I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

Starring Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates, Robert Burton, and Gary Conway. Directed by Herbert L. Strock (this film and 1954's "Gog" seem to be highlights of his directing career). This low budget AIP chiller was made to capitalize on the success of "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (1957).

This time it's Professor Frankenstein (Bissell) who comes to 1950's America from England to lecture college professors at a seminar. His theories are derided, and Frankenstein vows that they shall soon see the theories work in practice. His faithful secretary Margaret (Coates) tells him he's wonderful and that she wants to be more than a secretary. Dr. Karlton (Burton) is blackmailed into helping Frankenstein carry out the grave-robbing and other errands Frankenstein needs to carry out his plans. Conway is Frankensteins' Monster, made up of various bodies. The doctor has a unique method of body disposal that's located beneath his laboratory/morgue. The plot goes from there.

Bissell is good as the arrogant, crazy Frankenstein. Coates' part is written as an understanding to a fault, a brainless woman who knows of her would-be husbands' felonies and doesn't mind covering them up. Conway is supposed to be pathetic, but misses the mark by a mile.

Memorable lines; Frankenstein to Monster--"Speak to me! I know you have a civil tongue in your head! I sewed it there myself!" Frankenstein, to unwilling accomplice Burton; "In this laboratory there is no death until I declare it so."

Film switches from black and white to color for its' last two minutes. The print I saw was a British print which was titled "Teenage Frankenstein". I didn't expect much out of this movie, but it is a bit better than Maltin thinks. A barely ok time passer.

"I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" is a more modern take on the old Frankenstein story. It stars the oddly cast Whit Bissell...odd because he's supposed to be British and sounds about as British as Elvis or Urkel!

When the story begins, Professor Frankenstein is lecturing about transplants...something very new back in 1957 and which hadn't yet been successfully done for most organs. Some of the folks at the lectures are skeptical...and Dr. Frankenstein is determined to show them. So, like the classic story, he assembles a monster out of body parts. Oddly, however, aside from the monster's face, he looks pretty ordinary. And, to control the monster, the Doctor promises to give his creation a new face IF it does his evil bidding...such as murder!

This Dr. Frankenstein is much more of an evil sociopath than you would expect. He's a nasty jerk who is cruel and abusive...and he's pretty shocking...more so than his monster! Just how awful and depraved he is, you'll have to see for yourself. However, interestingly, this is a positive aspect of the film....making Frankenstein that awful did add to the excitement in this otherwise ordinary monster film. Worth seeing despite the word 'teenage' in the title.

This is top of the line 1950's B movie schlock.And it is wonderful.Countless tv viewings and a recent VHS viewing confirms this.

Prof Frankenstein(Whit Bissel)is visiting from England on a lecture tour.He wants to create a perfect body from a youth.As it so happens there is a terrible auto accident outside which allows him to grab a corpse.

Of course there is the hesitant assistant to deal with. There is also the nosy just moved in fiancee to contend with. Frankenstein manages to put together a body but it has a severe case of morning face.The boy disobeys his creator and goes out for a stroll. He also kills a blonde and creates a panic.

Well the pesky bride to be stumbles upon the "monster" which angers the mad doctor to no end. He convinces the boy that she wants to kill him. So our boy kills her and she is dumped in the alligator pit(I'm not making this up).The pit is used to dispose of spare parts by the way.

The boy needs a nice face(does he ever)so he and the doctor go out in search of one.Happily they locate one and it is grafted on.Everybody is all smiles now.

The doctor and his assistant prepare to go to England. The boy has no passport so they plan to dissect him for easier international travel.The rousing finish is in color.

Whit Bissel gives a great performance as the cracked to the max mad doctor.He has a heck of a realtor that can set him up in temporary lodgings with a lab & an alligator pit in the basement.Wonder where he got the alligator.

If you can overlook or poke fun at the plot holes you can really enjoy this flick.See it if you can!

This companion piece to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF is somewhat fun, even if it's largely for all the wrong reasons! As another "modern" descendant of the Frankenstein family, Whit Bissell takes the body of a hideously disfigured teen from a car wreck and assembles a muscular young man with a head that looks like it passed through a garbage disposal. Though Bissell's doctor is supposed to be from England, he's the main attraction of the show by providing many unintentional laughs while speaking in his all-American accent. The serious conviction with which he recites some of the most ridiculous lines ever written for a monster movie will keep you in stitches (here's a taste: "Speak! You have a civil tongue in your head. I know, because I sewed it back myself!"). Phyllis Coates (Lois Lane from TV's ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN) plays his snooping fiancé with a bad habit of putting her nose where it doesn't belong.

Not as remarkable as TEENAGE WEREWOLF, with a tendency to feel kind of claustrophobic in its indoor environment. But the immortal monster makeup is above the low budget standard and this is still worth watching for fans of cheesy fifties monster movies. Perhaps owing to Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, we also get to see dismembered body parts, which was uncommon back in the day. **1/2 out of ****

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Herbert L. Strock; Produced by Herman Cohen, for American-International Pictures. Screenplay by Aben Kandel and Cohen; Photography by Lothrop Worth; Edited by Jerry Young; Music by Paul Dunlap; Production Manager: Austin Jewell. Starring: Whit Bissell, Gary Conway, Phyllis Coates, Robert Burton, John Cliff, George Lynn and Charles Seale.

Grisly lowbrow horror film with Whit as a relative of Baron Von Frankenstein, visiting America from England, who with a physicist creates a man-made youth out of pieces of dead teenagers. Right during their first discussion there is a crash outside! Whoopee, hotrodders' cadavers! Whit keeps a crocodile under his lab to eat scraps of bodies that are unusable. After replacing his mutilated face with Gary's face, the monster chokes his creator and throws him to the croc. After seconds of freedom, Gary electrocutes himself rather than face the police. Film is notable for its campy dialogue, such as "in this laboratory there is no death unless I declare it so!".