Frankenstein 1970 (1958)

You won't be disappointed!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

all except for the monster who has none, yet somehow manages to find its victim even though Dr. Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) dropped the jar of the eyes from his previous victim, which he kept in his refrigerator, right next to the pickles. Indeed, it looks like he has a treasure trove of foreign beers in that refrigerator for celebrating once his experiment is complete.Almost 20 years since he played this Dr. Frankenstein's ancestor's monster, Karloff now gets to collect the body parts for this pathetic creature which has laid in slumber in the family crypt for over a hundred years. Now some Hollywood film crew is on the estate and Karloff, desperate for money, gets the itch of his ancestors when he suddenly begins playing the organ in a terrifying manor. Karloff manages to hypnotize his family retainer into becoming the first victim to provide the monster with necessary body parts (which they must have run out of at the local Piggly Wiggly) by simply waving his scalpel at the dumbbell.You will hoot, you will howl at the idiotic dialog, not only of Karloff who explains everything he is doing into a reel-to-reel tape-recorder (remember those?) so the audience doesn't have to suspend its belief as to what he is doing. And with times having changed since the days of the original Frankenstein (minus Frau Brucher---she comes later), the doctor has the advantage of some modern appliances to help him with his nefarious experiments. Add on some stupid Hollywood types to provide the drive-in audiences with moments of time to do things other than watch the movie. This is the type of film that screams for Elvira or the two robots from Mystery Science Theater.

In the then future year of 1970, infamous monster-maker Boris Karloff (as Victor von Frankenstein) has fallen on hard times. Crippled and disfigured due to being tortured by Nazis during World War II, Mr. Karloff can no longer afford to maintain his estate. To raise the money needed to buy an atomic reactor (so he can heat the castle), the Baron allows a film crew to move in and shoot some scary movie scenes. As you will quickly see, Karloff is up to the Frankenstein family's old tricks - he intends to bring a Frankenstein monster to life! ...and put you to sleep...About the only thing here worth noting the opening sequence, with shapely blonde Jana Lund (as Carolyn Hayes) hotly pursued. Other than that, "Frankenstein - 1970" created a turkey.** Frankenstein - 1970 (7/20/58) Howard W. Koch ~ Boris Karloff, Tom Duggan, Jana Lund, Don 'Red' Barry

Atmosphere is important in any horror film and this movie has it in spades. Unfortunately, that's all it has. Really very little to recommend here. Karloff is good in this movie but completely wasted in this effort and far too campy and hammy to really chill the audience. The monster itself is also a huge problem. Not so much when we first see the monster but as it progresses in its various stages of creation, it just gets sillier and sillier. The music tries to scare up a few chills whenever the monster appears but it is all really wasted. The best thing about the movie as I previously stated is the atmosphere. I especially like movies that have isolated creepy castles in them that are filled with secret passageways and hidden laboratories from which all those mad scientists conduct their business. The opening sequence of the film is by far the best part of the movie but the surprise ending tries to come close only that it is really telegraphed all throughout the movie and really isn't much of a surprise when you think about it. Although this is by far not the worst Karloff film it is not the best either. It's really too bad that Karloff, if he wanted to spoof the Frankenstein character he played, that he should have offered to play the part in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.

Baron Victor von Frankenstein(Boris Karloff playing him mostly devious and wickedly amoral..he adheres to no one's needs but his own)is the last in the family line donning a scar on one side of his face(drooping the eyelid)and plagued with a lurch due to his torture at the hands of the Nazis. He wishes to carry out his great-great grandfather's legacy of giving re-birth to a preserved man-monster in his secret laboratory hidden within what seems to be a mausoleum. He has sold his family's expensive paintings to finance his machines and equipment, but in the desire to acquire an atomic reactor(!)he must allow a film crew to shoot in and around his castle, quietly detesting them with every aching bone left in his body. In this film the film crew director, an energetic, unflappable Douglas Roe(Don Barry)will be delivering the atomic reactor himself as a promise for utilizing Baron's castle for atmospheric purposes. Now, how a film director can acquire an atomic reactor is anybody's guess. But, a minor squabble. Baron needs vital parts to bring his monster to life and gets jump-started when his butler Schutter(a very hammy Norbert Schiller)goes nosing around eventually finding out about the laboratory experiments and the secret location. Schutter's brain will be used(as well as his heart among other parts), but Baron drops the jar with liquid-doused eyes splashing on the floor. He'll need a correct pair of eyes and focuses on taking Roe's. But, his eyeless monster will often kill members of the film crew causing Baron much strife in having to find avenues of escape regarding where the missing people have went off to. His cunning will eventually fail as his monster, often obeying Baron's voice, begins to operate on his own with the predictable results.To me, the film's main strength is Karloff's Baron..an emotionally scarred wreck, having grown quite mad with an unstoppable demented desire to bring his monster to life by any means necessary. But, it was agonizing for me, being such a lover(..and fan) of Karloff's work to see him in such frail shape obviously trying his best to mask the agony that is apparent when he attempts to just walk. Many are critical of Karloff here deeming him merely as hammy, but I reveled at seeing him playing Herr Baron concocting his schemes, playing his eerie organ, & working so passionately in his laboratory preparing for his creation's birth. Seeing him guiding the monster was entertaining as well because it brought back memories of the Universal classics with mad scientists ordering their monsters to collect victims for their experiments. Those that portray the film crew are not very interesting and aren't given much to do for the exception of being fodder for Frankenstein. But, sadly, the film is slowly paced and often dull..it lacks the energy and enthusiasm of the films it is trying to emulate. The whole show is Boris..his dialogue around a sheeted corpse doting aloud of his Frankenstein family is the highlight in my opinion.