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The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1957
Running Times: 79m 41s (UK - video)/82m 21s (UK - theatrical)
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Warnercolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono
DIRECTION
Director: Terence
Fisher
CREW
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Film
Productions
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Executive in Charge of Production: James Carreras
Producers: Anthony Hinds, Max Rosenberg
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: Don Weeks
SCRIPT
Script: Jimmy Sangster
Novel: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Derek Whitehurst
Continuity: Doreen Soan
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jack Asher
Camera Operator: Len Harris
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: James Needs
MUSIC
Musical Director: John Hollingsworth
Music: James Bernard
SOUND
Sound: W.H. May
Sound System: RCA Sound Recording
COSTUMES AND MAKE UP
Costume Designer: Molly Arbuthnot
Make Up: Philip Leakey
Hair: Henry Montsash
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson
Art Director: Ted Marshall
LOCATIONS
Locations: Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, UK
STUNTS
Stunts Co-Ordinator/Stunt Double For Christopher Lee: Jock Easton
(uncredited)
CASTING
Casting: Dorothy Holloway
CAST
Peter Cushing
(Baron Victor Frankenstein)
Hazel Court (Elizabeth)
Robert Urquhart (Paul Krempe)
Christopher Lee
(the creature)
Melvyn Hayes (young Victor)
Valerie Gaunt (Justine)
Paul Hardtmuth (Professor Bernstein)
Noel Hood (Aunt Sophie)
Fred Johnson (Grandpa)
Claude Kingston (little boy)
Alex Gallier (priest)
Michael Mulcaster (warder)
Andrew Leigh (burgomaster)
Ann Blake (wife)
Sally Walsh (Elizabeth as a child)
Middleton Woods (lecturer)
Raymond Ray (uncle)
UNCREDITED CAST
Ernest Jay (undertaker)
Raymond Rollett
PLOT SUMMARY
Baron Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the idea of creating
an artificial human being, stitched together from the remains of the
dead and then brought to life with electricity. After years of research,
Frankenstein succeeds but the resulting creature is dangerously violent
and is soon loose in the surrounding countryside...
CAPSULE REVIEW
Hammer's first full-blooded
horror film and one that turned the genre on its head. The relatively
staid, monochrome terrors of the Universal era were buried by The
Curse of Frankenstein's Technicolor excesses. It established Hammer
as the premiere producers of screen horror, a position it would hold
virtually unchallenged for a decade - it also jump-started the careers
of director Terence
Fisher and stars Christopher
Lee and Peter
Cushing, all of who would become genre icons. An important and hugely
impressive film. (Full
Review)
AVAILABILITY
UK
Theatrical Distributors: Warner Brothers; Regal Films International
(1961 re-issue)
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video (S036163)
USA
Theatrical Distributors: Warner Brothers; Goldstone Film Enterprises
(1963 re-issue)
Video Distributor: Warner Brothers Home Video
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Finland
Rating: banned
Sweden
Rating: 15
UK
Rating: X (theatrical (1957) - with unspecified cuts); 15 (video (1989))
USA
Rating: unrated
TIMELINE
1956
November
19: UK - filming begins
December
24: UK - filming ends
1957
April
8: UK - rated X by the BBFC (for theatrical release)
May
2: UK - theatrical release
June
25: USA - theatrical release
1966
March
14: Sweden - theatrical release
1989
February
13: UK - rated 15 by the BBFC (for video release)
1996
August
2: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer
at the Barbican season
9: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer
at the Barbican season
10: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer
at the Barbican season
12: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer
at the Barbican season
29: UK - shown at the Barbican, London as part of the Hammer
at the Barbican season
1997
October
15: France - shown at the Cherbourg-Octeville Festival of Irish and
British Film
2000
May
1: UK - video release (Warner Brothers (S036163))
POSTER TAGS
The Curse of Frankenstein will haunt you forever!
The creature created by man and forgotten by nature!
Please try not to faint
All new and never dared before!
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Frankensteins Fluch - German title
La maschera di Frankenstein - Italian title
LINKS
SEQUELS
The Revenge of
Frankenstein (1958)
The Evil of Frankenstein
(1964)
Frankenstein
Created Woman (1967)
Frankenstein
Must Be Destroyed (1969)
The Horror of
Frankenstein (1970)
Frankenstein
and the Monster from Hell (1974)
REMAKE OF
Frankenstein (1931)
SEE ALSO
Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971)
One More Time (1970)
The Rocky Horror
Picture Show (1975)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years of
Horror (1996)
The Many
Faces of Christopher Lee (1996)
Peter
Cushing: A One-Way Ticket to Hollywood (1989)
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Daily Cinema no.8447 (21 April 1961)
p.8
review
Dark Terrors no.2 (March/April 1992)
pp.6-13 (UK)
illustrated credits, filmography, article
Dark Terrors no.5 (November/December
1992) p.12 (UK)
article
Dark Terrors no.17 (2000) pp.7-9 (UK)
illustrated article
The House That Hammer Built no.3 (June
1997) pp.137-144 (UK)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review
The House That Hammer Built no.10 (October
1998) pp.91-106 (UK)
illustrated article
Kine Weekly no.2795 (27 April 1961) p.43
(UK)
review
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.28 no.329 (June
1961) p.80 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review
Variety 3 May 1961 (USA)
credits, review
KEYWORDS
book into film; frankenstein; scientists; dismemberment; guillotines;
artificial humans; flashbacks; remake; brain damage; brains; dogs
Last Updated:
1 January, 2009
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