In 1931, when Frankenstein was released, the New York Times called it “one of the best pictures of the year!” but no such accolades came to Hammer Films on the release of The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. Although greeted with varying degrees of disdain from the critics, the audiences disagreed and it became a hit for the studio. London’s Observer critic (C. A. Lejune) said of the film, “I should rank The Curse of Frankenstein among the half dozen most repulsive films I have encountered.” At the New York Times, Bosley Crowther dismissed the picture as nothing more than, “a routine horror film which makes no particular attempt to do anything more important than scare you with corpses and blood.” In spite of the mixed reviews, the film went on to be a commercial success. Hammer’s next entry was appropriately titled, The Revenge of Frankenstein.
And revenge it was as, amid the disdain some reviews came out with bursts of enthusiasm like the New York Daily News, “Cushing is new Karloff,” but the notices were mixed as they would remain for all of Hammer’s horror films. Just as the audience would always line up for each of the Hammer Frankenstein films.
Revenge picks up exactly where Curse left off as the Baron narrowly escapes being executed for the crimes committed in the first film. Once again the film strays from the typical horror plot and is set in a medical clinic for the poor. Frankenstein is going under the name Dr. Victor Stein. It is three years after his escape from prison and he is running a clinic in Carlsbruck where he has enraged the local medical council because he has refused to join, and he is taking their patients. They decide that this is unacceptable and go to challenge his position in the community.
The council sends three of it’s board to see Dr. Stein, but of course he refuses to join them or to modify his tactics. One of the board members recognizes him and blackmails him for medical knowledge. He has to agree and takes Dr. Kleve from the council to his hidden laboratory where he is soon to preform a surgery to give Karl (the cripple that helped him escape execution) a new body. The body is an artificial one made from the limbs of the poor. Of course there is a distraction when Margaret (Eunice Grayson) a daughter of one of the council members shows up at the clinic to do volunteer work and Karl becomes smitten by her.
I don’t think anyone knows why the producers at Hammer Films made the decision that they did for The Evil of Frankenstein. The best guess is that since it was going to be distributed by Universal, they thought it would be a good idea to make a film that used the elements from the Universal original. It was not. The less said about the result, the better.
Frankenstein Created Woman, has nothing to do with The Bride of Frankenstein. We can be thankful that whatever it was that caused The Evil of Frankenstein it was out of their collective system before they considered the 1967 production featuring Susan Denberg. That is not to say that the script produced for Frankenstein Created Woman was not bizarre, but it was a return to the mad scientist without foresight that had powered the first Hammer efforts.
The plot is somewhat convoluted so suffice it to say that Dr. Frankenstein has graduated from transferring brains–to transferring souls. The deformed barmaid, Christina (Susan Denberg) is drown and the doctor transfers the soul of her dead boyfriend, Hans (Robert Morris) who has been hanged for a crime he did not commit into her and brings her back to life as a beautiful woman! The problem? Han’s soul begins to take control and is out for revenge against the men that framed him for murder!
Susan Denberg performed wonderfully in what must have been a challenging role for her; Thorley Walters was exceptional as always. Robert Morris and all of the supporting cast were above average.
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