A Different Kind of Baron - Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Unlike “The Revenge of Frankenstein” (1958) and “The Curse
of Frankenstein” (1957), where I plan to not write about on the blog again, I
can’t say that for “The Evil of Frankenstein” (1964) which I haven’t written
much about. For those who hold great contempt for it—and there are many—there is
probably good reason not to give “The Evil of Frankenstein” much space on any
forum to waste on the film. I don’t dislike this actually, but I completely
remove “The Evil of Frankenstein” from the great Terence Fisher Frankenstein
Hammer series, sort of looking at it as standalone. This Cushing Baron is just
too different from the other incarnations of the role, just not loathsome
enough as he was in “Curse” or as emotionally stable as he was in “Revenge”. In
“Evil”, Baron goes off in a café when he spots the Burgomaster wearing his
ring, shouting aloud for him and the blue-suited officers in their custom
village wardrobe to hear. The Baron of the last two films, whether or not the
Burgomaster (responsible for the supposed death of the Monster he created or
his own arrest and retreat from his castle) took his clothes and items,
essentially just robbing his chateau, leaving very little of importance behind,
would never jeopardize his chance to get back to work. The work is his passion.
A ring or clothes are material but the science is far more vital. When Baron
questions his pupil/assistant, Hans (Sandor Elès, who was dubbed), about why he
would remain with him despite every reason not to, many fans who know
Frankenstein’s personality of the last two films would never believe he’d feel
guilt for a tagalong wanting to remain with him…he knows why Hans is there. And all the times the Baron complains of
how “they never leave me alone, they just never leave me along”, it is
performed with ache and sadness…the Baron we have always known would just
refuse to stop no matter how much opposition he had, not complain about
setbacks or agonize over the disruptions in his work by those who consider him
blasphemous or immoral. And in regards to the problem with the Monster’s (Kiwi
Kingston) brain, the Baron wouldn’t put any trust in some carnival hypnotist (the
self-absorbed, vile nuisance, Zoltan, played with great relish by Peter
Woodthorpe)…he would just find some dope to either get him a brain or kill
someone for it. He certainly by film’s end would not make sure that Hans and
the deaf mute poor girl (Katy Wild; Amicus fans will know her from “Dr. Terror’s
House of Horrors” (1965)) were saved while trying to rescue the Monster he was responsible
for creating…he would abandon ship as the fire goes up if he could and live to
build his lab elsewhere if he could. So this film certainly is the black sheep
of the Hammer Frankenstein films. It was the only one directed by someone else
other than Fisher—Francis, sort of slid into the directorial position out of
necessity—and it has that Universal Studios flavor which is probably why I find
this lone wolf so fascinating. Hammer never had the option to follow the old
Universal model with any likeness before but because the two were in a
partnership, the chance to emulate details and sets (and the Monster Karloff’s
Jack Pierce design and similar suit and boots) was available and allowed. So
you have this entire sequence involving Frankenstein, by himself, creating the
Monster, told to Hans when they arrive at the stripped chateau. It is something
right out of the first or second Universal Frankenstein films. The Frankenstein
lab, the machinery, and the design, complete with the process that gives birth
to the Monster are inspired by the Whale classics. I was giddy for that; it was
indeed Hammer without the previous limitations and restrictions. You get
certain creative decisions emulated from “House of Frankenstein” (1944) like when
Dr. Niemann and his hunchback assistant, Daniel, locate Frankenstein’s Monster
(and the Wolfman) encased in ice under the ruins of Frankenstein’s castle…in “Evil”,
Frankenstein and Hans locate the Monster encased in ice high up inside a
mountain, as it was shot by the Burgomaster and officers in the flashback told
by the Baron to his assistant. Shades of Dr. Niemann’s revenge against those
who were responsible for his imprisonment in “House of Frankenstein” can be
seen in “Evil” as Zoltan sends the Monster to “teach the Burgomaster a lesson”
(the results being a vicious head slam to a wall repeatedly resulting in
murder). There are flashes of the last two films in “Evil” such as the Baron
contending with a Monster struggling to adapt to its environs, unable to get a
taste for food until it left the chateau and attacked sheep in the area, hunted
by those who “don’t understand it” which results in fired weapons at the
creature, and the Baron dedicated to the Monster’s development despite signs
(the “repaired brain”, when the head was shot, giving the creature agonizing
pain, doesn’t appear as if it will ever function properly) that disaster could
be imminent. I know that my peers didn’t like “Evil” all that much, talking
about the continuity and how Baron is just totally different than from the
previous films, but I just don’t include it as part of the series. I guess I
look at it as the Universal Studios Frankenstein film Hammer perhaps always
wanted to make but never got the chance to until 1964. Cushing, even if his
Baron is totally a different character than in the last two films, is still as
watchable and charismatic as ever. He dominates the screen with his star power
even if nobody else can really match him, unless you enjoy Woodthorpe’s
villainy. In fact, the film really presents the local authorities and Zoltan as
the heels and the Baron as the victimized scientist just wanting to complete
his work. When Hans asks him what he wanted to achieve, and the Baron gives him
the history lesson, “Curse” is not the flashback in any way nor is the reason
he explains for his dedication to creating life from a body he created. As was
the case with plenty of both Universal and Hammer films, the chateau goes up
and it appears Frankenstein burns inside it as well. So many critics of this
film rarely talk about it unless it is to complain about how ill-advised it
was. The Monster gobbling booze and wrecking Frankenstein’s lab at the end was
rather an odd choice for how the chateau goes up, but because the Baron failed
to correct the faulty brain (his brain surgeries were always his greatest
strength yet he never chose to fix the Monster’s problem) the outburst seemed destined. Oh, and at the end
of “Revenge”, Frankenstein was in London, in a different body, practicing very
successfully under another alias, and in “Evil” he’s downgraded to a stuffy and
tightly-confined lodging in Rural Europe, where all his machinery turns and
fires off sparks within very limited space, intruded upon by a member of the
clergy and locals wanting the scientist to stop conducting his sacrilegious scientific
experiments.
**Not sure the point of a deaf mute but she's sort of a callback I guess to the little girl with the Monster in older Universal Monster series
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