Tales of Frankenstein

For years the only thing I knew about TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN was from a still I had seen in "Famous Monsters" magazine. Then a promotional trailer for this film/T.V. pilot turned up in the Zacherle video "Horrible Horror." For years I remained very curious about this film/T.V. pilot, but the damn thing was impossible to see. Then one day a copy of this film turned up on the shelves at my favorite video rental store and I was able to satisfy my curiosity.

In TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN the good Dr. Frankenstein has created a being from bits and pieces of dead bodies stolen from graves. He brings the monster to life but discovers its mind is blank. Dr. Frankenstein decides a living brain is needed and is soon met by a dying man and is told by Dr. Frankenstein he can make him immortal if agrees to allow him to be used in an experiment. The dying man gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up in the horrible disfigured body of Frankenstein's creation.

The monster's make-up in the film resembles the classic Universal monster with puffy cheeks giving the impression it is starting to develop acromegaly. The production values are not up to Hammers usual standards. The films sets look very stagey. Then again, this was a 1958 T.V. show, not a feature film. I have heard conflicting accounts on what this T.V. series was supposed to be. One states its was supposed to be a weekly series with each weeks episode telling the tale of a famous monster (i.e one week Dracula, next week The Mummy etc.) Another account claims each week would be about a different adventure in the life of Dr. Frankenstein. The latter seems unlikely. However, its doubtful either could have resulted in a long running series. The show would have ran out of plots very quickly.

TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN of 1958 is the pilot from the British Hammer Studios, which was never continued as a TV series. This was made right after Hammer's first successful and highly influential Gothic Horror film THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) starring the great Peter Cushing in the role of the eponymous Baron, a role which he would reprise five more times. On the one hand, it is highly regrettable that TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN, which stars the sinister Anton Diffring, never became a show. On the other hand, it is debatable whether Hammer had made any sequels to their first success, if their had been a FRANKENSTEIN show on TV; since the FRANKENSTEIN sequels from Hammer are entirely great, some arguably even greater than the 1957 film, their not having been produced would be tragic for the world of Horror.

TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN is interesting in particular due to the charismatic performance of Anton Diffring, a specialist for sinister characters, and due to the fact that it mixes the styles of Hammer and the original Universal Horror films. Especially by its looks, this has a stronger resemblance to the Classic Horrors from Universal. The set pieces are Gothic and elegant, and the film has a nice, eerie atmosphere. The storyline is interesting enough: Baron Frankestein (Diffring) is experimenting on his creation, trying to make the monster less aggressive. A terminally ill concert pianist (Richard Bull) and his wife come to Frankenstein's castle in order to ask for the Baron's help...

Overall, this 28-minute flick is a highly interesting little gem that especially Classic Horror fans should not miss. Diffring is great (even though not quite as great as Cushing), the atmosphere is gloomy, and the story interesting. Ignoring the previously made assumption that making the TV show might have resulted in the film sequels not being made, one can only say: Too bad this series was never made. It would have probably been quite something. Not to be missed.

Frankenstein's reputation has done well for him. He has created another "monster", but needs a mind to control it. When a terminally ill subject enters his lab, he sees an opportunity to create the perfect being -- not having to rely on dead or criminal brains.

Anton Diffring ("Beast Must Die") stars as Baron Frankenstein and does a fine job. So does everyone else. For a television show, I'm uncertain ho this would have fared, particularly in the 1950s. And what would the story be? Would Frankenstein try a new brain each week? That would get old... or I've heard rumor it as to feature a different monster. That has some merit, but how many monsters are there? Dracula would make a much better ongoing character...

Luckily for us this pilot survived as a short film, and a decent one at that. Perhaps not a memorable one, but a strong piece of the Frankenstein story from a director ho knows the man and the monster ("Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman", for example).

This one crossed my desk through a box set. I'm not sure ho easily available it is, but if you get a chance to check it out, do so. It's only 27 minutes long, so you'd hardly be "wasting" time on this better-than-average attempt at a good horror story. "Tales From the Crypt" has done worse.

Anton Diffring stars as the Baron, an obsessive scientist attempting to create human life, but who keeps failing due to a substandard supply of brains which have been harvested from executed murderers; however, when a terminally ill man and his wife approach the Baron seeking medical help, he at last sees the opportunity to perfect a non-psychotic version of his experiment. All he has to do is wait a few weeks...

A collaboration between Universal and Hammer, this pilot for a TV series that never was condenses all the elements of your average Frankenstein movie into a no-nonsense, half-hour slice of Gothic horror which, given the pedigree of both studios involved, unsurprisingly proves to be an entertaining treat for fans of the classic movie monster and his maker.

Diffring's portrayal of the Baron is sufficiently unemotional and effectively tinged with madness, the Universal-style monster make-up is well realised, and the half-hour format ensures that the action whips along at a brisk enough pace to avoid boredom setting in. Sure, the plot (from classic Universal scribe Curt Siodmak) holds no real surprises, primarily consisting of well-worn ingredients of the genre—a creepy lab in a Gothic castle; a drunken grave-digger keen to earn a few extra bob; the hideous and rather unhappy monster—but it is this very familiarity that makes the whole thing so much fun.

It's a shame that this show wasn't picked up for a whole series; it would have been great to see where they might have gone next.

The idea of making a weekly monster show for television was very clever--and a soap opera-like version of this concept was successful in the late 1960s with "Dark Shadows". However, while the idea was great, the execution left a lot to be desired. In this pilot episode, the entire story you'd find in a full-length Frankenstein film is crammed into this tiny time slot. As a result, all the subtlety and atmosphere is diminished. It's obvious that it just wasn't working when an excellent choice for the Doctor (Anton Diffring) came off as bland. He should have been a lot better and easily could if they had done just one thing that "Dark Shadows" did--don't try to tell the entire story in 27 minutes but make the stories multi-part so they aren't rushed. The pilot could have easily lasted two or three or even more episodes. But, because it is rushed, the story is flat...and there was too much use of poorly integrated stock footage (such as the vampire women from Dracula). Too bad, as a weekly monster show was a great idea.

If you are curious and wish to see it, it's available for free download at archive.org--a site often linked to IMDb.