The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (screenplay)
Mary Shelley (novel)

Release Date:

25 June 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Not recommended for people of nervous disposition

Plot:

Victor Frankenstein builds a creature and brings it to life. But his creature behaves not as he intended.

Plot Keywords:

Frankenstein | Baron | Creature | Brain | Experiment

Cast

Peter Cushing	...	Victor Frankenstein
Hazel Court	...	Elizabeth
Robert Urquhart	...	Paul Krempe
Christopher Lee	...	Creature
Melvyn Hayes	...	Young Victor
Valerie Gaunt	...	Justine
Paul Hardtmuth	...	Professor Bernstein
Noel Hood	...	Aunt
Fred Johnson	...	Grandpa
Claude Kingston	...	Little Boy
Alex Gallier	...	Priest
Michael Mulcaster	...	Warder
Andrew Leigh	...	Burgomaster
Ann Blake	...	Wife
Sally Walsh	...	Young Elizabeth
Middleton Woods	...	Lecturer
Raymond Ray	...	Uncle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Josef Behrmann	...	Fritz (uncredited)
Henry Caine	...	Schoolmaster (uncredited)
Trevor Davis	...	Uncle (uncredited)
Marjorie Hume	...	Mother (uncredited)
Ernest Jay	...	Undertaker (uncredited)
Eugene Leahy	...	2nd Priest (uncredited)
Bartlett Mullins	...	Tramp (uncredited)
Raymond Rollett	...	Father Felix (uncredited)

Directed by
Terence Fisher

Writing credits
Jimmy Sangster		(screenplay)
Mary Shelley		(novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus") (as Mary W. Shelley)

Produced by
Michael Carreras	....	executive producer
Anthony Hinds	....	producer
Anthony Nelson Keys	....	associate producer (as Anthony Nelson-Keys)
Max Rosenberg	....	producer

Original Music by
James Bernard

Cinematography by
Jack Asher

Film Editing by
James Needs

Casting by
Dorothy Holloway

Production Design by
Bernard Robinson

Art Direction by
Ted Marshall

Costume Design by
Molly Arbuthnot

Makeup Department
Philip Leakey	....	makeup artist (as Phil Leakey)
Henry Montsash	....	hair stylist (as H. Montsash)
Roy Ashton	....	assistant makeup artist (uncredited)
George Turner	....	assistant makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Don Weeks	....	production manager
James Carreras	....	executive in charge of production (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Derek Whitehurst	....	assistant director
Hugh Harlow	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Jimmy Komisarjevsky	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Arthur Banks	....	master plasterer (uncredited)
Don Mingaye	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Tom Money	....	property master (uncredited)
Fred Ricketts	....	construction manager (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jock May	....	sound (as W.H. May)
Jim Perry	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Michael Sale	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Les Bowie	....	matte painter (uncredited)

Stunts
Jock Easton	....	stunt double: Christopher Lee (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Steve Birtles	....	lighting technician: second unit
Tom Edwards	....	still photographer
Len Harris	....	camera operator
John Jay	....	still photographer
Jack Curtis	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Harold Marland	....	electrician (uncredited)
Harry Oakes	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Bob Palmer	....	electrician (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Roy Norman	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
John Hollingsworth	....	musical director

Other crew
Doreen Soan	....	continuity
Faith Frisby	....	production secretary (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hammer Film Productions (as Hammer)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1957) (UK) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Regal Films International (1961) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Goldstone Film Enterprises (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (a 7 Arts Picture re-release)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Warner Bros. (1957) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (1957) (France) (theatrical)
• Lionsgate Home Entertainment (2012) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (3-disc set)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1987) (Finland) (TV) (as MTV1)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)  Robert Urquhart by permission of (as A.B.P.C.)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

82 min | Japan:83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1957) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1989) | UK:X (original rating) | Sweden:(Banned) (1957-1965) | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2003) | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:18 (VHS) | USA:Approved (PCA #18481) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (2004) | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

The script called for a child actress to play Hazel Court's character, Elizabeth, as a little girl of three or four in flashback scenes. Court suggested to the producers that her daughter, Sally Walsh, who looked very much like her mother, play the part. As Court said in an interview, "She hated it - HATED being in it! I think it was all foreign to her, and she didn't understand it. She still remembers it to this day, and still doesn't like it!"

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The breaks in the balcony railing are already visible in the few shots before Frankenstein pushes Professor Bernstein to his death.

Quotes:

Baron Frankenstein:Pass the marmalade Elizabeth.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dr. Frankenstein's Wax Museum of the Hungry Dead (2013)

Curse viewed through the lens of tens of other Frankenstein films

It's very difficult for me to judge if my opinion on The Curse of Frankenstein would be higher if I were to watch it coming from a different background/history. This latest viewing I believe is only the second time that I've seen Curse, with the first many, many years ago--so long ago that I could barely remember it. In the meantime, I've watched at least a few times, with relatively recent viewings, everything from Universal's 1931 Frankenstein (as well as their 1935 Bride of Frankenstein and other films in that series) to Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), Young Frankenstein (1974), Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (1994), Frankenhooker (1990)--even Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)--and many other Frankenstein or related films. A few of those I've seen at least 10 times over the years.

So I'm coming back to Curse almost as if I'm seeing it for the first time, while already having those films mentioned above as favorites for different aspects of the Frankenstein story, such as atmosphere, visceralness, humor, grandiosity, campiness, and so on. In fact, a number of those films are favorites of all time, period. For me, then, Curse had tough competition on this viewing, and without doing something significantly different with the story, it might fall short.

What Curse probably does better than all of the other Frankenstein films that I've seen is relationship dynamics. At the moment, I'd call Curse the "soap opera" version of the story, which is not really meant as a knock. Here, Victor Frankenstein has lost his father at a very young age--he became Baron at the age of five. The film begins by showing the power and control this young man has over others. He contracts to have a tutor come teach him about science, and together, they begin exploring the scientific basis of life--the "life force" more specifically, which leads to the usual Frankenstein plot elements.

At the same time, however, the focus remains on relationships. We have a complex tutor/student, master/employee, genius/follower relationship between Victor (Peter Cushing) and Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart), his teacher. Victor is engaged to be married--it's an arranged marriage--to Elizabeth (Hazel Court), his cousin, yet he's in at least a lustful relationship with a housekeeper, Justine (Valerie Gaunt). At the same time, Paul seems to have fallen in love with Elizabeth, and it's ambiguous to what extent she may feel the same towards him. The actual "curse" here seems to be one of difficult/dysfunctional relationships, where everyone is involved in complex power struggles with almost everyone else, and no one quite comes out victorious (ironically enough). All of this stuff is pretty good, if appropriately staid for the Victorian setting (hmmmm . . . lots of occurrences of "victor--"). On the down side, some of the cinematography/lighting veers towards a soap opera look, which doesn't do much for me.

A lot of the usual Frankenstein themes are here, too, but sometimes they almost feel like an afterthought. Christopher Lee, who plays the Frankenstein monster, is severely underused. He remains more in the background throughout the film.

Still, lots of the usual Frankenstein film stuff is done well, if a bit subtly. Keeping the monster's body half immersed in fluid was a good idea--there's a creepiness just to the way it looks and it is also unsettling because you wonder why it's only half-submerged. It seems if it needs to be submerged, the whole body should be, so from the beginning of the experiments, it feels more strongly like something is off about Victor. The more visceral body part scenes (like acquiring the hands and eyes) work very well, especially in context, and Lee's make-up was well done, including the fact that he more strongly suggests both a mummy (because of the bandages) and a zombie--the Frankenstein monster should rightly suggest both. Also, the acting is very good throughout--particularly Cushing's performance.

But for me, as good as Curse is, it pales in comparison to its Frankenstein brethren. It's good, but other films do the various aspects better, except maybe for the relationship stuff, but for me, that's not enough to elevate Curse to the same echelon as many of those other films.