Tell me is The Curse of Frankenstein the best Frankenstein movie ever
tell me what you like about the movie.
Charles
I agree! As a child of 7 I saw this movie at a Saturday matinee with my big brother. It was the only movie that ever kept me awake all night. After watching as an adult a few months ago, it still gave me the creeps.
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It's surely my favorite. I basically feel the Frankenstein battle is between Curse and the James Whale film. Whale's direction is a bit more interesting. Lee and Karloff as the monster is a draw. Cushing as the Baron is what truly separates Curse from the non-Hammer versions in my opinion. It is one of his 2-3 best performances. A very dynamic character and truly memorable.
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OMG, I'm watching it now, and I have to say it IS the best. I never thought I would like another Frankenstein movie better than Frankenstein: The True Story, but this is it!!! The True Story is more romantic, but I must say I'm really enjoying the fiendish machinations of Baron Frankenstein in this flick. I never fully appreciated Peter Cushing's acting talents, but the look on his face when he locked the serving girl in with the creature, and when he pushed the professor over the railing was PRICELESS!!!!
It has the best script of any of them, thanks to Jimmy Sangster. Cushing was a TV star at the time and when he heard Hammer were making this low-budget effort (low-budget enough that they barely went with color but avoided hiring a horse and carriage or paying any extras to hold pitchforks) he contacted them offering himself for the role, because he happened to be a big Frankenstein fan. Cushing's acting is superb, and all others involved do their jobs well. It takes itself and the horror of the sociopath seriously, and it has a satisfying ending. (Lee is very good in this, but even better in The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll.)
Years later Sangster and one of his closest friends actor Ralph Bates -- with the Hammer bosses forgetting to give them almost any supervision -- made a weird gentle satire of this movie called Horror Of Frankenstein, with a dry "whatever" attitude, that is well worth enjoying, if the idea of Sangster making fun of his own classic doesn't offend you. (The puppy becomes a turtle, for instance, and you can see that Bates is trying not to laugh while delivering his lines, and on and on the movie goes largely mirroring the script of this movie, with appropriate false dignity, ending with a deliberate anticlimax as part of the nonsense.)
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One of my favorites. Color, sets, Hazel and her costumes are all gorgeous, and it´s entertaining monster film.
shareGreatest Hammer movies that I've seen:
1. Curse Of Frankenstein
2. Taste Of Fear
3. Dracula
4. The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll
5. The Devil Rides Out
6. Dracula Prince Of Darkness
7. The Vampire Lovers
8. Horror Of Frankenstein
9. Die Die My Darling
10. Sword Of Sherwood Forest
Some that I have to warn are embarrassingly incompetent or just boring are Slave Girls, The Lost Continent, Scars Of Dracula, Captain Kronos, and To The Devil A Daughter
(bearing in mind that I actually like e.g. Vengeance Of She and Lust For A Vampire!).
Its my favorite, for sure. I did like the Universal film with Karloff and Clive, but this one has always held a special place in my heart as it was the film that introduced me to the Hammer horror films. Cushing and Lee are in prime form, the film is dark, creepy and downright thick with atmosphere and dread. Its certainly is the best of the Hammer Frankenstein flicks.
shareWow, I'm amazed you can even ask this question. The Curse of Frankenstein strikes me as a terrible piece of schlock. Was there a moment of suspense in it? Was there anything approaching fear? Nothing. The script was plain vanilla, with nary a twist or turn to keep the audience from falling asleep. How can anyone consider it in the in the same league as the original Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein, what scene can compare with cranking that platform to the top of the castle for the lightning to strike it, the terrific lab equipment, the setting of the castle, the character of the servant, the scenes with the blind man and the child, the villagers, the village policeman, the mob running around the countryside with their blazing torches? The list goes on. The Curse of Frankenstein just doesn't even come close on any level. I can watch the Universal versions multiple times, but I'll never waste my time watching this clunker again.
I mostly agree with you on this. However, I would say there is some suspense when the creature gets loose in the forest and encounters the blind man, and at the end when it is again roaming free and Elizabeth unwittingly goes to investigate what's hiding in the lab. There is some suspense in those scenes. That being said, while I thought "Curse" was pretty good, you are on the money that this film doesn't hold a candle to the original "Frankenstein" and "Bride," for all of the reasons you mentioned. To me those are absolute classics. Just the settings alone...the castle, the village, the blind man's cottage, the graveyard, the windmill....there were so many different sets used. "Curse" is almost exclusively at Victor's mansion, with just a few scenes in the forest. The grandiosity of the originals makes "Curse" look small in comparison.
share"The grandiosity of the originals makes 'Curse' look small in comparison." "Curse" is a "small" movie. Small budget. They could afford a very talented television actor, and color, and couldn't afford villagers, and couldn't afford a single horse and carriage! But it's also the perfect Frankenstein story perfectly acted.
Ever seen I, Claudius? Small. And so what.