum, has been stealing narcotics in order to support Anna's ailing mother, Frankenstein blackmails them into helping him kidnap Brandt so he can get the secret formula of his experiment. During the kidnapping, Brandt has a heart attack, prompting Frankenstein and Karl to kidnap the asylum's administrator Professor Richter to transplant Brandt's brain into his body.

While Anna is getting ready for bed, Frankenstein rapes her. When the police begin closing in, Frankenstein, Anna and Karl relocate to a deserted manor house, bringing Brandt along, who is slowly recovering. Brandt awakens, and Anna attacks him out of fear, causing him to escape. In a rage, Frankenstein kills Anna and goes after Brandt. Devistated and enraged, Karl goes after Frankenstein to avenge Anna's death. Brandt makes it to his former house, but his wife Ella refuses to believe he is her husband.

Wanting revenge on Frankenstein, Brandt allows Ella to flee and waits for Frankenstein. Frankenstein arrives, and Brandt sets fire to the house to trap him. Frankenstein manages to flee, but Brandt goes after him. Frankenstein is caught by Karl, who fights him and tries to kill him. Brandt kills Karl and recaptures Frankenstein. Brandt takes Frankenstein back to the house, where he sacrifices himself to ensure Frankenstein burns to death.

Cast

Production

The scene where Frankenstein rapes Anna was filmed over the objections of both Peter Cushing and Veronica Carlson, and director Terence Fisher, who halted it when he felt enough was enough.[3] It was not in the original script, but the scene was added at the insistence of Hammer executive James Carreras, who was under pressure to keep the American distributors happy.[3] This explains why there is no mention of the rape subsequently by Anna or Frankenstein.

The scenes featuring Thorley Walters as Inspector Frisch were also late additions to the original script; they have been described as unnecessary, adding an unwelcome element of comedy into the suspenseful story and also making the film too long.[4][5][6]

Welsh version

In 1978, the Welsh television station HTV Cymru/Wales broadcast a version dubbed into the Welsh language called Rhaid Dinistrio Frankenstein, a more-or-less literal translation of the English title. This was one of three films that were dubbed into Welsh, another being Shane, with Alan Ladd. Both these were rebroadcast on the new Welsh language channel S4C on its launch in 1982.[7]

Reception

Variety called the film "a good-enough example of its low-key type, with artwork rather better than usual (less obvious backcloths, etc.) a minimum of artless dialogue, good lensing by Arthur Grant and a solid all round cast."[8] The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "the most spirited Hammer horror in some time. The crudities still remain, of course, but the talk of transplants and drugs seem to have injected new life into the continuing story of Baron Frankenstein."[9]

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed currently holds an average 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.[10]

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See also

References
  1. Box office information for Terence Fisher films in France at Box office Story
  2. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | BFI | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  3. Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2013). The Hammer Frankenstein: British Cult Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. pp. 167, 170. ISBN 978-1936168330.
  4. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed - Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing, Hammer Studios 1969". Members.aon.at. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  5. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Trivia". TCM.com. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  6. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed 1969 | Britmovie | Home of British Films". Britmovie. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  7. "Frankenstein Film Dubbed In Welsh". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 14 September 1978. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  8. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed". Variety: 40. 11 June 1969.
  9. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 36 (426): 146. July 1969.
  10. "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
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