Frankenstein must be destroyed (1969)

[Neville]

It's truly a pity that the Hammer film cicle in my home town is almost finished. After this one, the'll only be showing "Frankenstein and the monster from hell" and that will be it. Meanwhile, I'll speak about the film I saw yesterday, one of the latest Frankenstein films starring Peter Cushing. The filmotheque had already sohwn the first film of the series, "The curse of Frankenstein" (1958), but they have skipped all the following titles until this one, which depending on the source is the 4th or 5th instalment of the series. A pity, because although there are no major changes in Frankenstein's personality, I'd like to know how the hell he survived the guillotine.

Plot: Anyway, the film presents Frankenstein hidden in a small german village and back in his usual business. As the credits roll, he murders a doctor in order to use his head in his experiments, but is later confronted by a thief who breaks in his lair. He escapes, and Frankentein is forced to look for a new acomodation. He founds it in a small inn hosted by one of these gorgeous Hammer woman, and before she even realizes, she and her fiance are under the infulence of the Baron.

Frankenstein, it seems, is now after the technique to perform brain trasplants, and although he knows the basis he thinks he could learn even more if he could access Dr. Brandt, a former coleague now a madman in the local asylum. Frankenstein soon manages to put his hands on him, but seing how debilitated he is he plans some additional brain surgery.

Comments. Brilliant. As they did in the first Frankenstein film (and the rest, I guess), Hammer change the axis of the original story, making Dr. Frankenstein, and no the creatures he creates, the true evil of the story. If Frankenstein was already arrogant and ruthless to almost inhuman levels, time has only made him worse. Here he doesn't blink twice before destroying the young couple who become his accomplices, or to commit all sorts of crimes to fulfil his power fantasies. The way Cushing portrays him, as some sort of unnestopable force, works great.

As I say, Frankenstein here is specially maquiavelian. For him, the end (however it is, maybe only exists in his fantasies) always justifies the means... even if for doing evil he has to do some good as well, curing Dr. Brandt from his madness, something he does almost reluctantly. Speaking od Dr. Branft, played by Freddie Jones, I think the only serious flaw in this film is how underused he is, until the very end. A pity, because when he finally becomes of some importance he becomes a wonderful arch-enemy to Frankenstein, even outsmarting him in some occasions.

[The Burgomaster]

How Dr. Frankenstein survived the guillotine:

**SPOILER**   **SPOILER**   **SPOILER**

He had a henchman with him on the guillotine (disguised as a guard or something, if my memory serves me correctly).  They grabbed someone else (the priest, maybe?), threw him down on the guillotine and cut off his head.  Since there were no other witnesses to the execution, Dr. Frankenstein was able to escape.  I believe this all happens at the beginning of THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN.



Post Edited (06-14-05 08:07)

[Ozzymandias]

Evil of Frankenstein has Dr. Frankenstein square off against another evil doctor who takes control of the creature (who is the coolest looking creature since Christopher Lee).

[Cullen]

What's really interesting, for me, is that Frankenstein in "...Must Be Destroyed" is an utter monster, and yet I found myself rooting for him anyway.

Cushing was a genius.  A genius I tell you.

[Neville]

The funny thing is that I've been reading some criticism on the movie, and one of the most versed reviews comments that Frankenstein actually is the most tolerable of the characters, because at least he is not hypocritical in the pursuit of his aims, whereas the rest of the main characters are either incompetents (the police officer that pursues him) or morally ambiguous, like the couple he blackmails (let's remember that they were criminals even before they met him, and he doesn't hesitate to kill the night watchman when he is discovered during a robbery).

This moral ambiguity is not new in the saga. I remember that at the end of "Curse of Frankenstein" Frankenstein's assistant doesn't hesitate to "murder" him by not telling the truth to the autorities about the Baron's experiments. This, we are hinted, could be either because he feels the Baron needs to be punished... or just because it allows him to marry the Baron's fiancé.

[Cullen]

Now that's an interesting point.  I'm going to have to rewatch "Curse" with that in mind.

[Scott]

The part that I remember most about FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED is when they have a water main break or something and they are worried about the body buried in the garden out back.