| Frankenstein | |
| Released: | 1957–1974 |
| Runtime: | 634–643 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Frankenstein is a British horror-adventure film series produced by Hammer Film Productions. The films, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, are centered on Baron Victor Frankenstein, who experiments in creating a creature beyond human. The series is part of the larger Hammer horror oeuvre.
The original series of films consisted of seven instalments, which starred well-known horror actors such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Baron Victor Frankenstein and his creature respectively.
Producer Max Rosenberg originally approached Michael Carreras at Hammer Films with a deal to produce Frankenstein and the Monster (Rosenberg claims that he came up with the title) from a script by Milton Subotsky. Later, both men were cut out of their profit participation making only a $5000 fee for bringing the production to Hammer.[1] Rosenberg and Subotsky later established Amicus Films, Hammer's main rival in the production of horror films during the 1960s. Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, who adapted Mary Shelley's novel for Hammer, never mentioned seeing Subotsky's script or being aware of Rosenberg's involvement. Sangster had worked as a production manager and said that he was keenly aware of production costs and kept the budget in mind when writing the script. Sangster said that his awareness of cost influenced him to not write scenes involving the villagers storming the castle that was typically seen in the Universal horror films "because we couldn't afford it". Sangster in an interview with film historian Jonathan Rigby indicated that he hadn't seen any of the Frankenstein films that Universal made. He just adapted the book "the way I saw it".[2]
Peter Cushing, who was then best known for his many high-profile roles in British television, had his first lead part in a film with The Curse of Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Christopher Lee's casting resulted largely from his height (6'5"), though Hammer had earlier considered the even taller (6'7") Bernard Bresslaw for the role. Universal fought hard to prevent Hammer from duplicating aspects of their 1931 film, and so it was down to make-up artist Phil Leakey to design a new look for the creature bearing no resemblance to the Boris Karloff original created by Jack Pierce. Production of The Curse of Frankenstein began, with an investment of £65,000, on 19 November 1956 at Bray Studios with a scene showing Baron Frankenstein cutting down a highwayman from a wayside gibbet.[3] The film opened at the London Pavilion on 2 May 1957 with an X certificate from the censors.
See main article: Tales of Frankenstein.
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a television series to be called Tales of Frankenstein, in association with Columbia Pictures, directed by Curt Siodmak. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Don Megowan his creation. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be: Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of loosely-connected science fiction loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unreleased at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several public domain sources. Though the series was never produced, Anthony Hinds commissioned several scripts that provided Hammer with material for their later Frankenstein films, specifically Frankenstein Created Woman and The Evil of Frankenstein.
| Character | Main series | Remake | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Curse of Frankenstein | The Revenge of Frankenstein | The Evil of Frankenstein | Frankenstein Created Woman | Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | The Horror of Frankenstein | |
| Baron Victor Frankenstein | Peter Cushing Melvyn Hayes | Peter Cushing | Ralph Bates | ||||
| The Creature | Christopher Lee Jock Easton | Michael Gwynn Peter Cushing | Kiwi Kingston | Susan Denberg | Freddie Jones | David Prowse | |
| Priest | Alex Gallier | Alex Gallier | James Maxwell | Colin Jeavons | Chris Lethbridge-Baker | ||
| Elizabeth Heiss | Hazel Court Sally Walsh | Veronica Carlson | |||||
| Schoolmaster | Henry Caine | Neil Wilson | |||||
| Burgomaster of Karlstaad | Andrew Leigh | David Hutcheson | colspan="4" | ||||
| Burgomaster's Wife | Ann Blake | Caron Gardner | colspan="4" | ||||
| Fritz | Josef Behrmann | Lionel Jeffries | colspan="5" | ||||
| Doctor Hans Kleve | Francis Matthews | Sandor Elès | Robert Morris Stuart Middleton Susan Denberg | Chris Cunningham | |||
| Doctor Karl Holst | Oscar Quitak Michael Gwynn | Barry Warren | Simon Ward | colspan="2" | |||
| Professor Durendel | Charles Lloyd-Pack | Charles Lloyd-Pack | |||||
| Landlord | Alister Williamson | Ivan Beavis | Jerold Wells | ||||
| Chief of Police | Duncan Lamont | Peter Madden | Timothy Davies | colspan="2" | |||
| Police Sergeant #1 | Anthony Blackshaw | Allan Surtees | colspan="2" | ||||
| Police Sergeant #2 | David Conville | Windsor Davies | colspan="2" | ||||
| Christina Kleve | Susan Denberg | Elizabeth Morgan | colspan="2" | ||||
| Dr. Paul Krempe | Robert Urquhart | colspan="6" | |||||
| Justine | Valerie Gaunt | colspan="6" | |||||
| Aunt Sophia | Noel Hood | colspan="6" | |||||
| Professor Bernstein | Paul Hardtmuth | colspan="6" | |||||
| Grandpa | Fred Johnson | colspan="6" | |||||
| Little Boy | Claude Kingston | colspan="6" | |||||
| Warder | Michael Mulcaster | colspan="6" | |||||
| Lecturer | Middleton Woods | colspan="6" | |||||
| Uncle | Raymond Ray | colspan="6" | |||||
| Margaret | Eunice Gayson | colspan="5" | |||||
| Bergman | John Welsh | colspan="5" | |||||
| Up Patient | Richard Wordsworth | colspan="5" | |||||
| Janitor | George Woodbridge | colspan="5" | |||||
| Kurt | Michael Ripper | colspan="5" | |||||
| Zoltan | Peter Woodthorpe | colspan="4" | |||||
| Rena | Katy Wild | colspan="4" | |||||
| Drunk | Howard Goorney | colspan="4" | |||||
| Doctor Hertz | Thorley Walters | colspan="3" | |||||
| Anton | Peter Blythe | colspan="3" | |||||
| Johann | Derek Fowlds | colspan="3" | |||||
| The Prisoner | Duncan Lamont | colspan="3" | |||||
| Kleve | Alan MacNaughtan | colspan="3" | |||||
| Mayor | Philip Ray | colspan="3" | |||||
| Bystander | Bartlett Mullins | colspan="3" | |||||
| Spokesman | Alec Mango | colspan="3" | |||||
| Anna Spengler | Veronica Carlson | colspan="2" | |||||
| Dr. Frederick Brandt | George Pravda Freddie Jones | colspan="2" | |||||
| Professor Richter | Freddie Jones | colspan="2" | |||||
| Inspector Frisch | Thorley Walters | colspan="2" | |||||
| Ella Brandt | Maxine Audley | colspan="2" | |||||
| Police Doctor | Geoffrey Bayldon | colspan="2" | |||||
| Madwoman | Colette O'Neil | colspan="2" | |||||
| Guest - Plumber | Frank Middlemass | colspan="2" | |||||
| Guest - Smoking pipe | Norman Shelley | colspan="2" | |||||
| Guest - Reading newspaper | Michael Gover | colspan="2" | |||||
| Guest - Playing chess | George Belbin | colspan="2" | |||||
| Principal | Peter Copley | colspan="2" | |||||
| Dr. Heidecke | Jim Collier | colspan="2" | |||||
| Dr. Simon Helder | Shane Briant | ||||||
| Sarah "Angel" Klauss | Madeline Smith | ||||||
| Asylum Director Adolf Klauss | John Stratton | ||||||
| Transvest | Michael Ward | ||||||
| Wild One | Elsie Wagstaff | ||||||
| Police Sergeant | Norman Mitchell | ||||||
| Judge | Clifford Mollison | ||||||
| Bodysnatcher | Patrick Troughton | ||||||
| Ernst | Philip Voss | ||||||
| Brassy Girl | Andria Lawrence | ||||||
| Old Hag | Lucy Griffiths | ||||||
| Tarmut | Bernard Lee | ||||||
| Muller | Sydney Bromley | ||||||
| Gerda | Sheila Dunion | ||||||
| Twitch | Mischa de la Motte | ||||||
| Smiler | Norman Atkyns | ||||||
| Letch | Victor Woolf | ||||||
| Mouse | Winifred Sabine | ||||||
| Chatter | Janet Hargreaves | ||||||
| Coach Driver | Peter Madden | ||||||
| Alys | Kate O'Mara | ||||||
| The Graverobber | Dennis Price | ||||||
| Lieutenant Henry Becker | Jon Finch | ||||||
| Professor Heiss | Bernard Archard | ||||||
| Wilhelm Kassner | Graham James | ||||||
| Bailiff | James Hayter | ||||||
| Graverobber's Wife | Joan Rice | ||||||
| Stephan | Stephen Turner | ||||||
| Dean | James Cossins | ||||||
| Maggie | Glenys O'Brien | ||||||
| Instructor | Geoffrey Lumsden | ||||||
| First Bandit | Terry Duggan | ||||||
| Baron Frankenstein I | George Belbin | ||||||
| Woodsman | Hal Jeayes | ||||||
| Woodsman's Daughter | Carol Jeayes | ||||||
| Workman | Michael Goldie | ||||||
| Crew/detail | Main series | Remake | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Curse of Frankenstein | The Revenge of Frankenstein | The Evil of Frankenstein | Frankenstein Created Woman | Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | The Horror of Frankenstein | ||
| 1957 | 1958 | 1964 | 1967 | 1969 | 1974 | 1970 | ||
| Director(s) | Terence Fisher | Freddie Francis | Terence Fisher | Jimmy Sangster | ||||
| Producer(s) | Anthony Hinds | Anthony Nelson Keys | Roy Skeggs | |||||
| Writer(s) | Jimmy Sangster | Anthony Hinds | Bert Batt Anthony Nelson Keys | Anthony Hinds | Jimmy Sangster Jeremy Burnham | |||
| Composer(s) | James Bernard | Leonard Salzedo | Don Banks | James Bernard | Malcolm Williamson | |||
| Editor(s) | James Needs | Alfred Cox | James Needs | Spencer Reeve | Gordon Hales | James Needs | Chris Barnes | |
| Cinematographer | Jack Asher | John Wilcox | Arthur Grant | Brian Probyn | Moray Grant | |||
| Production companies | Hammer Film Productions | |||||||
| Distributor(s) | Warner Bros. | Columbia Pictures | ||||||
| Runtime | 83 minutes | 89 minutes | 84 minutes | 92 minutes 86 minutes | 101 minutes 98 minutes | 99 minutes | 95 minutes | |
| Release date | May 2, 1957 | June 1, 1958 | April 19, 1964 | March 15, 1967 | May 22, 1969 | May 2, 1974 | November 8, 1970 | |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Curse of Frankenstein | 78% (18 reviews)[4] | |
| The Revenge of Frankenstein | 87% (15 reviews)[5] | |
| The Evil of Frankenstein | 57% (7 reviews)[6] | |
| Frankenstein Created Woman | 67% (12 reviews)[7] | |
| Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed | 70% (10 reviews)[8] | |
| The Horror of Frankenstein | 55% (11 reviews)[9] | |
| Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell | 50% (6 reviews)[10] |
Hammer's first colour horror film, its worldwide success led to several sequels, the studio's new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959), and established "Hammer Horror" as a new distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.[11] [12]