God, how many Octobers has "The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957) been brought up, with some new (or reiterated old) anecdote popped into my head while watching it? This is a film that has remained one of my favorites to talk about. I don't necessarily think it is even perhaps the best of the Cushing Hammer Frankenstein films, but I still find it so interesting as a character piece and consider the developments in the film. One of the resounding questions always seems to be: why doesn't Paul just tell Elizabeth about the experiments? Or, for that matter, the local authorities? The Baron is a graverobber, performs surgeries on dead bodies, even committing murder. And Paul can see that The Baron is so obsessed he's willing to do whatever it takes to get what he needs in order to be a successful scientist. The talk of creating man from parts he finds should be more than enough to get the authorities to look in on what the Baron is doing. And if Paul tells Elizabeth of what her fiance does, and she can see for herself, that would resolve any concerns he might have about her safety since she would recognize what The Baron is capable of. And yet Paul doesn't do those things and because of his silence, The Baron continues down his dark path, with death and destruction left in his (and the Monster he creates) wake. Fortunately for Paul, Elizabeth's life is threatened, and there is some injury, but she isn't killed...however, if he had just told somebody ahead of time then perhaps The Baron's infamous actions would have been undermined. But this is about Frankenstein's obsession, his willingness to stoop to unconscionable levels to see his quest successful, to build a man and give "it" life. Paul is the roadblock, and there is even a moment where Frankenstein threatens to harm Elizabeth if he interferes. I had a thought about Paul's decision to just not tell Elizabeth about what her fiance does: his believing she isn't mentally or emotionally capable of enduring the shock of the details would probably drive feminists up the freakin' wall. So what does Paul do? He works around all the gruesome details about what goes on in the lab by calling it all "Victor's work". And eventually that danger kept in the lab breaks out and Paul's secrecy leads to others being victimized, including Elizabeth. So Paul's not at all absent of blame for what happens in the film.
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| HBOMax |
Although I recently purchased the Blu-Ray of "The Curse of Frankenstein" special edition, I am wanting to save that for a more thorough examination (other than what I've already said so many times). The film was on HBO Max, so I went that route for the month.
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