The Evil of Frankenstein

The Evil of Frankenstein is a 1964 film directed by Freddie Francis. The third installment in Hammer's Frankenstein series, it stars Peter Cushing, Sandor Elès and Kiwi Kingston.

The Evil of Frankenstein
UK quad poster
Directed byFreddie Francis
Produced byAnthony Hinds[1]
Screenplay byAnthony Hinds[1]
Starring
Music byDon Banks[1]
CinematographyJohn Wilcox[1]
Edited byJames Needs[1]
Production
company
Hammer Films[2]
Distributed byRank Film Distributors[2]
Release date
  • 19 April 1964 (1964-04-19) (London)
  • 31 May 1964 (1964-05-31) (United Kingdom)
Running time
84 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom[2]
Budget£130,000[1]

Plot

A child witnesses an intruder steal the corpse of one of her recently dead relatives. Terrified, the child flees from the cabin where she is hiding, and encounters Baron Victor Frankenstein.

The body snatcher takes the corpse to Frankenstein's secret laboratory. Meanwhile, a local priest discovers the theft. The child who witnessed the theft identifies both the body snatcher and his employer. Forced to leave town, Frankenstein and his assistant, Hans, return to the Baron's hometown of Karlstaad, where they plan to sell valuables from the abandoned Frankenstein chateau to fund new work. Arriving in the village, they rescue a deaf-mute young woman from being harassed by a gang of thugs. Arriving at the chateau, they find all the valuables stolen.

The following day, Frankenstein and Hans go out for a meal, and Frankenstein notices the local Burgomeister is wearing one of his valuables; a ring. Frankenstein and Hans are recognised by the authorities, and they flee, eventually hiding at the hypnotist, Zoltan's, exhibit. Zoltan clashes with the police and is arrested, covering the escape of Frankenstein and Hans.

Later that evening, Frankenstein and Hans breaks into the Burgomeister's apartments to get the valuables back, but the police arrive. Frankenstein and Hans flee and encounter the deaf-mute girl. She leads them to her shelter in a cave.

Frankenstein finds his original creation frozen in the cave. He and Hans build a fire to melt the ice and free the creature. They take it to the chateau and restore it to life. However, the creature's brain is unresponsive. Frankenstein, desperate to restore active consciousness to his creation, comes up with the idea of obtaining the services of Zoltan to reanimate the creature's mind. Zoltan has been banished from Karlstaad for not having a license to perform. After clever psychological manipulation by the Baron, he agrees to the task.

Zoltan is successful, but has less than scientific interests at heart. With the creature responding only to his commands, Zoltan uses it to rob and take revenge upon the town's authorities. Frankenstein evicts Zoltan, who then instructs the creature to kill Frankenstein, but the creatures kills him instead. The creature goes into a fit of rage and accidentally sets the lab on fire. Hans escapes with the girl, and the couple watch as smoke pours from the chateau where the lab is. A massive explosion ensues, causing the section where the lab was to topple over the cliff. Hans remarks, "They beat him after all." The Baron's fate is unknown.

Cast

Production

The script for the film by Anthony Hinds was based on a story synopsis that Peter Bryan submitted in May 1958 for the aborted Tales of Frankenstein television series.[3] The film breaks continuity from the preceding film, The Revenge of Frankenstein.[4] Denis Meikle described the break: "Any pretext of a connection to The Revenge of Frankenstein is dispensed with in a brazen display of contempt for continuity. A flashback creates a prior history that is wholly unrelated to the last Sangster script and is instead plundered from Universal's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman."[5]

The film was in production from 14 October to 16 November 1963 at Bray Studios in Windsor, Berkshire and on location at Black Park Country Park in Wexham, Buckinghsamshire.[6] The film was made during Hammer's six-year co-production pact with Columbia Pictures.[3] This led to the company to make a few production a year with Universal Pictures, with The Evil of Frankenstein being the only film that Hammer made that was financed by Universal in 1963.[3] The film's version of the Monster is noted for resembling the one in Universal Pictures' original Frankenstein series of the 1930s and 1940s, including the distinctive laboratory sets as well as the flat-headed look of Jack Pierce's monster make-up which had been designed for Boris Karloff.[7] Earlier Frankenstein films by Hammer had studiously avoided such similarities for copyright reasons. However, a new film distribution deal had been made between Hammer and Universal. As a result, Hammer had free rein to duplicate make-up and set elements.[7]

Additional scenes for American television were filmed on 14 January 1966 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.[3]

Release

The Evil of Frankenstein had its premiere in London on 19 April 1964 at the New Victoria Theatre.[1] It received a general release in the country in 31 May 1964.[1] It later received a release in the United States by Universal Pictures on 8 May 1964.[1] The film was shown with a 97 minute running time on NBC in the United States on their NBC Saturday Night at the Movies block on 2 January 1968.[1]

Critical reception

From contemporary reviews, Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote, "For the first half, the latest Frankenstein go-round has a succinct pull and a curious dignity ... the picture begins to say something about superstition and hypocrisy. Then it simply goes hog-wild (monster gets drunk) and heads for the ash heap."[8] Variety gave the film a lukewarm review, writing that the direction was "deft enough over the more preposterous patches" and that there was "always something going on," but that the dialogue sometimes provoked unintended laughter and that some of the supporting cast "tend to ham it up to the make-believe's detriment."[9] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the monster made "a welcome return to tradition in a close approximation of Boris Karloff's celebrated make-up" and that the Baron's lab equipment was "as photogenic as ever," but that the film was "sadly tatty" in all other respects, concluding: "Saddled with an uninspiring cast, and a Bavarian village so stagy that the villagers rhubarbing away into their Olde German beermugs seem almost real by comparison, Freddie Francis finds the going too uphill by half."[2]

From retrospective reviews, AllMovie's review of the film was mixed to negative, calling it "dismal" and "the worst of Hammer Films' Frankenstein series".[10] As of June 2020 the film has an average critic's approval of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes.[11]

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See also

References
  1. Fellner 2019, p. 132.
  2. "Evil of Frankenstein, The". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 31 no. 365. British Film Institute. June 1964. p. 92.
  3. Fellner 2019, p. 135.
  4. Hallenbeck 2013, p. 135.
  5. Meikle 2008, p. 139.
  6. Fellner 2019, p. 80.
  7. Hallenbeck 2013, p. 124-126.
  8. Thompson, Howard (18 June 1964). "'Evil of Frankenstein' and 'Nightmare'". The New York Times: 29.
  9. "The Evil of Frankenstein". Variety: 6, 102. 22 April 1964.
  10. Robert Firsching. "The Evil of Frankenstein – Review". AllMovie. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  11. "The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 June 2020.

Sources
  • Fellner, Chris (2019). The Encyclopedia of Hammer Films. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 1538126591.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2013), The Hammer Frankenstein: British Cult Cinema, Midnight Marquee Press, ISBN 978-1936168330CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Meikle, Denis (2008), A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 9780810863811CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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