The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (screenplay)
Mary Shelley (novel)

Release Date:

25 June 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror | Drama

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:

Baron | Creature | Frankenstein | Monster | 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

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:

West Germany:16 (DVD re-rating) | West Germany:18 (VHS) | USA:Approved (PCA #18481) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | 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)

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

The original concept for this film was a black-and-white feature with Boris Karloff as Baron Frankenstein. Universal threatened a lawsuit if Hammer copied any elements from the classic Universal version. Hammer had Jimmy Sangster completely redo the script and had Jack Asher shoot it in Eastmancolour.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Justine is creeping up to the Baron's Laboratory, she is wearing 20th century high-heeled shoes.

Quotes:

Baron Frankenstein: [after his monster has nearly killed him] I did it, Paul!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dead Next Door (1989)

Still haunting after more than forty years.

This is a film that almost never was. Originally planned as a 'quota quickie', and, as Terence Fisher stated. "As a send-up," it ended up changing the British Film Industry for all time. It had gone international. Fisher owed Hammer a film, and somehow he managed to pull a script together in much the same manner as the Baron did body parts. It has been said that Jack Warner hated the film, but released it anyway, opening in the very theatre where 'The House of Wax' had premiered several years before. It was a success, much to the delight of Warner, and to Hammer. It also marked the beginning of the screen-teaming of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Today, the film seems a bit slow and not quite sure where it's going, but in 1957 it delivered a wallop in vivid color, to a long-waiting legion of fans. This was the true jumping-off point for Hammer, a small company who had been in production for a number of years, and they filled the void left by the American majors in the production of the 'horror film.' In a way, the film's tag-line kept it's promise.... 'The Curse of Frankenstein will haunt you forever.'

Quite by accident, 'The Hammer Look' changed the face of the fantasy film for all time.