There was a pretty good description of Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) early in the picture when someone called him a 'highly dangerous medical adventurer'. The Baron proceeds to live up to that reputation as a murderer, blackmailer, hostage taker and did I actually witness this - a rapist? Hammer Films really took the Frankenstein character here and made him even more monstrous than a creature one could patch together from spare body parts.
You know, for a horror film, you'd have to agree that the locations used for filming were really quite elegant and ornate. The Spengler boarding house and Brandt's home were exquisitely appointed and furnished, and all the while I kept thinking that they would have been a pretty nice place to live. Which made it all the more tragic that Dr. Brandt (George Pravda) in Professor Richter's (Freddie Jones) body acted just a bit too harshly when he torched it at the finale. Gee, you would think he'd have a little more compassion for his wife after what she went through, and now she wouldn't even have a place to live.
As far as the creepy brain transplant business goes, the story and Baron Frankenstein's patient persistence in getting the job done almost made it seem believable. Except of course for that nasty sawing of the forehead; man that could really give you a headache. Seems like Brandt/Richter should have complained about that, but I guess he had a bigger concern.
Probably the scariest thing here had to do with the Richter body being planted in the backyard garden and then having a water main break directly underneath. I couldn't decide whether that flapping arm coming out of the makeshift grave was more comical or horrifying. But then, with all that mud and water flying around, one would have to agree that Anna (Veronica Carlson) was probably the most ingenious character in the story - she didn't get a speck of dirt on her!
You know, for a horror film, you'd have to agree that the locations used for filming were really quite elegant and ornate. The Spengler boarding house and Brandt's home were exquisitely appointed and furnished, and all the while I kept thinking that they would have been a pretty nice place to live. Which made it all the more tragic that Dr. Brandt (George Pravda) in Professor Richter's (Freddie Jones) body acted just a bit too harshly when he torched it at the finale. Gee, you would think he'd have a little more compassion for his wife after what she went through, and now she wouldn't even have a place to live.
As far as the creepy brain transplant business goes, the story and Baron Frankenstein's patient persistence in getting the job done almost made it seem believable. Except of course for that nasty sawing of the forehead; man that could really give you a headache. Seems like Brandt/Richter should have complained about that, but I guess he had a bigger concern.
Probably the scariest thing here had to do with the Richter body being planted in the backyard garden and then having a water main break directly underneath. I couldn't decide whether that flapping arm coming out of the makeshift grave was more comical or horrifying. But then, with all that mud and water flying around, one would have to agree that Anna (Veronica Carlson) was probably the most ingenious character in the story - she didn't get a speck of dirt on her!