MovieChat Forums > Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) Discussion > Missing footage, or just sexy publicity ...

Missing footage, or just sexy publicity shots never in the movie


At the time of this movie's release, there were lots of magazine articles publicising it, with many dramatic photos of Peter Cushing and Susan Denberg in various mad scientist themed shots. All showed her as a scantily clad blonde beauty, wearing what appears to be a Nineteenth Century version of a bikini, as Cushing has her lying on a lab table, and seems to be making various adjustments to her form, involving cables and clamps and electrical equipment.

I have never seen any of this in the completed film, nor so much as one classic, dramatic moment of Frankenstein throwing a life-giving switch and triumphantly bringing the lovely female " monster" to life.

In the Fifties and Sixties, American film distriibutors often cut nudity and sexual scenes from foreign movies before releasing them in the States. Is it possible that some of these scenes appeared in the original British version, but were cut before American release, or were they simply a provocative ad campaign to lure more male moviegoers to buy tickets?

Someone must know. There must be plenty of male viewers out there who well remember the effect those publicity shots had on a 13 year old horror movie fan's libido.

And when he crossed the bridge, the phantoms came to meet him

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In the version I saw, there were a few shots that had obviously been reinserted into it, as they had a much poorer quality of footage, but they were just of random things, nothing that would have been censored.

Though what you say makes sense there were some bits where it felt like we were missing some backstory/exposition.

"No man is just a number"

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I'd be surprised if there were extra scenes in the US version... the UK film only runs to 86 minutes, whereas the US version is actually 92 minutes. So if anything there are less scenes in the UK version.

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[deleted]

Various sources indicate that those publicity stills were done before the final shooting script was finished. They were made specifically to exploit the appearance of the recent (Aug. '66) Playboy Playmate Denberg as the "Woman" created in the title. The lab doesn't remotely indicate a surgical focus.

Once the film became about souls and not the physicalities of building bodies and creating life (which explains why there are no "lab" scenes with the woman - she's simply getting her mind right, or wrong...and we saw how that worked earlier in the film, quite boringly), the stills became quite silly...but added to it's appeal over the years. Even recent DVD covers depict Denberg on a slab/table barely covered, but no such scenes were ever filmed.

Looking for your fair share of sex and nudity on display in your Frankenstein? Try Andy Warhol's Frankenstein aka Flesh for Frankenstein (in 3D no less!), directed by Paul Morrissey. It's a real hoot.

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On the cover of one of the dvd releases Cushing is carrying a scantily clad Denberg in his arms.

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I like the still of Peter Cushing with his legs wide apart, buckled and bent at the knee, with Susan Denberg in his arms. I don't know if that was the one on that DVD cover.

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