THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
3-Disc Special Edition
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 83 Minutes 30 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR102160p UHD Widescreen (1.85:1), Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.66:1), Dolby Vision 2160p UHD Open Matte (1.37:1)
Director: Terence Fisher
Cast: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Valerie Gaunt, Paul Hardtmuth, Alex Gallier
Hammer's full-tilt horror and color-filmmaking debut The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) still packs a re-animated punch all these years later, the Frankenstein's monster flick was a monumental slice of terror with a horror pedigree a mile long from the get-go, it was written by Hammer screenwriting stalwart Jimmy Sangster (The Brides of Dracula) and directed by Terence Fisher (Dracula: Prince of Darkness) who was the pre-eminent Hammer director. It also paired soon-to-be horror icons Peter Cushing (Corruption) and Christopher Lee (The Castle of Fu Manchu) for the very first time, a horror team-up that would prove to rival that of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff before them. Hammer's take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel was also careful not to tread on the intellectual rights of Universal films whose own iconic franchise had come before it, for fear of legal recourse.
The Gothic surgical-nightmare is told in flashback, opening and closing with with a wrap-around device of Victor Frankenstein (Peter) imprisoned and awaiting his execution by guillotine. The story is being told by him to a priest shortly before his schedule beheading. His tale begins with a teenage Baron Victor Frankenstein (Melvyn Hayes, The Flesh and the Fiends) who was orphaned at the age of fifteen. We meet the arrogant teen as he is audaciously in the process of hiring his own private tutor, a teacher named Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart, Murder at the Gallop).
Over the course of two decades Krempe tutors and mentors the young Frankenstein who has become quite a brilliant if unorthodox scientific mind. The film then flashed forward within the flashback to the now adult Victor (now played properly by Peter Cushing) who is now friend with his mentor Paul, who works at Victor's side as he embarks on a series, the latest being an attempt to re-animate the corpse of a dead puppy. They do manage to bring it back from the dead, not with bolts of electricity but through surgery and strange alchemy. This scientific breakthrough fuels within Frankenstein an obsession to create life from a collection of human part that he will stitch together himself, to give it new life where there was none before. After the successful puppy re-animation Paul thinks they should share this new breakthrough with the medical community, but Victor disagrees. Choosing to keep the scientific discovery to himself he is now hell bent on creating life. Paul increasingly disapproves of the immoral path Frankenstein is travelling but stays on, assisting Victor in body-snatching corpses to further his experimentation.
When Frankenstein hears of a highway robber recently hung on the outskirts of town he sees an opportunity, thus beginning the process of collecting body-parts to assemble his spare-parts monster, eventually he is only need of a brain to complete his assembly. The division between Krempe and Victor builds to a proper head of steam soon after with the arrival of Frankenstein's cousin Elizabeth (Hazel Court, The Man Who Could Cheat Death), who moves into the chalet to carry through with a pre-arranged marriage to Victor. Paul is smitten by the young woman and fears for her safety being in such close proximity to the increasingly obsessed Victor. The final straw is when Victor straight-up murders an elderly colleague to steal his brain, afterward a physical altercation with Krempe inadvertently damages the brain. Even still Frankenstein moves ahead with re-animating his monster, but when it springs to life the creature immediately shows a murderous temperament, attempting to strangle it's creator.
Later the monster escapes the lab and murders a blind man and his grandson it encounters in the nearby woods. Victor and Kempe track it down with the latter dispatching the pitiful creature by shooting it in the face with a shotgun, much to the chagrin of Frankenstein. At that point Kempe believing Elizabeth to be safe from Frankenstein's monster makes his leave, only returning to partake in the Frankenstein's wedding to Elizabeth some months later. However, during his visit he is horrified when Victor reveals that he has repaired and re-animated the creature once again!
I first saw this at my grandma's house when I was still in the single-digits, she only had a black and white TV and I was used to watching everything in black and white. I do believe I thought this was a black and white film at the time, unaware that it was a technicolor flick for years afterwards. This was the first iteration of Frankenstein that I ever saw, even before the Universal film this was my introduction to it all, and it got under my skin. The way Frankenstein used alchemy and immersed the creature in a large water tank made me feel uneasy for some reason, it seemed much more gruesome to me than the idea of harnessing the electrical power of lightening ever could have. Lightning seemed clean by comparison, bit the whole water-logged corpse brought back to life was disturbing. I also though the ghoulish look of Christopher Lee's lumbering creature was much scarier than the bolts-in-the-neck and square headed Karloff creature, though that too is iconic for a reason. This creature had pale, loose-fitting, fetid-looking flesh, a cataract dead-eye and horrific scarring on it's face. At the point that I first watched it this was certainly the most gruesome looking thing I had ever seen outside of some actual roadkill, which I saw often as a kid, being an outdoorsy country kid. Lee doesn't get the chance to do a lot with this character but he manages to do more with it than what was probably on paper, giving the creature a sad pitifulness that re-enforces the idea that Victor is the real monster here, this creature is just a sad but violent product of that insanity.
I do love Peter Cushing's take on Frankenstein, he is not some man of science who is misunderstood, but instead is an arrogant man of science obsessed with playing God, who treats those around him quite poorly at every turn. He is cold and dismissive of his new bride, callous to the concerns of Paul, and even worse to his servant girl and secret lover Justine (Valerie Gaunt, Horror of Dracula). After being scorned by Victor Justine threatens to reveal his immoral experimentation to the authorities, to which Victor responds by locking her in a room with the creature, with the expected results. Robert Urquhart as Kempe is a bit odd, he has almost a sexless homosexual relationship with Frankenstein, Not really, but he is so strangely dedicated to the man, but he is put-off by his blasphemous experimentation, but he absolutely never does anything about it. it's actually quite frustrating that he never grows a proper conscience and reports any of it to the authorities, or at least Elizabeth, whom he has a soldering heart for.
This Hammer horror also has a great Gothic look to it, the studio establishing the Hammer-look early on. Frankenstein's lab is not alive with the sound of crackling electricity and Jacob's Ladders, but chock full of colored fluids and strange instruments of alchemy, including a gauze wrapped body suspended in an oversized aquarium filled with life-restoring fluids. Like any good mad-scientist Frankenstein also has a vat of acid at the ready where he can dissolve unwanted surgical viscera and bit of evidence like a severed heads and multiple bodies. The flick does good work separating itself from the Universal films, the need to forgo certain iconic visuals being the mother of invention, and in the process proving to me more true to the source material than what came had before.
The Curse of Frankenstein is a great watch, if you love Gothic horror, are a Hammer junkie, love all things Frankenstein or are just a huge fans of the Lee and Cushing team-ups, this is an entertaining and surprisingly macabre watch that should hold up for monster-kids of all ages. Hammer started strong right out of the gate with this one, when you look at it you have all the moving pieces in place from the beginning with Sangster writing it, Fisher directing it, the Cushing and Lee team-up, and the cream on top is a fantastic James Bernard score, it's all there right at the start!
I did have a few random thoughts while re-watching this one, most of them regarding the dead puppy that Frankenstein re-animates early on. First, did that bastard kill it himself, and if so I am glad that they didn't show, can you even imagine Cushing drowning a pup on--screen? The horror! Second, what the fuck happened to it? We never see it again, and I am curious at the possibilities, did it also suffer a bad temperament like the monster? Did Frankenstein give to some kid down the lane and it ended up killing the whole family? Is that why that kid was hanging around his grandfather in the forest scrounging mushroom, was he an orphan because of that pup? Finally, was this the inspiration for Tim Burton's re-animated dead dog flick Frankenweenie (1984)?
Audio/Video: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) was previously issued on Blu-ray from Warner Archive in a 2-disc special edition back in 2020, it now arrives on 3-disc region-free 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray set from the Warner Archive Collection. The film is presented in 2190p UHD with Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grade, and we get three different aspect ratios - we get both the 1.66 UK framing and the 1.85 US framing on disc one, and on disc two we get the open matte 1.37:1 TV framing, all in 4k Ultra HD with HDR10 Dolby Vision. Notably the 1.37:1 framing is open matte and shows more information along the top and the bottom of the frame, even thought his framing was never intended outside of TV airings. All three framing options are sourced from a new 4K scan of preservation separation elements, and while there is occasionally a spot of softness or color fluctuation it looks fantastic, the 4K resolution, grain is nicely resolved and offers an appreciable amount of detail and texture in close-ups that highlight the terrific period clothing textures, ornate wallpaper and the scarred face of the creature. Perhaps the biggest benefit here is the application of HDR10 Dolby Vision color grading with deeper blacks and more nuanced shadow detail, the colors are radiant and well-saturated, and depth and clarity shine like never before, this is easily the most filmic presentation to date. It should be noted that this three disc set includes a Blu-ray dedicated to the special features and does not contain any versions of the actual film, a separate Blu-ray only release is also available as a separate edition from Warner Archive.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono or a newly created 5.1 Surround mix that was created by hammer Films, with optional English subtitles. It mono track sounds appropriately vintage in that we do not get much low-end and there's an ever so slight hiss that can be heard at times, but the dialogue is never hard to discern and the James Bernard (The Plague of the Zombies) score sounds terrific. The 5.1 option offers more depth and immersion, but to be honest I still prefer the dual-mono track.
The extras a listed below are freaking awesome, a mic of archival and newly created extras that go four hours with four commentaries and loads upon loads of featurettes and appreciation, a black and white 8mm cutdown version of the film, and an alternate eyeball scene, and promotional materials.
The 3-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a flipper ray housing the three discs, with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring a terrific new artwork by artist Greg Staples that nicely captures the vibes of the film.
Special Features:
Disc 1: UHD - 1.66:1 and 1.37:1 Versions + Extras
- NEW! Commentary with author and critic Kim Newman, horror anthologist and writer Stephen Jones and Barry Forshaw, author of British Gothic Cinema on the 1.66:1 Version
- Archival commentary with Hammer experts Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby on the 1.37:1 Version.
- NEW! Beside the Seaside (50:17): Actor Madeline Smith visits Peter Cushing’s beloved hometown of Whitstable in the company of Hammer expert Wayne Kinsey, to learn more about the man behind the actor.
- NEW! Reviving the Curse of Frankenstein (8:11): A look behind-the-scenes at how the new 4K restoration of The Curse of Frankenstein was made.
- NEW! Alternative Eyeball Scene (1:11): Included uncut in the main feature, this alternative version of the eyeball scene shows how it was edited to appease the censors.
- UK Trailer (2:19)
- NEW! UK Censor Card (0:11)
Disc 2: UHD - 1.85:1 Version + Extras
- NEW! Audio Commentary with Heidi Honeycutt, writer, filmmaker and film programmer, and cult movie expert Toby Roan.
- Archival Audio Commentary with writer/producer Dr. Steve Haberman and filmmaker and film historian Constantine Nasr.
- NEW! Recreating the Creature (34:41): Phil Leakey's Creature make-up is the stuff of legend and an inspiration to generations of budding make-up artists. Igor Studios' Lou Elsey and Academy Award-winning Dave Elsey recreate Leakey's iconic make-up on actor James Swanton alongside comments from Phil himself courtesy of a previously unheard audio interview and a newly-recorded interview with Phil's son Peter.
- NEW! A Fitting Vocation (10:11): Wardrobe Mistress Molly Arbuthnot’s contributions to Hammer’s gothics are often overlooked but cannot be underestimated. Professor Melanie Bell and the BFI’s Jo Botting discuss Molly and her work alongside contributions from actor Melvyn Hayes, who was costumed by Molly at Bray for his role as young Victor;
- NEW! Topped and Tailed (16:21): Interview with actor Melvyn Hayes, Melanie Bell and Jo Botting paying respects to Molly Arbuthnot and her uncredited costume work on The Curse of Frankenstein.
- NEW! Good or Tuesday? (39:06): Jimmy Sangster rose through the production ranks at Hammer to become one of their key creatives and an influence on many who followed. Writer/actor Mark Gatiss, writer/publisher Dick Klemensen, author Stephen Laws, screenwriter/novelist Stephen Gallagher, screenwriter/producer David Pirie and writer/publisher Wayne Kinsey discuss the man and the lasting impact of his work; A previously unheard audio interview with cinematographer Jack Asher gives a personal insight into one of his best-known works.
- NEW! Painting with Fine Brushes (11:40): Writer/publisher Dick Klemensen offers a tribute to Hammer cinematographer Jack Asher.
- NEW! A Gothic Tribute to Frankenstein (24:15): A Gothic History of Frankenstein: Scriptwriter and novelist Stephen Volk discusses Shelley’s original novel, its adaptation to cinema and the legacy of Hammer’s genre-defining 1957 film.
- NEW! Image Gallery (13:48): An image gallery, including behind-the-scenes shots, alongside tracks from James Bernard’s iconic score.
Disc 3: Blu-ray - Additional Special Features Disc
- Frankenstein Reborn (34:46) - Archival featurette that looks at the making of this iconic film with actor Melvyn Hayes, Hammer experts Denis Meikle and Jonathan Rigby and James Bernard's biographer David Huckvale. Also includes archive footage of Michael Carreras and Jimmy Sangster.
- Life With Sir (12:34) - Archive featurette that gives a gentle and heartwarming portrait of Peter Cushing by Joyce Broughton, his secretary and friend.
- The Resurrection Men (21:51) - Archive featurette where Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine's Dick Klemensen explains the revolutionary nature of The Curse of Frankenstein and how it gave birth to a new type of horror.
- Hideous Progeny (22:49): Archive featurette where Christopher Frayling discusses the transgressive nature of the English gothic literary tradition and its monstrous offspring, gothic cinema.
- Torrents of Light (15:15): Archive featurette where cinematographer David J. Miller examines Jack Asher's artistry as a lighting cameraman on the Hammer gothics.
- Diabolus in Musica (17:06): Archive featurette where composer Christopher Drake reflects on the skill and talent of James Bernard and his ongoing influence as the sound of Hammer Horror.
- NEW! 8mm Black & White Cutdown Version of the Film (10:36)
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