Main Cast: Peter Cushing, Peter Woodthorpe, Duncan Lamont, Sandor Eles, James Maxwell, Katy Wild, Kiwi Kingston
Release Year: 1964
Country: UK
Run Time: 84 minutes
Plot
Hardly the best of Hammer Studios' Frankenstein epics, The Evil of Frankenstein is too much the mixture as before to be truly memorable. Back in business once more is Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), who finds his fabled monster (Kiwi Kingston) frozen in a block of ice. Once the creature is thawed out, the Baron, worried that the big lug might develop a mind of his own, engages the services of a hypnotist (Peter Woodthorpe). Instead of keeping the monster docile, the hypnotist decides to use old "Frankie" for his own evil designs, and we're off and running again. At 84 minutes, Evil of Frankenstein was too short for a two-hour network TV slot, so Universal (the film's American distributor) tacked on 13 minutes of pointless additional footage, featuring timorous villagers Steven Geray, Maria Palmer and William Phipps. The film was followed by a vastly superior sequel, Frankenstein Created Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
David Hutcheson - Burgomaster; Caron Gardner - Burgomaster's Wife; Howard Goorney - Drunk; Timothy Bateson - Hypnotized Man; Alister Williamson - Landlord; Tony Arpino - Bodysnatcher; David Conville - Policeman; Steven Geray - Dr. Sergado; Patrick Horgan - David Carrell; Maria Palmer - Rena's Mother; William Phipps - Rena's Father; Tracy Stratford - Rena as a Child; Frank Forsyth - Manservant; Derek Martin; Kenneth Cove - Cure
Credit
Don Mingaye - Art Director, Rosemary Burrows - Costume Designer, William P. Cartlidge - First Assistant Director, Freddie Francis - Director, James Needs - Editor, Don Banks - Composer (Music Score), Roy Ashton - Makeup, John Wilcox - Cinematographer, Don Weeks - Production Manager, Anthony Hinds - Producer, Les Bowie - Special Effects, Anthony Hinds - Screenwriter, John Elder - Screenwriter
The Evil of Frankenstein is a 1963 British horror film made by Hammer Studio. This film version of Shelley's tale was directed for Hammer by Freddie Francis. The film stars Peter Cushing as Frankenstein and New Zealand wrestler Kiwi Kingston as the Monster. The film's version of the Monster is noted for closely resembling Universal Pictures' famous Frankenstein series of the 1930s and '40s, including the flat-headed look of Jack Pierce's monster make-up originally designed for the legendary Boris Karloff as well as the distinctive laboratory sets. Earlier Hammer Frankenstein movies had studiously avoided such similarities (for trademark reasons) but a new movie distribution deal with Universal helped provide some latitude.
Forced to leave town because of their experiments, Frankenstein and his young assistant Hans return to Frankenstein's hometown of Karlstad and set up their laboratory in the abandoned Frankenstein chateau. The locals are soon aware of their presence and, fearing a repeat of the terror caused by his earlier work, chase them away. With the help of a mute and deaf girl, Frankenstein then finds his original creation frozen inside a glacier and restores it to life. However, the creature will not respond to commands so Frankenstein comes up with the idea of obtaining the services of Zoltan, a disreputable carnival hypnotist, to hypnotize the monster into obeying him. Zoltan is successful but has less than scientific interests at heart and, with the monster responding only to his commands, uses it to rob and take revenge upon the town authorities.
Reaction
While loved by some, others regard the film as a less-than-satisfactory entry in the horror studio's run of Frankenstein films (which began with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957 and ended with Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974). Like the studio's later The Horror of Frankenstein, The Evil of Frankenstein is considered by most fans to be a "one off" from the series proper, rather than part of the actual continuity, partly because of its stylistic differences from the other films, and partly because Frankenstein's thawed out 'original' monster and the circumstances of its creation bear no resemblance to the creature from The Curse of Frankenstein. Also, the flashback origin events given in this film completely contradict the events and their conclusion in Curse. However, Frankenstein's burnt and useless hands in the next entry in the series, Frankenstein Created Woman, are likely to be a reference back to the climactic conflagration in this movie.
US TV version
When the film was shown on US network television in 1968, it had been altered. Some "intense" scenes were excised or shortened and new footage, shot by a different director, was added to pad the film's length. These scenes involved a reporter wringing his hands over having to catch a train and so missing an opportunity to do a story on Frankenstein, and the mute girl's father hoping that an operation will restore his girl's speech. These new scenes featured a cast not associated with the rest of the film and were filmed in the US. This was a common practice at the time and also occurred with The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), whose re-edited version was retitled Kiss of Evil.
