HAMMER FILMS: PETER CUSHING AND CHRISTOPHER LEE IN TERENCE FISHER’S THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
1957/ Director: Terence Fisher/ Writers: Jimmy Sangster (screenplay), Mary Shelley (novel)
Cast: Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Christopher Lee, Melvyn Hayes, Valerie Gaunt, Paul Hardtmuth
The Curse of Frankenstein is truly a history making movie. Prior to Curse Hammer had had some success as a film studio and with the Quartermass films and X The Unknown found a niche in the horror genre. Curse was their first color film, and what a first it was. The scenes are lush and vibrant as well as chilling and nightmarish. Under the direction of the brilliant Terence Fisher the movie revived the gothic horror film. While it was a return to the classic, atmospheric horror themes established in the 30’s by Universal studios, Hammer would certainly tell the stories with their own style. Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster would turn the focus of the story on the character of Victor Frankenstein rather than the monster. The obsessed doctor and his hideous creation are played by Hammer first timers Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Lee got the role basically because of his 6’4” height, a feature that almost prevented him from landing the role he would make legendary, that of Count Dracula. However it is Cushing that shines as the driven and insane Dr. Victor Frankenstein. He does frequent himself with hunchbacks as he robs graves but he aligns himself with his brilliant tutor. In later Hammer Frankenstein films the Igor type hunchback is eschewed for career driven young men who fall under Frankenstein’s evil charm. Cushing is dashingly handsome and his face conveys the doctor’s charisma and madness. He is a sociopath really who will let no one stand in the way of his ambitions.
The story essentially follows the classic Frankenstein tale, that of a man whose supreme creation turns into a monster that sets out to destroy its creator. The film has a wrap around narration and opens up with a pries arriving at the jail house where a broken and disheveled Victor await the guillotine. He does seek absolution but just wants someone to believe his incredible story, and that it was a “monster” that murdered his jealous house maid. We are taken back in time to when an already rich and arrogant young Victor Frankenstein meets his brilliant new tutor Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) and the two form a deep connection as time passes. However Victor’s passion run darker and more sinister than Paul’s as he desires to test their live reviving techniques on humans and not just small animals. Paul, though strong willed, is susceptible to Victor’s vision and passion and he is soon cutting corpses from the gallows to use in experiments. As in all Frankenstein stories the sublime nature of Frankenstein’s creation is not its physical form, hewed together from collected body parts, but it is to be the thing’s magnificent mind.
While all of Paul’s and Victor’s experiments are going on the house Victor’s cousin Elizabeth (the lovely Hazel Court) has come to stay following the death of her mother. She and her mother have long been cared for financially by Victor and now the two are to be paired in an arranged marriage. But the ambitious Victor has been dallying with the house keeper Justine (Valerie Gaunt) and whispering sweet nothings in her ear… sweet nothings that while rear their ugly heads and spell Justine’s doom eventually. Paul grows fond of Elizabeth and pleads with her to leave and while she senses his sincerity she is intend on wedding Victor. And Victor in the meantime had solved the problem of how to get a brilliant brain into his patchwork Übermensch, he will simply invite the gifted Professor Bernstein up for dinner and chat, then push him over the banister and kill him in a truly amazing scene that does not look like a dummy was used. Paul is over wrought with disgust at Victor and a conflict ensues in the crypt and the brain is damaged, but Victor continues his experiment to success. But his success nearly kills him. After pleading with Paul for assistance in operating the apparatus he returns to his laboratory to find the creature has been brought back to life in his absence. There is a fantastic scene where Lee quickly unbandages his face and reveals the hideous features of Victors labors. This scene totally scared the daylights out of as a ten year old staying up and watching this late at night all alone. Hammer was careful not to provoke powerful Universal studios with the monster’s makeup and what they did was a creature that looks bloodless and grotesque, with clumps of mangled flesh hanging from its neck rather than neat stitching scars. Lee’s monster has little time on screen in comparison to Karloff’s, and the time spent is in anguish and despair. The creature looks disgusting and shows its homicidal rage instantly upon seeing its creator. The thing escapes and rather than befriending an old blind man kills him. Paul shoots it in the face and in a rather gory scene for the time.
Victor will not give up and digs the beast up and in the last parts of the film it kills the scorned Justine and is discovered by a desperate to understand Elizabeth. While there is moral ambiguity with Cushing’s Frankenstein, a feature not to found in his Van Helsing or other Vampire hunters, he tries to save Elizabeth in the end from the beast he has to destroy. He comes to his senses far too late and in the end he is deserted at the guillotine by Paul and Elizabeth. Could Paul have saved him by verifying the existence of a monster? Or would he have only implicated himself? Did he take it on himself to be Victor’s judge for his horrible crimes? Did Paul fall in love with Elizabeth and see this as a solution to more than one problem?
The film ends with these questions and as we know the story continues in more fine Hammer Frankenstein films. I have the next three in the series and I will get them in due time. Before closing I want to comment on two more things. One is on Terrence Fisher’s marvelous use of interior shots. He does this well in all his films (The Brides of Dracula for another example) and his use of cluttered rooms and exotic interior camera angles is a quality I have long loved in his work. In fact his exterior shots are often bland unless his is using studio sets. The other thing I found noteworthy of this true classic was the score by James Bernard, who scored some of Hammer’s best soundtracks. But this one is simply thrilling and you cannot help but feel Victor’s anguish and fear all the more because of this score. Most of you have probably seen this film and I hope more than once. If you have not seen it and want to see how great a horror film can be then I suggest you go out and give a go. It is priceless. and certainly one of the best of the Hammer repertoire
Great Service at Reasonable Prices! Tell them Bill sent you!
December 6th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I love this film. I introduced it to my younger sister. She’s become a big fan too of both Cushing and Lee. I had forgotten how creepy I found Lee’s take on the monster. There was definitely nothing sympathetic about his character. You didn’t feel sorry for him. He was pure evil. I liked that about it.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I just got the commentary up as I received this, so I hope you at least skim over it then get back, as I agree you totally. But also evil here is Cushing’s Frankenstein. Not evil in a deep rooted way as he eventually shows a sound decision that is stills crewed up, because he almost kills Elizabeth. Yes, I just got this one in a few days ago with a few others in a bundle… what a treat.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Great essay.
Hammer’s treatment of the gothic genre simply has never been equalled in my mind. Some of Bava’s films had a lush gothic feel that comes as close as you’re going to get, and Tim Burton tries it with occasional success. Long story short: when gothic is done right it is wonderful (thank you Hammer and Amicus), but it is in precious short supply the past few decades. I’m ready for a comeback.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
One more thing (not related to your essay) – I really like the way your screen caps are arranged at the end of your essays with the wonderful style pop up when you click on the images. What do you use to create this effect or is this just a tool associated with your blog template? Just curious – I need to start posting on movies more often (LAMB will probably eject me soon) and I’d like to include some vid caps. Appreciate any pointers you may have.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Gil
Thanks for the feedback. I really like any comments anymore, more than I used to. I work hard on some posts and I get 200 or more hits a day but few comments. I guess I am do not go out and give as many as I could too. I think we are all wiped out sometimes from maintaining our sites and do not any energy left. I wonder if their are the posters, the doers, and then the commenters who do not have a real site they maintain and so have more time and energy for commenting?
About the thumbnails and the viewer thing.
Those are a couple of the reasons I struggle with Wordpress though it is a headache too.
The WP edit box allows me to arrange the thumbnails in this fashion, while I do not have as much say so over position with Blogger edit boxes. I admit that I too have grown to like the thumbnail display though it takes a little work. I have gotten it down now I think. I use GOM player to capture the thumbs, but I batch rename crop the lot of them in Faststone Free Image Viewer (a good piece of software) so that the file names are similar and easy on a search. Better to have The_Curse_of Frankentstein_002 out on Goggle than the original name of 67886_655SD or something equally nebulous. By cropping them all to the same size they line up in this fashion quickly and easily. I cans et my images up rather quickly now as I have developed a method finally.
Now, the viewing thing is a different story. I think it is a WP plugin called Shadowbox or something. If you search Shadowbox viewer things should come up. They have a few others with different names that do a similar thing, but after a lot of work I found this one worked the best for me. Of course you can save images by right clicking and selecting open in new tab or window. I really like it too and it gives a slide show effect of each post. If you check out my Photo Galleries on the sidebar you will see a similar effect with music from Tangerine Dream. Let me frank and say I almost gave up on this effect. I literally spent over a week figuring it all out, and when it all got working I was not really sure why and just have not changed anything since then. I think one problem was that I had conflicting plugins running, so I had to turn them all off and turn them back on one at a time to see which configuration worked best. This was usually done at like 4 AM and with a lot of profanity.
I do not know if this is option in Blogger. I have two Blogger sites and like some of the ease of things there but there are certainly less options. I have to use a hosted (i.e. paid for) WP site since WP is banned in China. Only total geeks can figure out how to maintain a WP here. I pay for a host for my .com address and simply use WP as a platform. I think in the States you can just get a WP blog and then can use most of the plugins free, but I have to do it all through an FTP client. It can be a headache and you know I have had set backs and frustrations. But the “look” is important to me, as much as the content. If I go to a site that is all white and no pictures I tend to skip over it. I do not care how well written it is unless it is some philosophy or theology site. But I have actually gone to movie and comic book sites and all I see are words… LOTS of words.
So, in short, I think to get that effect you might have to use WP or search Blogger online for a compatible “shadowbox” type effect. WP certainly offers lots more in the areas of plugins and templates (well over 1000 free templates) but you will spend more time in forums trying to figure it out. I am not putting myself down, but to be frank, if I can do it you can, but then why change your Blogger unless you really want to. But again, WP is a step up and also having a hosted site too. it depends what your long range goals are.
One last thing. WP also has a snazzy plug in for Search Engine Optimization, does it all for you after you enter some info under your post. I sometimes see my posts on Google’s 1st page after just a couple days. It also has a plug in that will set an XML Site Map for Google, something I could not do on my own. I have two other non-hosted WP URLs but I simply cannot edit them in China, but I am trying to learn how. Those blogs are in limbo. Goddamned CCP! They just banned Technorati too.
Maybe I was no help. The effect is a shadowbox viewer. There may be other names. But I think it rocks!
Thanks
Bill
December 8th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Hey Bill. I came back to read what you wrote. Great write-up. I quite enjoyed it. Good job you did. It’s time for bed so don’t have the time to write as much as I would like. I thought this film had good performances from the cast. You know how I feel about Lee’s take on the monster. I did think Cushing was great as the Doc. This was the first film I ever saw him as a more evil character. He was always the good guy in the other films I had seen him in up to this point. I’m not counting Star Wars though.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Hola Amigo Bill!
Fantastic write-up as usual. The layout is outstanding and you gave one of the better summaries I have ever read regarding this film. I LOVE Curse of Frankenstein, how different things might’ve turned out for Hammer had they not took a gamble on resurrecting these dormant literary characters. Take care my friend!
December 9th, 2008 at 12:10 am
1) Yes, I get frustrated sometimes busting my ass on a post and the same two people comment every time, yet it’s been viewed by hundreds of visitors. One of my posts ‘They Spanked Women in the Old Days” has nothing to do with sex, not at all about some sort of fetish or odd perversion (it was written in a humorous manner) – yet it has had a few THOUSAND hits in just over a month (Google key word – spanking women). Guess how many comments – I think about three. Go figure.
2) I have a lot of regrets regarding my choices at retrospace – all stemming from the fact that I initially had NO intention of continuing with it beyond a week or so. Thus, I put little to no thought in some things that have come back to haunt me. For instance, Blogger was a bad choice – your options/tools/layout, etc. are so limited it’s pathetic. I would have gone with WP if I had done a minute’s worth of research.
Also, I’m not happy with my address (MY retrospace? WTF?), I don’t even like the name – retrospace implies a sci-fi based blog and “retro” itself typically denotes a pre-1960’s time period, not the 1970’s of which my site is mostly dedicated. Oh well, it’s not important – just an opportunity to bitch a little bit on your site.
3) Finally, thanks for the info on posting images. I will certainly put it to use down the road if blogger will let me. I want to start doing scans and vid caps, which I have yet to try.
Well, until next time. Thanks again for the tips.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Keith
Thanks. Praise from you is taken highly. I think my layout is getting tighter to be honest. I am having less WP issues and after practice I know what I want and don’t want. I am always doubtful about my commentaries. I want them to be informative but a little light or humorous at points, but I read so many sites that are consistently well written, like Rik Rawlin’s Pyschskull and Kimberly’s Cinebeats. But I do this for fun and to keep off the streets at nights. Thanks again and those kind of words inspire. My next post will be a total break away… jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor. Broadening the scope of things. Thanks man.
Gil
As you know I have some Blogger blogs now. What you may not know that is up up a couple months ago Blogger was blocked/banned in China. Google basically kissed some ass and to get more of the market here and does self censoring and I think has to report to some place in China about what blogs it has censored that might disrupt the “harmonious society” of 14 year gymnasts here.
Other and better blog platforms, Wordpress, Typepad, Blogsum… are all blocked still. I have been trying to set up a WP blog directly (I pay a .com host site now and only use WP as a platform) using proxy software and so far no luck. It so far cannot be done for many reasons. I would love to have set my new Commentarius Perpetuus blog up on WP or something, but Blogger is suitable for me for those sites I guess, though I hate their templates. So cheesy.
You can always transfer all your data to a new blog. This is done easily in WP but I am not sure about Blogger.
I never thought retrospace was a bad title. I see your site sometimes in google when I am searching for things. “I know that guy!!!” So the title draws traffic I think. The design element is simply limited by Blogger. If Wordpress is ever unblocked here I am transferring my Blogger stuff to it even if I can.
The comment thing I a drag and i do not know why some sites get so many and others do not. I have seen sites that post a picture and then they write: “Do you like this picture? I do” … then they get like 18 hits!!! And I bust my gonads and like you said get the same two or three people. It is not just us. There is a guy with a great well written blog who posts daily, often twice a day, with long well written essays.But he is lucky to get a comment or two a week. Weird. I leave him one when I can as he has a Wordpress.com blog and it can hard for me to leave comments from a proxy sometimes, though I can see the site.
I know I should comment more too and have decided I will set aside certain times where I will browse sites I know and from blog search engines like Technorati (now banned too in China) and Blog catalog and say something. If I comment and they do not come here and comment…then…then to hell with them and all the future generations of misanthropes they may sire!!!
January 24th, 2010 at 7:24 am
I was only 2 years old in 1957,but of all Frankenstein movies this is my favorite of all.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I think your feeling is not uncommon about this great movie. I may have to give it another viewing soon. Thanks.