Hammer Films
The first, and perhaps the best of the long-running series of horror films from the house of Hammer, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee star in this landmark interpretation based on the famous Mary Shelley story. Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) becomes friends with one of his teachers, Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart). At first, both men are fascinated by the potential of their re-animating experiments. Eventually, though, Krempe refuses to help with Frankenstein’s human experiments. However, he is drawn back into the plot when Frankenstein’s creature kills a member of the house staff. For its U.S. Blu-ray debut, Warner Archive is proud to present this deluxe 2 Disc Special Edition, featuring two theatrical aspect ratio presentations, meticulously remastered and restored from preservation separations, as well as a bonus disc with the restoration presented in ‘open-matte’ format, as was seen for years on television, plus four exciting new retrospective featurettes, an expert commentary, and the original theatrical trailer.
Film Review
The Curse of Frankenstein is a classic and brought new life to the story after years of interpretations and sequels from Universal Pictures. Seen by audiences in 1957, this saturated color version of the Frankenstein story was shocking, especially the look of Christopher Lee’s ‘monster’ which literally looked stitched together from various human remains. It’s still a little hard to look at today. Seen today, the film is quite mild in its shocks but one still has to be amazed by what they were able to get away with in 1957. The film is interesting because it also centers around Frankenstein instead of the monster, with the story bookended by Frankenstein in jail awaiting his fate as he recounts his experiment and the horrors that followed. Peter Cushing, in his first starring role, gives a great performance, and although Lee has no dialogue, he is still able to impart all the emotions his creature is experiencing. The pairing of the two actors paid off so well that they appeared in another 20 or so films together. What director Terrence Fisher and his crew were able to put on screen with a modest budget is remarkable, and special mention should be made to cinematographer Jack Asher’s almost painterly compositions and use of color. It is quite spectacular and definitely worth revisiting again today.
The Blu-ray
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Restoration Comparison
Warner Archive
Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging has done a stupendous job in bringing the film back to life. Colors are lush and the film itself is spotless, probably looking better than it did even upon its initial release. It’s hard to adequately describe in words how beautiful the restoration is, but the Warner Archive has provided a side-by-side look at some moments from the film pre- and post-restoration. This would have been a great piece to include on the disk but here is the video as posted on their YouTube channel.
Warner Archive also went the extra mile by presenting the film in two versions on the first disk — the preferred 1.66:1 UK theatrical release and the 1.85:1 US release, which crops information from the top and bottom of the image, making it feel a bit cramped. That’s not an issue with the disk, it’s just the way audiences viewed the film in the US. The 1.66 version is the the one you’ll want to watch. The mono DTS-HD soundtrack lacks any dynamics, but the audio is crisp and clear keeping a nice separation and balance between dialogue, music and sound effects.
The disk also includes audio commentary from Constantine Nasr and Steve Haberman covering aspects of the film’s production and more context, as well as an examination of an earlier draft of the screenplay that details scenes that never made it into the finished film.
Warner Archive
The bonus disk includes the 1.37:1 ‘open matte’ edition of the film that was used for television showings. It is sourced from the same 4K restoration but opens the frame up more on the top and bottom. Other bonus material included:
- The Resurrection Men: Hammer, Frankenstein and the Rebirth of the Horror Film (21:51) – Interview with Richard Klemensen, who goes into detail about the era in which the film was made and the people who made it.
- Hideous Progeny: The Curse of Frankenstein and the English Gothic Tradition (22:49) – Author and historian Sir Christopher Frayling discusses the history of Gothic horror in literature and film.
- Torrents of Light: The Art of Jack Asher (15:14) – Director of Photography David J. Miller discusses the artfulness of the film’s compositions and use of lighting and shadow.
- Diabolus in Musica: James Bernard and the Sound of Hammer Horror (17:05) – Composer Christopher Drake discusses the film’s musical composition by James Bernard for this and other Hammer films.
- Theatrical Trailer (2:19) – Newly scanned in HD.
Fans of Hammer, Lee, and Cushing will want to add this film to their collection. This is the first time the film has been available in the US as a Region A Blu-ray and it it well worth owning, especially for the multiple options you have to view it. But the film has never looked or sounded better, and the extras offer a lot of value to the purchase.
Warner Archive generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
The Curse of Frankenstein has a running time of 1 hour 22 minutes and is unrated.
Hammer Films
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