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.

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!

I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN is the story of Professor Frankenstein (Whit Bissell- I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF), and his experiments involving dead tissue re-animation. As the great-great-grandson of Baron Frankenstein, he plans to stitch together a familiar patchwork of body parts, in order to create life.

Conveniently, a fatal car crash occurs just outside the Professor's home / morgue / lab, providing him with his much needed, young, though heavily damaged cadaver! He begins work on his plan immediately, assisted by Dr. Karlton (Robert Burton). Mad science unfolds.

How could anything possibly go wrong?

Thoroughly absurd, IWATF is also exceptionally entertaining! Bissell's character is so tightly wound, that his head could fly off at any second, like a runaway balloon! The monster's brooding, angst-ridden persona is a riot!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The Professor's "spare-body-parts-disposal-by-alligator" system! #2- His attempts at carrying on a love life, while spending most of his time heartlessly creating his monster! #3- His nosy fiancee and her big surprise! #4- The monster's homicidal rampages!

A true classic. Now, if only I could acquire an alligator and some equipment...

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 ****