Curse of Frankenstein, The

"I've harmed nobody, just robbed a few graves!"

- Baron Frankenstein

The Curse of Frankenstein is a British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster. Released in 1957, the film is loosely based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions and is the first film to spawn a franchise designed to revitalize the popularity of the classic monsters as depicted in the films of the 1930s and 1940s by Universal Pictures. The movie stars Peter Cushing in the role of Doctor Frankenstein and brings the viewer along the journey of Victor's youth as an intelligent boarding school student up until middle-age, where he grows into a scientific genius, obsessed with the notion of creating life from nothingness. The film also stars Robert Urquhart as Frankenstein's non-deformed assistant Paul Krempe and Hazel Court as his betrothed Elizabeth. Christopher Lee dons the scars and makeup of the Frankenstein Monster and the film signals the beginning of many such productions in which Lee and Cushing play opposite one another, including other Hammer Horror franchises such as the Dracula and Mummy film projects. A sequel to The Curse of Frankenstein was produced in 1958 entitled Revenge of Frankenstein.

Notes & Trivia

 * Frankenstein was created by English author Mary Shelley, and first appeared in the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.


 * Curse of Frankenstein, The Curse of Frankenstein, Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Curse of Frankenstein, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Frankenstein (1957) and Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957) all redirect to this page.


 * The tagline for this film is "The creature created by man and forgotten by nature!"


 * This film is included in the Hammer Horror Classics Collection DVD set.


 * Production on The Curse of Frankenstein began on November 19th, 1956 and concluded on December 24th, 1956. It was filmed primarily at Bray Studios in Berkshire, England. Other shooting locations include Black Park, Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire and Oakley Court on Windsor Road in Oakley Green, Windsor.


 * The Curse of Frankenstein was re-released to theaters in the UK in 1961 and in the US in 1963.


 * Grossing more than $7,000,000 (US), The Curse of Frankenstein held the largest box-office profit for a British studio for many years.


 * The Curse of Frankenstein is the first horror film work for director Terence Fisher. Following this film, Fisher reinvigorates the world's most infamous vampire in 1958's The Horror of Dracula.


 * This is writer Jimmy Sangster's second horror project for Hammer. He also wrote the script for the 1956 sci-fi thriller X the Unknown. He teams up with Terence Fisher for The Horror of Dracula in 1958.


 * Playing the monster is the first horror film work for actor Christopher Lee. It is the first of fifteen films that Lee will do for Hammer Film Productions, but his only work in a Frankenstein film.


 * Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee both appeared in previous film roles together, but never a horror feature. They both appeared in Hamlet in 1948 and in Moulin Rouge in 1952. They both appear next in The Horror of Dracula. Lee plays the title role of Count Dracula, while Cushing plays the part of vampire hunter Van Helsing.


 * First Frankenstein movie to be filmed in color.


 * Actress Valerie Gaunt also played a vampire woman in ''Horror of Dracula in 1958. These two films are her only known film works.


 * Previous actors who have portrayed the Frankenstein Monster include Boris Karloff, who played the creature in Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. Actor Lon Chaney, Jr. played the monster in Ghost of Frankenstein. He would go on to play a different version of the creature in the "Frankenstein" episode of the sci-fi anthology series Tales of Tomorrow. Bela Lugosi played him in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and Glenn Strange played the creature in House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.