"Guillermo del Toro is just about to release his epic new Frankenstein adaptation, swathed in self-conscious artistry and mythic self-importance. But this rereleased 1957 Hammer shocker from the screenwriter Jimmy Sangster and the veteran director Terence Fisher, shows the way it should be done with unpretentious energy and sly macabre gusto. In vivid Eastmancolor, it's a film electrified with its own melodramatic crassness, unencumbered with good taste and certainly uninterested in making either Frankenstein or his creature in any way tragically sympathetic."
"The resulting Homo sapiens is to be the tall and rather distinguished-looking Christopher Lee. But Dr Frankenstein needs a top-quality brain from the kind of high-calibre individual unlikely to be found on the gallows, so the movie ingeniously contrives for him to set upon a bizarre murderous plan, involving a gasp-inducingly effective stunt and a vision of Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, which Frankenstein is incidentally supposed to have bought."
The 1957 Hammer adaptation of Frankenstein employs vivid Eastmancolor and unpretentious energy to present a macabre, melodramatic take that avoids making the monster sympathetic. Peter Cushing portrays brilliant, hubristic Victor Frankenstein, with Melvyn Hayes as young Victor in flashback. Working with Paul (Robert Urquhart), Frankenstein assembles a new human from stolen body parts and drops surplus anatomy into an acid bath that later proves lethal. Christopher Lee appears as the creature; Frankenstein plots to obtain a high-quality brain via a murderous scheme involving a stunt and a Rembrandt vision. Romantic entanglements with Elizabeth (Hazel Court) and Justine (Valerie Gaunt) end tragically. Runtime: 83 minutes.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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