Why 1970?

 

 

FRANKENSTEIN-1970-1958-A TV crew comes the Castle Frankenstein to film a live spook show special to commemorate the 240^th anniversary of Frankenstein. Boris Karloff plays the last descendant of the infamous doctor, a scarred, limping, bitter, slightly insane (and possibly castrated) old man who was forced by the Nazis to do experiments on humans. Deep in his castle he's creating a new monster but since this was made in the 1950's atomic energy plays an important part as the Baron has a reactor in his lab (it was provided by the production company so the Baron would allow them to film in his castle). The manic director (Don “Red” Barry) and the producer (Tom Duggan) seem oblivious to the evil goings on but the Baron's lawyer (Rudolph Anders, the Nazi leader in SHE DEMONS the same year) suspects his client is dabbling in the old family pastime. In fact when Anders hints at this the Baron threatens to cut out his tongue! (He later uses his eyes instead) He also uses his loyal butler. He is polite but creepy toward the lead actress (Jana Lund) who when complaining about past role mentions The Donner Party! The monster is a big bandaged giant (played by pro wrestler Mike Lane) who gets to carry the girl around in the finale and when his bandages are removed has an interesting face.

This low budget Allied Artist production was directed by Howard Koch who'd already made movies like UNTAMED YOUTH and BOP GIRL GOES CALYPSO. He would also serve as producer of Karloff's other AA horror film for that year the much worse VOODOO ISLAND. Soon after this he ventured into television and much later produce AIRPLANE and its sequel. Screenwriter Richard Landau was a prolific TV writer and also penned the aforementioned VOODOO ISLAND.

Despite being villainous and sleazy Karloff still manages (as usual) to instill his character with a few sympathetic tones. I've read many bad reviews for this film but despite the low budget I think it's great! Hey it was Karloff's first film effort in a couple of years! Glad ya came back Boris!

And thanks for reading!