Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

Baron Frankenstein, with the aid of a young doctor and his fiancée, kidnaps the mentally sick Dr. Brandt in order to perform the first brain transplant operation.

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

Bert Batt (screenplay), Anthony Nelson Keys (from an original story by)

Stars:

Peter Cushing, Veronica Carlson, Freddie Jones

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Cushing	...	Baron Frankenstein
Veronica Carlson	...	Anna Spengler
Freddie Jones	...	Professor Richter
Simon Ward	...	Karl
Thorley Walters	...	Inspector Frisch
Maxine Audley	...	Ella Brandt
George Pravda	...	Doctor Brandt
Geoffrey Bayldon	...	Police Doctor
Colette O'Neil	...	Mad Woman
Frank Middlemass	...	Guest - Plumber
George Belbin	...	Guest - Playing chess
Norman Shelley	...	Guest - Smoking pipe
Michael Gover	...	Guest - Reading newspaper
Peter Copley	...	Principal
Jim Collier	...	Dr. Heidecke

Storyline

Baron Frankenstein travels to a new town to meet Dr. Brandt with whom his has been corresponding and with whom he had hoped to collaborate. He arrives however to learn that Brandt is in a mental institution, having lost his mind completely. He takes a room in a boarding house run by the pretty young Anna who just happens to be engaged to Karl, a doctor who works at the asylum where Dr. Brandt is being kept. When Frankenstein learns that Karl has been stealing drugs, he blackmails him and Anna to work as his assistants. He is desperate to learn a secret that Brandt was going to share with him and kidnaps him with the intent of extracting that secret by transplanting his brain into another body.

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Plot Keywords:

corpse | fire | rape | sequel | fifth part | 

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Taglines:

ALL NEW AND ALL TOO TERRIFYING! THE MOST FRIGHTENING 'FRANKENSTEIN' MOVIE EVER FILMED!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and horror images

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unlike his on screen persona, Veronica Carlson very much enjoyed working with Peter Cushing. At one point during production, he took his leading lady out to dinner with Mrs. Helen Cushing.

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Goofs

When Mrs. Brant and her friend see the picture of Frankenstein and Brant in the newspaper, you can tell it is a recent paper from 1969 when the movie was made, and not the 1800s time frame. Although the news articles are in German, you can easily see words like "American President Nixon." Looks like Hammer's props department superimposed the drawing of Frankenstein and Brant onto a real daily newspaper they bought that day.

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Quotes

Professor Richter: I have become the victim of everything that Frankenstein and I ever advocated. My brain is in someone else's body.

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Alternate Versions

For its original cinema release the BBFC requested cuts to remove the rape of Anna by the Baron and to edit shots and sounds of sawing during the brain operation. All later video/DVD releases of the film have been fully uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in I, Frankenstein (2014)

User Reviews

The best of the Hammer Frankenstein films

I like "Curse of Frankenstein" a lot, but "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed" is better.

Peter Cushing is exceptional as the Baron - his cold-blooded, calculating and ruthless attitude is not seen to such an extent in any of the other Hammer Frankenstein films!

Credit must also go to Freddie Jones who exerts massive pathos as the unfortunate creature - almost as much as Boris Karloff's creature! It's a perfectly judged performance.

Terence Fisher is also on hand to provide his usual directional assuredness (NB. the scene at the beginning and the confrontational scene at the end!).

One of the last great Hammer films.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 February 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed

Filming Locations:

Tykes Water Lake, Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$100,437

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1