Frankenstein: The True Story is a 1973 American made-for-television horror film loosely based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was directed by Jack Smight, and the screenplay was co-written by novelist Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy.
The film stars Leonard Whiting as Victor Frankenstein, Jane Seymour as Prima, David McCallum as Henry Clerval, James Mason as Dr Polidori and Michael Sarrazin as the Creature. James Mason’s wife, Clarissa Kaye-Mason also appeared in the film. The cast also includes Agnes Moorehead, Margaret Leighton, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Tom Baker (The Mutations), Yootha Joyce, Peter Sallis (Taste the Blood of Dracula), Norman Rossington (Death Line) and Dallas Adams.
The character of Dr Polidori, who did not appear in the original novel, was based on the character of Dr. Pretorius from Universal Pictures Bride of Frankenstein, but named after the real-lifeJohn Polidori, an acquaintance of author Mary Shelley who was part of the competition that produced her novel. Polidori’s own contribution was the first modern vampire story The Vampyre (1819).
A notable feature of the production is that, instead of being ugly from the start, the Creature is portrayed as physically beautiful but increasingly hideous as the film progresses, similar to the plot line in Hammer Studios’ The Revenge of Frankenstein. The make-up was by Hammer horror veteran artist Roy Ashton.
It was originally broadcast in two 90-minute parts, but is often seen edited into a single film. Its DVD debut date was September 26, 2006. Included at the beginning is a short intro featuringJames Mason wandering through St John’s Wood churchyard, London. He suggests that this is where Mary Shelley is buried, which is incorrect (she is in fact buried in the family plot in Dorset), despite standing beside a gravestone bearing her name.
Victor Frankenstein is a man training as a doctor, engaged to Elizabeth Fanshawe. After Victor’s younger brother, William, drowns, Victor renounces his belief in God and declares that he would join forces with the Devil if he could learn how to restore his brother to life.
Shortly afterward, Victor leaves for London to train in anatomy. He immediately meets a scientist named Henry Clerval, who Victor later learns has discovered how to preserve dead matter and restore it to life. As Victor becomes fascinated by Clerval’s experiments Clerval reveals his ultimate plan: creating a new race of invincible, physically perfect beings by using solar energy to animate “the Second Adam” constructed from parts of corpses. Clerval is unable to complete it on his own due to a worsening heart condition. Frankenstein volunteers to help and the lab is completed.
Word reaches the pair that several peasant lads have been killed in a mine collapse. After their burial the doctors quickly dig up the bodies and stitch together a physically perfect human. The night before the creation, however, Clerval discovers in a most disturbing way that a reanimated arm set aside for weeks during the construction of the lab and of “Adam”, has become diseased, unsightly and deformed. Shocked and overcome, Clerval suffers what appears a heart attack, and unable to get his medication on time, dies in the middle of recording his horrible discovery in the journal.
The next morning, Victor finds Clerval’s body and misreads the incomplete journal entry (“The process is r–”) as meaning “the process is ready to begin” rather than the intended meaning of“reversing itself”. Since neither of them wanted the perfect body to have the brain of a peasant, Victor transplants Clerval’s brain into their creation and he is able to complete the experiment. Victor introduces his creation into high-class London society, passing him off as a friend from a far-off country with little grasp of English.
Victor’s sweet and guileless creation wins the admiration of London’s elite class, but Victor soon discovers the still-living but now repulsive arm in Clerval’s cupboard. He realises some flaw in the process causes it to reverse itself…
‘ … a misogynistic reading is clearly intended (with the two brides, Frankenstein’s and the monster’s, emerging as more treacherously villainous than either of their mates). For a while it comes on like bad Hammer, until the arrival of the monster – a handsome lad, but the process is reverting – perks things up considerably. Particularly memorable is a scene where the monster’s demurely virginal Bride sings ‘I Love Little Pussy, Her Coat Is So Warm’, before gleefully attempting to strangle a sleepy persian and lasciviously licking a drop of mauve blood from her scratched arm; and a glorious moment of delirium when the monster disrupts a society ball to collect his bride, ripping off her pearl choker to reveal the stitched neck, then annexing her head as his property.’ Time Out
‘The casting is another major point in this movie’s favor. Particularly by television standards, Frankenstein: The True Storyfeatures some impressive performances. Michael Sarazin’s monster is the most believable I’ve yet seen, Leonard Whitting hits just the right combination of drive and naivety as Frankenstein himself, Ralph Richardson invests Lacey with a humble species of dignity that only British actors seem to be able to pull off, and even daffy old Agnes Moorehead does a good job as daffy old Mrs. Blair. But even with so much competition, James Mason threatens to steal the entire show. His Dr. Polidori is smooth, smarmy, ruthless, and genteel all at the same time, and he gets many of the best lines in the whole film.’ 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
‘The True Story is best enjoyed not as a straight adaptation, but as a different take on the same idea. It is not without flaws. The dialogue is occasionally stilted, no effort is made to make the animation of the two creatures look like anything but cheap science fiction, and Polidori’s skills as a hypnotist are practically a super power (one actually wonders why he would need Prima when he himself can place people under hypnosis almost instantly).’ Kim Bruun Dreyer, The Terror Trap
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