FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY

FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY

Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) is a promising young doctor, very much in love with his fiancée Elizabeth (Nicola Pagett) and happy with his lot. Not for long though.

When his brother dies during an afternoon boating on a local lake, Victor becomes obsessed with the notion of creating life from death. So much so that he puts his nuptials with Elizabeth on hold and travels to London. Once there, he returns to the hospital where his initial medical training was taken with the intention of resuming his studies.

En route to the hospital, Victor comes across a young man whose just had his arm mauled in the local mill. He takes him to the hospital, where he assists cavalier doctor Clerval (David McCallum) in amputating the unfortunate's limb.

This eventful evening ends with Clerval enjoying a few drinks with Frankenstein after hours, and the revelation that he's stolen the severed arm from the hospital for his own shady purposes. All Clerval will tell Victor at this juncture is that he's working on something that will proffer "power over death"...

A few weeks later, Victor bumps into Clerval in the local church. Far from being a chance meeting, Clerval ushers his young acquaintance to a mansion in the hills where he's had himself locked away working on a series of top secret experiments. Victor is alarmed when Clerval shows his a re-animated beetle. But not as much as he is when Clerval then produces the aforementioned arm, and reveals it to be very much alive - albeit with no body attached to it.

Initially reluctant, Victor soon agrees to assist Clerval in further experiments and soon becomes completely absorbed by the work - much to the consternation of Elizabeth back home. In fact, she determines to hightail it to London herself just to be nearer to her beau. Her reaction to the experiments, however, is decidedly negative: she soon flees.

Undeterred, Victor and Clerval set about looking for a fresh corpse on which to conduct their biggest experiment yet. They don't have to look far - although they do alert the suspicions of Clerval's former partner in crime, Polidori (James Mason).

While Polidori busies himself snooping around Clerval's premises, the latter takes an unfortunate turn the night before his big solar-powered experiment is due to take place and dies. Victor, naturally, replaces the peasant brain in the fresh cadaver he's about to try and re-animate, with that of his newly deceased colleague. What could go wrong?

For a short while, not much. Victor is delighted with the creature (Michael Sarrazin), which he rightly declares as being "beautiful". Victor has the creature stay with him, introducing him to those close to him as a foreign friend. All is well. Victor's handsome friend soon learns not only how to eat and socialise, but also to appreciate opera.

But ... what Victor doesn't know is that, seconds before he died, Clerval had discovered a fatal flaw in their experiments. Things start to go awry when the creature's perfection begins to wane, and Polidori's persistence becomes too great to bear.

Surely the creation of a re-animated female (Jane Seymour) can only make things better...?

Produced by Universal Studios in 1973, this intelligent adaptation was originally broadcast as a 2-part television mini-series. It later surfaced on video in a truncated 2-hour version, a full 60 minutes having been excised from the running time. The complete version, as restored here, is the only way to view it.

In its full variant, this FRANKENSTEIN offers a wealth of rich characterisation as well as a daring subtext of homo-erotica which I dare say was quite subversive in its time. Victor's infatuation with firstly Clerval (a very tactile relationship is enjoyed) and then the creature - it even shares his bed - is undeniable, nor is the sudden disinterest Victor shows his male creation when his looks begin to deteriorate. And when the woman, Seymour, is brought into the equation? Well, women can only spell trouble ... an interesting philosophy considering the screenplay was co-written by Don Bachardy and Chris Isherwood - the latter being one of only a handful of openly gay writers working in the industry at the time.

Sticking with the screenplay briefly, it's worth noting that this is hardly the most loyal interpretation of Mary Shelley's source novel. But that hardly matters when things are this entertaining.

Subtext or none, this is a very attractive production. The period detail is nicely adhered to, sets are convincing and location shots are consistently handsomely mounted. The fact that the whole thing is shot on film and clearly had a decent budget prevents events from ever having that TV look.

Then there's the cast, who are more than up to the challenge of taking on Bachardy and Isherwood's literate, flab-free script. As well as Mason, Seymour, Whiting and McCallum, able support also comes from heavyweights such as Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud and Tom Baker.

Romantic, Gothic, occasionally witty and even more than a little creepy, FRANKENSTEIN A TRUE STORY is a justifiably fondly remembered slice of 70s TV horror and is ripe for rediscovery. There's a not boring moment to it.

Second Sight give FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY a most welcome release on UK DVD, presenting the full 176-minute version in a very nice 1.33:1 transfer which boasts strong colours, blacks and detail.

The English 2.0 audio has little separation to speak of and so is a tad flat, but perfectly clear and serviceable throughout. Optional English subtitles are easy to read and free from typing errors.

An animated main menu opens this region 2 encoded disc. From there, you can choose to either watch the film in two parts (as originally televised) or as a 3-hour whole. Each part comes with its own scene-selection menu allowing access to it via 16 chapters.

We even get an extra: a 5-minute introduction from Mason, shot and screened back at the time of the film's original release. In it, Mason is his usual agreeably pompous self as he stands over Shelley's grave and begs us to share his awe at the fact that she created this literary phenomenon at the tender age of 19. This feature ends very abruptly but is a great, unexpected addition to the disc regardless.

FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY is a reminder of a time when TV movies were worth staying in to watch. It stands the test of time and is capable of rewarding multiple viewings. The cast alone ensure it of being a wholly fascinating proposition; the fact that it's also so well-written is the icing on the cake.

Recommended.

By Stuart Willis


 
Released by Second Sight
Region 2
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
Back