I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

Hollywood's first stab at Mary Shelley since the Universal days, AIP's 1957 "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" was of course Herman Cohen's follow up to the phenomenally successful "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," shot back to back right after co feature "Blood of Dracula," in which the teen menace was a girl. Rather than a simple retread of "Werewolf," this script goes through the usual paces expected of a Frankenstein film, Herbert L. Strock's perfunctory staging enlivened by Whit Bissell's deadpan wit as the arrogant modern day Professor Frankenstein, eager to prove all those who scoffed at his limb transplant theories that he can indeed restore life to the dead, blackmailing his mild mannered assistant (Robert Burton) and even dispatching his devoted fiancée (Phyllis Coates) for disobedience. The idea of making the scientist a teenager rather than The Monster apparently didn't occur to Cohen, Hammer's massive worldwide success with "The Curse of Frankenstein" the obvious model (Peter Cushing's Baron a vivid anti hero), and Bissell, just as he had in "Werewolf," the adult manipulator of his youthful creation. A convenient crash near his home provides Frankenstein a teenage body to start with, replacing various hands and limbs but not yet the hideous wreck of a face. Gary Conway's Monster is alive at the 25 minute mark, his creator referring to him as 'my boy,' noting that he can both speak ("you've got a civil tongue in your head, I know you have because I sewed it back myself," "he should talk like a congressman at a filibuster!") and cry ("even the tear duct functions"). This Monster is a rebel with a cause, his most fervent wish to go out and walk among people, but when he does escape winds up strangling a young girl when she screams at his hideous appearance. His only other murders are clearly set up by his creator, the final one a gift of a new face (Conway's own with only a few scars), while the climax just lies there, the doctor receiving his comeuppance simply because he needed to, this final scene shot in not so vibrant color. Conway, in only his second screen role (following Roger Corman's "The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent"), would be back in the same makeup for Cohen's "How to Make a Monster," Gary Clarke replacing Michael Landon as the Teenage Werewolf, while Bissell returned to supporting ranks with "Monster on the Campus." The decade closed with Peter Cushing's sequel "The Revenge of Frankenstein," Boris Karloff starring in "Frankenstein-1970," and Donald Murphy hamming it up in "Frankenstein's Daughter," the 60s far more prolific for Mary Shelley's creation.

"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.

What do Whit Bissel, Donald Murphy and Boris Karloff all have in common? They all played "the last member of the Frankenstein family" within a single year! Boris emoted in Cinemascope in FRANKENSTEIN 1970, Donald Murphy built monsters in a wine cellar in FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER and Whit Bissel created a teenage monster in the movie I am about to discuss.

As if most teenagers were not monsters already in their own right Whit decides to build an artificial man out of parts from young healthy teen athletes. To keep his creation under control Whit fixes everything except .. .wait for it . . .the face. The monster (Gary Conway) has the body of a muscleman but a face that, well, looks like it was sculpted out of clay (which it was!) and when he talks he sounds like someone who is, well, talking through a mask!

Okay, this has already been discussed in detail by other reviewers on this board but everyone seems to have ignored one very obvious gaffe. We all know the classic line "Speak! You have a civil tongue in your head. I know because I sewed it in place myself!" But in that same scene Whit gets a line that should properly have gone to his assistant (Robert Burton). Remember that Whit's Prof. Frankenstein has lived his entire life in England and he is visiting this country for a relative short time. His remark about the newly revived Creature "He should be chattering like a Senator at a filibuster." is far too American a statement to come from someone who is just visiting from another country. It is better suited to Robert Burton's character who is an American. Perhaps if Whit had said "chattering like an MP" (Member of Parliament) instead. Oh well, this is still a fun movie, especially now that the colour ending has been restored.

Points of interest: Gary Conway's real name is Gareth Carmody. He changed it himself because he thought it sounded too "highbrow" for an actor. Robert Burton later went on to battle THE SLIME PEOPLE in 1963. And of course many of us remember Phyliss Coates from "Superman" on television but how many remember she appeared in the 1952 film INVASION USA along with Noel Neill? Both Lois Lane's in one movie! I don't know what became of the alligator, but he certainly seemed to enjoy his role and he does indeed give a convincing performance.

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 ****

For years I avoided this film solely from the title and critic' comments about it. It was easy to label it as a bad film with the title it has, and it constantly appears on bad films lists. Recently I decided to watch as many Frankenstein films made by companies other than Universal as I could, and finally got around to this one. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film, and how unfairly it had been judged by critics. It has a lot going for it, and my opinion was made by one scene in particular. The Monster had been kept in a cold, utilitarian lab under Dr. Frankenstein's plush opulent mansion, little seeing or knowing of the outside world. One night the lab door was accidentally left unlocked and he hesitantly ventures upstairs to the empty house. He enters Dr. Frankenstein's living room, in awe at all the splendor, his senses reeling at a world he never dreamed existed. Sitting down in a large stuffed chair, his body reacts to the soft cushions, experiencing comfort as never had before and almost melts into it. It is these moments of discovery that we get to know the Monster as a person, and not just a killing machine. Many films featuring a Frankenstein Monster use him as just a mindless brute with no personality or motivation. Teen-age Frankenstein, for faults in other areas, is one of the few to allow the Monster a goal: he expresses his loneliness and desire for companionship.

So for everyone who hasn't seen this film yet because of volumes of "Best of..." books, give it a try. You may not become a fan, but at least you'll see it for what it truly is.