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21 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
A landmark horror movie with a remarkable performance from Peter Cushing., 25 April 2004
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

'The Curse Of Frankenstein' is a landmark horror movie for several reasons. Firstly, though Hammer had already released 'The Quatermass Xperiment', a science fiction movie with some horror elements, it was the studios first real entry into the genre which it is still revered around the world for. Secondly, it was the first movie inspired by Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' made in colour. And thirdly, while it wasn't the first movie to feature both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, it was their first horror movie together, and one which introduced one of THE great screen duos, who eventually made over twenty movies together. Lee doesn't have as much on screen time as one might expect, but his Monster is memorable and visually striking (after Universal threatened to sue if the image of Karloff's monster was copied). As well as Lee, the supporting cast includes good performances from Robert Urquhart and Hazel Court. Urquhart plays Paul Krempe, initially the young Baron's tutor (the Baron being briefly portrayed by Melvyn Hayes before Cushing), and later his often unwilling assistant. Court, best remembered for her roles in some of Roger Corman's Poe series, plays the Baron's cousin/fiancee. The standout performance of the movie is by Peter Cushing. I still think Karloff is the definitive Monster but Cushing is the definitive Baron Frankenstein. There were six sequels to 'The Curse Of Frankenstein' and Cushing played Frankenstein in all but one, the second last in the series 'The Horror Of Frankenstein', which was actually a tongue in cheek remake of 'Curse..' starring Ralph Bates as the Baron. The movie wasn't completely successful and thankfully Cushing returned for the final movie 'Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell'. For me the first and last in the series tie as the best Hammer Frankenstein movies and Cushing is remarkable in them both. I highly recommend 'The Curse Of Frankenstein', one of Hammer's greatest horror movies. No-one can truly call themselves a horror movie fan if they haven't seen it.

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16 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Cushing is Terrific., 7 November 2002

Author: Space_Mafune from Newfoundland, Canada

This was Hammer Films opening entry into their Horror re-imagining of classic Universal Studios Monsters and it is still one of the best. Here we get a new take on the familiar Frankenstein myth with the young Frankenstein coming from a fatherless background and embracing only science and reason with any real conviction. Finally when a breakthrough comes, the Young master will stop at nothing to achieve the fame, glory and notoriety he desires--his lack of regard for others is frightening even to his mentor Paul Krempe(played excellently by Robert Urquhart)who warns him against tampering with the forces of nature and that nothing good will come from it. Cushing is outstanding in the role and adds a real sense of tragedy, genius and malice. Hazel Court is certainly lovely as the innocent cousin Elizabeth who naively becomes entangled into Frankenstein's sinking path of unconscious self-destruction.

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Curse viewed through the lens of tens of other Frankenstein films, 17 July 2006

Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

It's very difficult for me to judge if my opinion on The Curse of Frankenstein would be higher if I were to watch it coming from a different background/history. This latest viewing I believe is only the second time that I've seen Curse, with the first many, many years ago--so long ago that I could barely remember it. In the meantime, I've watched at least a few times, with relatively recent viewings, everything from Universal's 1931 Frankenstein (as well as their 1935 Bride of Frankenstein and other films in that series) to Flesh for Frankenstein (1973), Young Frankenstein (1974), Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (1994), Frankenhooker (1990)--even Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)--and many other Frankenstein or related films. A few of those I've seen at least 10 times over the years.

So I'm coming back to Curse almost as if I'm seeing it for the first time, while already having those films mentioned above as favorites for different aspects of the Frankenstein story, such as atmosphere, visceralness, humor, grandiosity, campiness, and so on. In fact, a number of those films are favorites of all time, period. For me, then, Curse had tough competition on this viewing, and without doing something significantly different with the story, it might fall short.

What Curse probably does better than all of the other Frankenstein films that I've seen is relationship dynamics. At the moment, I'd call Curse the "soap opera" version of the story, which is not really meant as a knock. Here, Victor Frankenstein has lost his father at a very young age--he became Baron at the age of five. The film begins by showing the power and control this young man has over others. He contracts to have a tutor come teach him about science, and together, they begin exploring the scientific basis of life--the "life force" more specifically, which leads to the usual Frankenstein plot elements.

At the same time, however, the focus remains on relationships. We have a complex tutor/student, master/employee, genius/follower relationship between Victor (Peter Cushing) and Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart), his teacher. Victor is engaged to be married--it's an arranged marriage--to Elizabeth (Hazel Court), his cousin, yet he's in at least a lustful relationship with a housekeeper, Justine (Valerie Gaunt). At the same time, Paul seems to have fallen in love with Elizabeth, and it's ambiguous to what extent she may feel the same towards him. The actual "curse" here seems to be one of difficult/dysfunctional relationships, where everyone is involved in complex power struggles with almost everyone else, and no one quite comes out victorious (ironically enough). All of this stuff is pretty good, if appropriately staid for the Victorian setting (hmmmm . . . lots of occurrences of "victor--"). On the down side, some of the cinematography/lighting veers towards a soap opera look, which doesn't do much for me.

A lot of the usual Frankenstein themes are here, too, but sometimes they almost feel like an afterthought. Christopher Lee, who plays the Frankenstein monster, is severely underused. He remains more in the background throughout the film.

Still, lots of the usual Frankenstein film stuff is done well, if a bit subtly. Keeping the monster's body half immersed in fluid was a good idea--there's a creepiness just to the way it looks and it is also unsettling because you wonder why it's only half-submerged. It seems if it needs to be submerged, the whole body should be, so from the beginning of the experiments, it feels more strongly like something is off about Victor. The more visceral body part scenes (like acquiring the hands and eyes) work very well, especially in context, and Lee's make-up was well done, including the fact that he more strongly suggests both a mummy (because of the bandages) and a zombie--the Frankenstein monster should rightly suggest both. Also, the acting is very good throughout--particularly Cushing's performance.

But for me, as good as Curse is, it pales in comparison to its Frankenstein brethren. It's good, but other films do the various aspects better, except maybe for the relationship stuff, but for me, that's not enough to elevate Curse to the same echelon as many of those other films.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Still haunting after more than forty years., 9 March 2001
Author: uncacreepy

This is a film that almost never was. Originally planned as a 'quota quickie', and, as Terence Fisher stated. "As a send-up," it ended up changing the British Film Industry for all time. It had gone international. Fisher owed Hammer a film, and somehow he managed to pull a script together in much the same manner as the Baron did body parts. It has been said that Jack Warner hated the film, but released it anyway, opening in the very theatre where 'The House of Wax' had premiered several years before. It was a success, much to the delight of Warner, and to Hammer. It also marked the beginning of the screen-teaming of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Today, the film seems a bit slow and not quite sure where it's going, but in 1957 it delivered a wallop in vivid color, to a long-waiting legion of fans. This was the true jumping-off point for Hammer, a small company who had been in production for a number of years, and they filled the void left by the American majors in the production of the 'horror film.' In a way, the film's tag-line kept it's promise.... 'The Curse of Frankenstein will haunt you forever.'

Quite by accident, 'The Hammer Look' changed the face of the fantasy film for all time.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the greatest horror movies of all time., 9 March 2003

Author: warlorde from OKC, OK

What more can be said? A milestone in horror movie history with gore, great acting, atmosphere, direction and music. I just can't understand how a monumental film such as this only rates a 6.6. Unbelievable. Undoubtly the ones who voted low on this movie were looking for sex or crappy rap music. Those people should stick to looking for their brains under a moss-covered rock.

Truly great performances by Lee and Cushing as well as the other actors and actresses.

10 out of 10. Watch this horror movie, it's a must.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
The birth of Hammer horror!, 7 August 2007

Author: José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) from Mexico

In 1934, during the boom of British cinema, businessman William Hinds, decided to enter the industry and create his own film company, "Hammer Productions Ltd.", where he would produce several movies before being forced into bankruptcy due to the end of the industry's bonanza. Along with partner Enrique Carreras, Hinds became a film distributor, but that wasn't really the end of Hammer's history, as many years later, Carreras' son James joined Hinds' son Anthony and together with their parents, resurrected Hammer Film Productions in 1949. The next two important events in Hammer's history were the hiring of director Terence Fisher in 1951, and the enormous success of 1955's horror film, "The Quatermass Xperiment", as they would play important roles the company's future. While Hammer was preparing "Quatermass 2", they gave Terence Fisher the chance to resurrect Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", and Hammer Horror was born.

In "The Curse of Frankenstein", Peter Cushing plays Baron Victor Frankenstein, who after losing his family at a young age, hires scientist Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) as a mentor. Along Krempe, the young Baron develops his enormous genius for science, becoming great friends and colleagues as he grows up. During one of their experiments, they discover a way to bring a dead dog back to life, an amazing discovery that excites both scientists as it could be of enormous use for medicine. However, Victor wants to go further, and decides that the next step is the creation of life. Krempe refuses to help Victor in that experiment, but decides to stay in the house to protect Victor's cousin Elizabeth (Hazel Court), who has arrived to marry Victor, unsuspecting of her fianceé's experiments. The Baron's obsession with his experiment will prove to be more dangerous than what Krempe thinks.

The screenplay for this new version of Shelley's classic was written by Jimmy Sangster, who had previously written "X: The Unknown" for Hammer the previous year. Unlike what happens in Universal's 1931 classic adaptation, the plot is completely focused on the Baron's figure instead of on the creature, which gives a new and fresh angle to the story, as it explores Frankenstein's obsessions and how they begin to consume his life. To achieve this, Sansgter adds a lot of human drama and character development that at times makes the film more a Gothic tragedy than a typical horror film, but even when limited, Sangster's use of suspense is still pretty effective. It still isn't exactly a straight adaptation of Shelley's novel, but Sangster's screenplay does offer an interesting idea by not making the Creature a misunderstood monster, but the literal symbol of Frankenstein's failure and corruption.

Anyways, while Jimmy Sangster's screenplay is indeed worthy of recognition, it was really Terence Fisher's work as a director what ultimately gave Hammer horror it's true face. While already an experienced director by the time he made "The Curse of Frankenstein", Fisher found in Hammer's horror films the creative freedom that allowed him to explore new realms in this reinterpretations of old classics. His care for details in set design and costume design give the film a great look that equals the one of movies with bigger production values, and using vibrant colors, he puts a special emphasis on blood for the first time. There are also several sexual overtones in the film that give the movie a different style to previous incarnations of the novel, an element that Fisher would take further in posterior movies, specially in "Dracula" and "The Curse of the Werewolf".

"The Curse of Frankenstein" is also the film that introduced two of the most important actors in the horror genre since the days of Universal's movies: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As Baron Frankenstein, Cushing delivers an outstanding performance that can be considered among the best in the history of the genre. Making a fascinating character out of the unsympathetic Baron is not easy, but Cushing succeeds remarkably and completely makes the movie his own. Lee has a considerably smaller role as the Creature, but while "Dracula" would be the movie where he would shine the most, here he delivers a powerful performance as the Monster. As Frankenstein's mentor, Paul Krempe, Robert Urquhart is pretty effective and makes a great counterpart to Cushing's Baron. Hazel Court is less successful as Elizabeth, although it's not really a bad performance at all.

It's hard not to think about comparing Fisher's interpretation of "Frankenstein" to the legendary movie made by James Whale 26 years before for Universal, but really, in the end it's a pointless exercise as both movies are so different from each other (and different from Shelley's novel) that there's no proper way to compare them. While one has a powerful story of a misunderstood monster (played brilliantly by Boris Karloff), the other is a tale of ambition and obsessions where the monster is nothing more than the ultimate result of Frankenstein's evil, so it's impossible to tell which one is the best of the two. What can really be said about "The Curse of Frankenstein" is that it suffers from an extremely slow pace that may turn off some viewers, although as the story unfolds, this slow pace does pay off in the end and helps to build up a perfect Gothic atmosphere.

An enormously successful film, "The Curse of Frankenstein" began the style of Gothic horror that would later be labeled as "Hammer Horror". With Fisher at the helm, Hammer would become a great influence in how the genre was developed through the 60s, giving it new life and pushing the boundaries of the era. While maybe overshadowed by Fisher's posterior masterpieces, "The Curse of Frankenstein" is still one of the best tales of Gothic horror that have appeared on the silver screen. 8/10

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
One of Hammer's Little Classics, 27 February 2007

Author: ragosaal from Argentina

"The Curse of Frankenstein" is most entertaining version based very freely on Mary Shelley's classic story.

Terence Fisher makes another fine job here in the direction for Hammer films with the classical monsters of Universal as he did also with "The Mummy" and "Horror of Dracula". A real well done horror trilogy in my opinion.

The atmosphere is perfectly sordid, sinister and adequate as usual in Fisher and his also usually simple but efective and prolix direction turns this film into a most enjoyable one for fans of the genre. The settings are also a highlight in some sort of Gothic type.

Hammer's top stars for the genre are here too. Peter Cushing shows his professionalism and acting class as the crazy Baron and Christopher Lee under heavy make up as the creature -more than acceptable for 1957- moves to pity at times but also to menace and horror with similar effectiveness. The rest of the cast is an interesting support, mainly Valerie Gaunt as Cushing's maid that doesn't know when she has pressed too much.

Though perhaps a bit aged for today's standards "The Curse of Frankenstein" has not lost its charm as a little classic in the horror genre, even more if you consider it was made 50 years ago.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Victor, What Have You Done?, 14 June 2007

Author: thinker1691 from USA

Ever since Mary Shelley wrote her classic novel of the infamous Baron Von Frankenstein in the late 19th century, efforts to bring the creature to the visual screen have been negligible. In the 1930's Universal finally managed it with the incredible and legendary talents of Boris Karloff. After that, efforts to keep the monster up in lights, were sadly, nothing short of comical. It was not until 1957, when the Hammer Studios secured the combined talents of two of Hollywood's greats, that the creature rose again. In this, first ever color version, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is portrayed brilliantly by the incomparable Peter Cushing. Then we have Christopher Lee, as the hand crafted creature who repeatedly terrified audiences with his version of the monster. Not since Karloff, have so many fans run scurrying from the packed theaters into the streets. Nearly matching Shelly's novel, the film re-creates the struggle between scientific genius and stark insanity and enhances it's literary foundation as a classic in both literature and motion pictures. ****

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Baron Cushing - Resurrector Of The Dead, 23 May 2008

Author: Benjamin Gauss from Salzburg, Austria

"The Curse Of Frankenstein" of 1957 truly is essential for every Horror lover to see. While this first entry to Hammer's ingenious Frankenstein series is not one of my personal favorite Hammer Productions, it were this film and the following "Horror Of Dracula" which basically redefined British Horror, and represent everything the Hammer Studios stand for. Mad Science and the Resurrection of the dead have always been among my favorite Horror topics, and Hammer's Frankenstein films starring the great Peter Cushing are among the most memorable films in the field. My personal favorite film in Hammer's Frankenstein franchise is still the brilliantly insane "Frankenstein Created Woman" of 1967, but this first film is also brilliant, and furthermore gets the benefit of originality. Sometimes in cinema, actors are predestined to play a certain role - and this is definitely the case with Peter Cushing here. Nobody else could have played the role of the obsessed Baron Victor Frankenstein as Cushing did. When it was Hammer's Dracula that made Christopher Lee the Horror icon he is, it was "The Curse Of Frankenstein" and its sequel that rose Peter Cushing to immortal fame.

Hammer's Baron Frankenstein is more (insanely) dedicated than the character is in the novel or any previous film, and Cushing is brilliant in the role, which he played six times altogether. While he is not necessarily a villain as such (he does what he does with the strong conviction of doing what's necessary for the benefit of mankind), Victor Frankenstein gets more and more dedicated to his obsession of creating artificial life and resurrecting the dead in this first "Frankenstein" film from Hammer, and, at a certain point, he is willing to do anything in order to achieve his goals. At first he is still supported by his assistant and former teacher Paul Kempe (Robert Urquhart) who gets more and more frightened by his former student's obsessive behavior...

I do not want to give too much of the plot away, but I guess everybody knows what the story of Frankenstein is about. As the story of Dracula, the Frankenstein story got its haunting Hammer-style makeover. From today's point of view the graphic depiction of violence and gore in the film may seem tame, but back in the day the early Hammer Classics "Curse Of Frankenstein" and "Horror Of Dracula" were some of the first films to actually show red blood, some gore and explicit violence. Both classics were directed by Terence Fisher, easily the most important Hammer director, and, as usual for hammer, the film is greatly photographed in eerie Gothic locations. Gothic castles, foggy grounds and a constantly gloomy mood - this is what makes a lot of the greatness of the world of Hammer. Peter Cushing truly is one of the greatest Horror icons ever, and Hammer's Frankenstein series probably earned him this deserved reputation more than anything else. The monster, by the way, is played by a fellow Horror icon, with whom Cushing formed the most awesome Horror-duo in a whole lot of films, none other than the great Christopher Lee. Hazel Court is a beauty in the female lead, the only tiny negative aspect is the fact that Robert Urquhart's character of Paul sometimes annoys with his moralistic nagging (also, while he is supposed to be Frankenstein's teacher, Urquhart clearly is years younger than Cushing). That does in no way lessen the greatness of this Hammer Classic, however. All said, "The Curse Of Frankenstein" is a true British Horror Classic, which every Horror fan must see, and no film buff in general should miss!

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Cushing creates life…Hammer re-creates the monster-movie!, 25 July 2005

Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Although not Hammer's absolute finest production, Curse of Frankenstein it is their one film (or maybe along with Horror of Dracula) that single-handedly regenerated the European horror-boom in the second half of the 1950's. Approximately two decades after the immensely popular Universal monster movies, the British Hammer studio gained their first SF/horror success with The Quatermass Experiment. In all honesty, it was the popularity of this, and only this Nigel Kneale adaptation that all of a sudden indicated that the audience's hunger for morbid tales and horrific effects was insatiable and Hammer cleverly exploited this given one step at the time, by re-telling other famous franchises. They begun with Frankenstein in 1957, but Dracula and The Mummy immediately followed during the next years. Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein revives the basic classic premise of Mary Shelley's story but adds a whole lot of horrific aspects that would later become the typical trademarks of the great Hammer production company. For example, the morality-lesson that nobody is entitled to play God and create life himself is not exaggeratedly obtruded like in most other Frankenstein adaptations and the creature's make-up is really monstrous for the very first time. Although, admittedly, that's also due to the fact that the original monster make up, worn by the legendary Boris Karloff as we all remember him, was copyright protected and simply not allowed to be imitated. But, most of all, Hammer implemented these and other minor modifications because their interpretation of the horror genre clearly was much more brutal, spectacular and hence more appealing to the new generation of fans. Suffice to say the success was immense and sequels to both the Frankenstein and Dracula franchise were released quickly as well as other, entirely new horror tales. For nearly twenty years, Hammer Studios set the tone of pretty much everything that concerned horror in Europe and their influence is still very noticeable to this day.

The Curse of Frankenstein stars the legendary Peter Cushing as the obsessive and dangerously devoted Baron/scientist, a role he will reprise several times and perhaps THE role that made him the horror icon he's still regarded as to this day, more than 10 years past his death. The film opens with images of the degraded Baron sitting in a filthy prison cell and begins to clarify his life-story to a priest. Orphanaged at a young age, the wealthy and intellectually gifted Victor Frankenstein works, together with his mentor Dr. Paul Krempe, in the field of re-animating dead tissue and brain activity. Even though the two quickly reach a medical breakthrough, Frankenstein wants to take his experiments to a higher level and creates entirely new life by composing body parts of deceased persons. Since not every part of his ideal creation is available easy (like, for example, an intelligent brain), Frankenstein turns to murder. When Victor Frankenstein commits his first murder, exclusively to foresee his creation with the intelligent brain of a professor, everything changes. He descends into madness without really realizing it and he's no longer able to see the difference between science and insanity. Driven by blind obsession, Victor ruins the friendship between him and Paul and he totally neglects his loving fiancée Elizabeth. In a desperate attempt to stop his former friend, Paul damages the brain but still Victor is destined to continue his experiments. The man Frankenstein eventually brings to life is an aggressive monster that looks hideous and doesn't even hesitate to attack his creator. One day, the monster escapes and assaults an elderly blind man, forcing Paul and Victor to destroy the ungodly creature forever....or so Paul thinks. When he returns to Frankenstein's castle several weeks later to attend Victor's wedding to Elizabeth, the Baron proudly informs him that the monster got resurrected yet again and now it even obeys simple commands. Nonetheless, the murderous creation escapes again and this time the consequences won't be dismissed so easily... The priest from the intro can't bring Victor any salvation and the movie ends with the once prominent heir of the Frankenstein fortune walking towards the guillotine...

I initially stated that this film isn't really Hammer's finest film. Some of their later horrors (notably The Devil Rides Out, Quatermass and the Pit and also some of the sequels to this very film) look more appealing and more properly elaborated. The budget for Curse of Frankenstein, however, was low and this resulted in occasionally tacky special effects and a lack of diversity in settings. The movie is largely filmed on one location – the Baron's laboratory – simply because there was no money for other decors. The limited budget is also clearly noticeable by the absence of a vast Gothic atmosphere and a modest use of color-shades (there were Hammer is specifically knows for their heavy use of colors). Even though not a very spectacular horror film, The Curse of Frankenstein remains a milestone in the genre, with some great suspense and a truly powerful acting performance by Peter Cushing. This film is legendary for yet another entirely different reason, as it also meant the first of many horror collaborations between Cushing and Christopher Lee! Nineteen, to be exact, including masterful genre highlights like The Creeping Flesh, Horror Express and The House that Dripped Blood. Lee's share in this production is very brief (the creature Frankenstein gives life to) but oh-so-memorable, and his make-up effects still look nightmarish nearly half a century later. It's perhaps not the greatest horror movie ever made but real fans of the genre will have to acknowledge that Curse of Frankenstein is a genuine classic that set a lot of later standards.

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