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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
well acted adaptation, 11 October 1999
Author: peacham from Pa.



Robert Powell is convincing as Victor Frankenstein,bringing out all the subteties that are needed to make the role sympathetic. Carrie Fisher is charming and pretty as Elizabeth, Victor's bride, and David Warner evokes sympathy as the creature. its also nice to see Sir John Gielgud as the blind man, he gives a wonderfully understated performance. What the film lack is the novel's great ending. victor destroys the lab killing himself and the creature in this film. the novel of course has him track the creature through the north pole, perishing in the attempt. The lack of budget is, I am sure what prevented them from filming the novels ending. For a small budget however, it was a well done film.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Well acted, in undistinguished, version, 25 September 1999
Author: Tin Man-5 from Auke Bay, Alaska

This is one of the many of British television's attempts at bringing Mary Shelley's horror classic to life. While it suffers from cheap production values and a pretty traditional version of the story with no real twists, the mostly Shakespearean cast is excellent (which isn't surprising.... After all, who knows how to tackle the classics better than the British?). Robert Powell makes a thoughtful Dr. Frankenstein, while David Warner makes a sympathetic monster who, in an interested change, is disfigured due to fire-burns rather than the normal stitches and decaying flesh. Carrie Fisher, who got top billing, appears in nothing short but a series of cameos.

**1/2 out of ****

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
low budget but well acted, 13 October 2001
8/10
Author: Hessian499 from Pittsburgh, PA

This British version of Frankenstein suffers from a low budget, and it shows its lack of funding at times, but is actually not a bad movie. It does have the atmosphere of a TV movie, so it is somewhat hard to compare it to other film versions of the Frankenstein story. The makeup on the monster is rather hideous, but looks like something a novice could apply. For a low budget film, it does have great sets and period costumes. Carrie Fisher has less of a role than she is billed for but is still quite pretty and charming in this film (she does a good British accent for a native Californian). All in all, this version of Frankenstein is not nearly the classic the 1931 version was, but is entertaining and worth watching.

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pretty cool movie, 13 September 2006
9/10
Author: confusedgrl from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

this was the only Frankestein movie i had ever seen and it was awesome. yeah some parts were a little cheesy, like the part when Frankestien hugs the little boy (Henry) so hard he dies. i thought i was going to die of laughter!! not that the kid dies just the way he dies....no matter how you put that it still sounds bad. oh well it's one of those you have to see it to get it sort of things. The cast is good. The movie stars Carrie Fisher, Robert Powell, and David Warner.the acting was good , and i loved everyone's costume!!! the make up was good too, Frankenstein did a very believable performance. and Carrie fisher, who plays Elizabeth, was very good too. she was very charming and i loved like all of her dresses...pretty cool. this was a very good movie considering that it was a TV movie and the budget they probably had.

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Warner makes a good monster, 4 February 2005
6/10
Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Frankenstein (1984) is yet another of the seemingly endless versions of the Frankenstein story. This one was apparently made for British television. The director, James Ormerod, has put together a nice little movie given the obvious limitations to his budget.

I won't go into the basic story as most already know it by heart.

The cast is good. The movie stars Carrie Fisher, Robert Powell, and David Warner. Although listed as the 'star', Fisher's role of Elizabeth has little screen time. She is, however, good when on screen. As for Powell, other than looking like a 1970s porn star, his portrayal of Dr. Victor Frankenstein is also good. But, the real star is David Warner as the monster. His portrayal of the monster is one of the better I've seen. In a very believable performance, Warner plays the monster as a very sympathetic creature. For example, I really felt the monster's pain when his only friend is killed. I would easily rate it as on of the top three performances of Frankenstein's monster I've seen. Of note in the supporting cast is John Gielgud as the blind hermit.

The make-up is also good given the budget. Instead of the scars and neck bolts we're all familiar with, this creature looks more like a burn victim. It's understandable given the high temperatures generated from the electricity that brought the monster to life.

While not the best Frankenstein I've ever seen, the movie held my attention throughout. At the start of the movie, I was ready to hate it, but ended up having a great time watching the story unfold. Warner's monster was a treat.

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hey, look up there, i can see robert powell, 1 September 2003
Author: servalansrazor from milwaukee

The box it came in was very obviously designed to confuse us lesser mortals who were so very aware of the existence of the Kenneth Brannagh/mr Bobby version, and were so eager to lay our hands upon it that we ended up with this superior tv version of the old promethean chestnut. Okay, so it plays around with the ideas in the novel,and has some nice atmospheric sets and moody lighting, although it has suffered inasmuch as it was recorded on video tape rather than film, but it is one of the few versions to give the creature more than a stumbling thug role and some half decent lines. Also, its apparently based upon the stage play, which ran for years and in itself, wasn't half bad. Here we have top brit also rans Robert Powell and David Warner goofing around in some rather nice locations and finally succoming to each other, there are lots of nice hints as to the alter-ego frankenstein/creature link and we have Johnny Geilgud teaching the creature about god. Carrie Fisher doesn't have too much to do, but then this was a tv production after all. What is so nice about this moovie is that it is aware of its restrictions and stays firmly with the story, in an age of special effects based super-blockbusters its nice to harken back to the time when films were shot on the directors lunch money and were actually concerned with plot development and had characters who demand respect.

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