Tweet
Welcome to : RED PRINT THEATER !!
This month's selection is …..FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESROYED ! ( 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. With dire results !
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.
This is one of the most vigorous of the Hammer productions and features Peter Cushing being uncharacteristically nasty. Even though some of his transplant theories have a certain logic he remains mean and unpleasant throughout with the (again uncharacteristic) rape scene adding icing to the already surprisingly (and ironically) nihilist cake. All the rest of Cushing's violence is aimed at 'getting the job done' but the rape, preceded by it's sexy build is a seeming sideswipe justified simply because in the temporary absence of his fiancée he could. Well dressed, surprisingly well paced and eventful. Not your ponderous Hammer production at all, rather as if its some impostor. Well worth catching.
************************************************** *****************************************
FUN FACTS :
A crew member is visible just after the water-pipe bursts, about one hour into the movie. As Frankenstein enters the house and walks down the hallway, the camera pans across to the left, and as it does so, someone is seen disappearing quickly behind the doorway to get out of shot.
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.
Between Anna being stabbed and her fiancé finding her, the position of the scalpel changes.
When Professor Richter/the Creature pushes Karl out of the way and picks up the baron, Karl is laying unconscious on the front walk. The Creature then carries the baron into the burning house, and in the following widescreen shot, the front walk is now empty, Karl has disappeared.
The flowers in Frankenstein's buttonhole change both color and shape between shots when he first invites Mrs Brant into Anna's house. They start as three yellow and purple tulips, change to a purple and orange spray during his conversation with Mrs Brant in the living room, and change back as he guides her down the laboratory stairs.
When Anna drags the water-sodden corpse into the bushes, a crew member's shadow can be seen moving on the brickwork of the curb to the left of the corpse's feet.
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.
My print is an Eastman Kodak flat faded color . I really enjoy this version as Peter Cushing is the most dirtiest Doctor I've seen !
I remember seeing Simon Ward on the " Mike Douglas " afternoon show in 1969 talking about this " New Hammer " film . After that , I just HAD to go see it ! And I actually got a " headache " when Cushing pushes the metal rod into the guy's head ! You know , the same reaction you get from watching " Dr. Pimple Popper " nowadays ! HEE HEE HEE
A GREAT FILM TO WATCH - JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN !!
This month's selection is …..FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESROYED ! ( 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. With dire results !
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.
This is one of the most vigorous of the Hammer productions and features Peter Cushing being uncharacteristically nasty. Even though some of his transplant theories have a certain logic he remains mean and unpleasant throughout with the (again uncharacteristic) rape scene adding icing to the already surprisingly (and ironically) nihilist cake. All the rest of Cushing's violence is aimed at 'getting the job done' but the rape, preceded by it's sexy build is a seeming sideswipe justified simply because in the temporary absence of his fiancée he could. Well dressed, surprisingly well paced and eventful. Not your ponderous Hammer production at all, rather as if its some impostor. Well worth catching.
************************************************** *****************************************
FUN FACTS :
A crew member is visible just after the water-pipe bursts, about one hour into the movie. As Frankenstein enters the house and walks down the hallway, the camera pans across to the left, and as it does so, someone is seen disappearing quickly behind the doorway to get out of shot.
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.
Between Anna being stabbed and her fiancé finding her, the position of the scalpel changes.
When Professor Richter/the Creature pushes Karl out of the way and picks up the baron, Karl is laying unconscious on the front walk. The Creature then carries the baron into the burning house, and in the following widescreen shot, the front walk is now empty, Karl has disappeared.
The flowers in Frankenstein's buttonhole change both color and shape between shots when he first invites Mrs Brant into Anna's house. They start as three yellow and purple tulips, change to a purple and orange spray during his conversation with Mrs Brant in the living room, and change back as he guides her down the laboratory stairs.
When Anna drags the water-sodden corpse into the bushes, a crew member's shadow can be seen moving on the brickwork of the curb to the left of the corpse's feet.
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.
My print is an Eastman Kodak flat faded color . I really enjoy this version as Peter Cushing is the most dirtiest Doctor I've seen !
I remember seeing Simon Ward on the " Mike Douglas " afternoon show in 1969 talking about this " New Hammer " film . After that , I just HAD to go see it ! And I actually got a " headache " when Cushing pushes the metal rod into the guy's head ! You know , the same reaction you get from watching " Dr. Pimple Popper " nowadays ! HEE HEE HEE
A GREAT FILM TO WATCH - JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN !!
Comment