Starring
Boris Karloff, Tom Duggan, Jana Lund, Donald Barry, Charlotte Austin,
Irwin Burke, Rudolph Anders, Norbert Schiller, Mike Lane. Directed by
Howard W. Koch. (1958/83 min).
Review
by Mr. Pawsđź
In
the opening scene of Frankenstein 1970, a terrified young
woman is being pursued through the woods by a murderous monster.
After wandering into a pond up
to her hips, she stands helplessly and repeatedly screams until
the monster eventually catches up and drowns her. If this was any
indication of what was in-store, I was in for a phenomenally stupid
ride.
Then
somebody off-screen yells cut, and it’s revealed to be the set of
a horror movie being directed by Douglas Row (Donald Barry). That
amusing bit of deception may not seem all that unique today,
but back 1958, it was quite a creative way to begin a horror film.
It’d
be great if the rest of Frankenstein 1970 lived up to its
premise, or was at-least as clever as its opening scene. Disfigured,
disgruntled and cash-strapped Victor von Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) grudgingly agrees
to let Row’s crew shoot a movie at his famous castle in exchange for
an atomic reactor he needs to reanimate a new monster. Since he’s
also short a few organs & body parts, his new houseguests
come in handy.
 |
| "What you need, my friend, is a good apricot scrub." |
Though
1970 was indeed the future at the time this was made, the only futuristic
element of the story is Frankenstein’s use of atomic energy to spark his creation to life.
Elsewhere, it’s a pretty-much your standard, low-wattage fright
flick set in another old castle. Karloff is always enjoyable to
watch and has some highly amusing moments hamming it up as the
title character. However, there are also too many scenes featuring the film
crew that feel like they exist to pad out the running time.
Considering
the obvious low budget, Frankenstein 1970 is competently made
and a passable time killer. But with the exception of that creatively
deceptive opening scene, it
isn’t all that memorable. As an interesting side-note, however, Howard W.
Koch would soon abandon the director’s chair to achieve
considerable success as the producer of such classics as The
Manchurian Candidate, The Odd Couple and Airplane. A wise decision from which we've all benefited.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
AUDIO
COMMENTARY – By co-star Charlotte Austin and historians Tom Weaver
& Bob Burns.
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD, THOUGH HARDLY ESSENTIAL.
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