Frankenstein: The True Story

Plot synopsis:
Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) is a newly trained doctor, and engaged to Elizabeth Fanshawe (Nicola Pagett). After Victor's younger brother, William accidentally drowns, Victor renounces his belief in God and declares that he would join forces with the devil if he could learn how to restore his brother to life.
Shortly afterward, Victor leaves the Fanshawe estate in order to engage in further medical training. He meets a scientist named Henry Clerval (David McCallum), who Victor later learns has discovered how to preserve dead matter and restore it to life. As Victor becomes fascinated by Clerval's experiments, Clerval reveals his ultimate plan: to create a new race of physically perfect beings by using corpses and solar energy to reanimate them. Clerval is unable to finish building the apparatus necessary to accomplish this on his own due to a worsening heart condition, but he persuades Frankenstein to help and the lab is soon completed.
Soon news reaches the pair that seven peasant laborers have been killed in a local mining accident. After their burial the doctors quickly dig up the bodies and through surgical alteration stitch together pieces from them, producing a physically perfect dead body. The night before the culmination of their work, Clerval is shocked to discover that a reanimated arm set aside weeks earlier has deteriorated, becoming unsightly and deformed. Horrified and overcome, Clerval suffers a heart attack and, unable to get to his medication in time, dies without completing the record of his discovery in the journal.
The next morning, Victor finds Clerval's body and misreads the incomplete journal entry ("The process is r--") as meaning "the process is ready to begin" rather than the intended meaning of "the process is reversing itself". Since neither of them wanted the perfect body to have the brain of a peasant, Victor transplants Clerval's brain into their creation and he is able to complete the experiment.
Victor soon introduces his creation into high-class London society, passing him off during an opera event as a friend from a far-off country with little grasp of English. Shortly thereafter, Victor discovers the still-living but now repulsive arm in Clerval's laboratory cabinet and realizes that a flaw in the system has caused the reanimation process to reverse itself. He destroys the deformed arm, but soon finds that the same reversal process is also beginning to break down the creature's tissues. Victor desperately searches for a way to correct the problem, but soon realizes that the degeneration is irreversible. The creature (Michael Sarrazin), unaware of his degenerating appearance, does not understand Victor's increasing coldness towards him. After Victor's landlady, Mrs. Blair (Agnes Moorehead), dies from shock soon after seeing the creature, Victor is retreats with him back to the laboratory. He contemplates destroying the sleeping creature with a decanter of strong acid but cannot bring himself to do it. The creature becomes distraught after discovering his deformed appearance and unsuccessfully attempts to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with one of Victor's surgical knives. He then flees the laboratory and jumps into the sea from the White Cliffs of Dover. Victor assumes the creature is dead and realizes that perhaps it is for the best.
The creature has washed up on the beach, still alive and unharmed. He wanders into the countryside, where he befriends an elderly blind peasant (Ralph Richardson). The blind man is eager to introduce his new friend to his granddaughter Agatha (Jane Seymour) and her boyfriend Felix (Dallas Adams), but the creature remains elusive. He observes the family from afar and falls in love with Agatha. When Agatha and Felix return home unexpectedly one morning, they encounter the creature and react in horror. Felix is killed by the monster and Agatha, fleeing in terror, is struck by a carriage and is also killed.
The creature takes Agatha's body back to the laboratory, intent on asking his creator to restore her to life. He arrives to find that Victor has long since left and that the laboratory is now occupied by Dr. Polidori (James Mason), the crippled former mentor of Clerval. Polidori is aware of the creature's origins and devises a plot to use him to force Frankenstein to help him create another creature. In the meantime, Victor has abandoned his experiments and is celebrating his marriage to Elizabeth. He is confronted by Polidori, who blackmails him into returning to the laboratory to assist him with his procedure.
Polidori reveals that it was he who perfected the preservation and reanimation of dead flesh, only to have his secrets stolen by Clerval. He rejects Clerval's use of solar power in favor of his own chemical reanimation process. Victor attaches Agatha's head to a new body and they bring to life a beautiful female creature whom Polidori names Prima. Victor, believing that his association with Polidori and the creature is over, leaves for his honeymoon with Elizabeth.
While Victor and Elizabeth are away, Polidori returns and persuades Elizabeth's family to take Prima in as a houseguest; when the couple return, Victor is forced to accept the situation. It becomes evident that Prima is evil, and Elizabeth begs Victor to send her away. At the laboratory, Victor confronts Polidori, who agrees to leave with Prima as soon as she has become an established member of society. Before they leave the laboratory, Polidori attempts to destroy the creature by having two of his chinese assistants push him into a vat of acid as he sleeps, but Victor stops them by waking the creature. The enraged creature throws one of the assistants into the acid bath as all of the others make their escape. Polidori locks the creature in the laboratory and sets the building on fire, resulting in a series of huge explosions as the flammable chemicals in the lab ignite.
A few days later, a lavish ball is held at the Fanshawe mansion to present Prima to the social elite of the area. Prima delights the guests, and a beaming Polidori reveals his ultimate plan to use her as a courtesan to gain international political influence. Suddenly, the badly burned creature bursts into the ballroom and after wreaking havoc among the attendees confronts Prima, who in a hissing fury attacks him. He rips off her neckband, revealing the scar where her head was attached to her body. In the chaos that follows, the creature rips her head off and throws it at Polidori's feet as the surviving guests flee in terror. Weeping and on his knees in the middle of the ballroom, Victor asks the creature why he has done this. The creature gently responds before making his exit into the night.
The next morning, Victor and Elizabeth are questioned by the local constable regarding the events of the previous evening. They learn that Dr. Polidori has suffered a nervous breakdown and admitted to reanimating Prima from a corpse. Victor attempts to assume guilt and also admits to fashioning the creature from pieces of dead bodies, but Elizabeth manages to convince the constable that her husband is deluded and the police soon leave. Elizabeth persuades Victor to leave England with her and travel to America in order to begin a new life.
After setting sail, Victor and Elizabeth are dismayed to discover that Polidori is also on board the ship. Polidori then tries to convince Victor to resume the experiments once the ship reaches its intended destination, the United States. Unbeknownst to all, the creature has stowed away and soon emerges from a lifeboat, looking for Victor. Elizabeth sees the creature hiding in Polidori's cabin and locks the two of them together in the room. Because of Polidori's previous use of hypnosis, Clerval's mind has resurfaced in the creature, and he is determined to have his revenge on Polidori. Victor unlocks the door and as the ship's captain and crew become involved, the conflict moves to the upper deck. The creature yards Polidori to the top of a mast of the ship, Polidori is struck by lightning and killed. Victor, in attempting to climb the mast in order to reason with the creature is knocked unconscious and falls to the deck. The crew members flee in a lifeboat and the creature takes Victor below deck to care for him.
The creature lashes the wheel of the ship on a heading straight for the North Pole. In Victor's cabin, Elizabeth cruelly repudiates the creature, who (his mind now that of Clerval) subsequently strangles her. As Victor remains unconscious below deck, the creature mans the ship's helm, maintaining its course to the north. When Victor awakens, he finds the frozen body of Elizabeth on deck and the ship locked in ice. He follows the creature to an ice cave, where he confesses that the entire tragedy was caused by his rejection of the helpless, deteriorating creature. He also knows that, upon his death, the creature will be utterly alone, cursed with an "iron body" that will keep him alive against his will. As Victor begs the creature's forgiveness, the sound of his shouts sets off an ice avalanche. As tons of ice begin to fall upon them both, the creature (in Clerval's voice) forgives his creator, who laughs joyfully as he realizes that their ordeal is at an end.

Tags: violence, romantic, cruelty, murder, gothic

Review:
The all-star British/American cast and the production design gave it the old-time feel of early films from both the Universal and Hammer Studios genres, yet the sharp writing by Don Bachardy and Christopher Isherwood lent an almost Merchant-Ivory sense of credibility that most films of this kind can't even hope to pull off.Even more surprising that the director, Jack Smight, was better known for his work on television series and disaster films than on something as well-crafted as this.And the performances...In a cast of well-seasoned veterans, it's almost impossible to cite stand-out favorites, but if I had to, Michael Sarrazin's Creature is one of the most outstanding to be introduced out of the many versions, and definitely the most multi-layered and sympathetic, (which would not be equalled until twenty-years on, by Clancy Brown in the less-superior THE BRIDE.) Worth equal praise is the rivalry between David McCallum, Leonard Whiting and the always-dependable James Mason as the brilliantly twisted Dr. Polidori (affectionately known now and forever as "Polly-dolly.")And what review would be complete without mentioning Jane Seymour as Prima.
I won't spoil the shock and surprise involved with her character and Sarrazin's, but needless to say that was ONE scene that made quite an impression on my young mind, (and for those who remember, you know EXACTLY which part I'm referring to!) It was quite an introduction to a lovely young ingenue, who would become even more memorable to American audiences less than a year later with her big screen debut, as Bond girl Solitaire in Roger Moore's initial 007 outing, LIVE AND LET DIE.It may not exist in its original form, as previous reviewers have pointed out, but one can only hope for a newly restored and uncut DVD version of this classic TV gem.
A two part television movie which claimed to tell, for the first time anywhere, the genuinely faithful tale of the man who made a creature, exactly as its writer, teenaged Mary Shelley, first concocted it.
Well, it may be helpful going in to be forewarned that this isn't really the "true story," but it comes close and what matters most is that it's a good film, albeit one that's three hours long.In this version, young Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) is a medical student thirsting for knowledge, which he gets from the wildly eccentric Dr. Henry Clerval (David McCallum).
In a short period of time, the once-handsome creature begins to show signs of his skin rotting and upon witnessing this, Frankenstein suddenly loses all interest in his creation and abandons him.
He meets up with a nasty and cunning former associate of Clerval, the elder Dr. Polidori (James Mason), who blackmails Frankenstein into constructing a female named Prima (played by Jane Seymour).This is a lush and well-crafted Victorian period piece, and the story of unrequited love between the creature and his creator is at the core of it.
In addition to Michael Sarrazin's sympathetic work as the creature, David McCallum's obsessive Clerval and James Mason's unscrupulous Polidori (presumably the Ernest Thesiger character in this one) are the best performances.
Hopefully, the full version will one day make it onto DVD (the way it took quite a while for the original SALEMS LOT two-part TV movie to get released on tape and dvd, when it also was only available as a 2-hour abridgement).
An interesting twist is the subplot of Prima, the second creature, created by Dr. Polidori (Victor's nemesis) with the assistance of Victor...I first saw this movie on television when I was about  9 or 10, I seem to remember it being shown in two parts, the second part beginning with Polidori's attempt to bring Prima into elite society, followed with the downfall of Victor, the monster and Polidori.
Psycho-Sexual, Homo-Erotic, And Unexpectedly Subversive For It's Era. Every film version of FRANKENSTEIN has taken tremendous liberties with Mary Shelly's celebrated 1818 novel, and although it retains the core idea of the book this one is no exception.
Instead of the inevitable "mad doctor" typical of films, Victor Frankestein is a remarkably handsome young man in the form of actor Leonard Whiting, a performer best known as Romeo in the famous 1968 ROMEO AND JULIET.
He is seduced into the experiment by the equally handsome but distinctly odd Henry Clerval (David McCallum)--and not only do the two actors play the relationship in a disquietingly touchy-feely way, Clerval takes exception to Victor's fiancée Elizabeth (Nicola Pagett) and she returns the favor, demanding that Victor choose between them.Lest any one miss the implications, the creature is played by none other than Michael Sarrazin, and while many men may be described as handsome, Sarrazin is among the few who can be justly described as beautiful.
Dr. Frankenstein takes him to his own apartment, where he educates this child-like innocent and very generously allows the creature to sleep in his own bed.But, as in all FRANKENSTEIN movies, the experiment goes awry, and when it does the same disconcerting homo-erotic overtones take yet another turn.
At the same time, Frankenstein is approached by the mysterious Dr. Polidori (the legendary James Mason), an oily scientist with a flair for hypnosis who claims to know what went wrong.Polidori insists that they abandon the creature and create a new one: a woman, and when this new creation emerges from an entirely different process she too is remarkably beautiful; indeed, she is none other than Jane Seymour.
But whereas the original creature was a gentle creature who only learned violence from Frankenstein's hateful rejection, this new entity is strangely icy, almost snake-like from the very beginning--and the male creature, now both vicious and wildly jealous, will exact a horrific toll upon all concerned.It is worth pointing out that the script for this version of FRANKENSTEIN was co-authored by Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986), one of the few openly gay writers of his era.
But the real knock-out performances here are by Sarrazin and Seymour, who truly blow the lid off our ideas of what a FRANKENSTEIN movie should be--and when they square off the result is unsettling in a truly unexpected way.
In terms of the DVD itself, the film quality is considerably better than the rare late-night showings I've occasionally seen on television, but I would not describe it as pristine, and I found I frequently had to bump up the volume on the soundtrack.If you are looking for something with which to scare yourself silly, you might want to give this version FRANKENSTEIN a miss; although it has a few visceral moments, the jolts involved are largely psycho-sexual.
I must add my own two-cents worth to those others who regard Frankenstein: The True Story as the most satisfying film version of of Mary Shelly's 1818 classic.
A brilliant young man, who had already published several medical books, he tragically took his own life at age 21 -- according to some, because of his unrequited love for Mary Shelly!True Story owes little to previous movie versions, neither the mossy old 1930's and 'forties Universal Frankenstein series or Hammer's 1950's/'60's revivals, but is a completely fresh approach.
Here it is used brilliantly by director of photography Arthur Ibbetson and director Jack Smight.Frankenstein: The True Story is expertly acted by Mason, Leonard Whiting (Victor), Nicole Padget (Elizabeth), Michael Sarrizan (Creature), Jane Seymour (female creature) and the rest of a fine cast.
-- Those who are interested in learning more about that early 19th century femme fa-tale and the origin of her famous monster story would do well to read Miranda Seymour's superbly researched, highly readable biography of Mary Shelly (Grove Press, NY, 2000)..
Christopher Isherwood is a highly respected writer, but someone should have stopped him from this flaccid reverie only partially based on Mary Shelley's story.During the course of the 3-hour version of this TV movie, you can catch the author making heavy-handed references to "Pygmalion," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "The Hands of Orlac," "Tales of Hoffmann," and "Fu Manchu" among others.
Agnes Moorehead is over the top, Michael Wilding produces his dazed smile and little more, Margaret Leighton is actively embarrassing, Sir John Gielgud perfunctory and Sir Ralph Richardson's blind hermit is perhaps the worst performance of his film career.I suppose it's not possible to stage the love triangle of Victor Frankenstein, the girl he wants to marry and the male monster he creates without raising an eyebrow from time to time, but this retelling of the tale strongly evokes the sexual ambiguities of Isherwood's "Cabaret." The monster is played not by a hulk but by a hunk, a soulful young stud who loves Mozart opera.
The famous Karloff/Whale version remains the first among equals, and the Oscarsson/Floyd "Terror of Frankenstein" conveys the book the best among the color versions.Unfortunately, Mel Brooks actually gets closer to Mary Shelley's vision than this film does.
James Mason and Leonard Whiting did superb jobs in portraying their parts and this story of Frankenstein.
Left to his own designs the creature truly becomes a monster over time from rejection by human beings and his creator.This film is not about the power of the soul at all.
The reverse of its Frankenstein monster, who begins beautiful, but becomes ugly after "the process reverses itself," this two-part television movie, "Frankenstein: The True Story," begins rather clumsily and suffers from the TV standards of its age, but grows more interesting and becomes better by the end.
Although it doesn't fully lock in particularly well on any one theme or reworking of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a few intriguing concepts, re-imaginings and borrowings from other horror films bounce around throughout, that the creature that is the movie ultimately has some life to it.It begins like a bad recap to a prior TV episode, as well as announcing its first of many departures from the book, with Victor Frankenstein narrating the apparently-past scene of the death of his younger brother, William.
The other doctor is John Polidori, the name of the author of "The Vampyre" and one of the guests at Lord Byron's villa near Lake Geneva where Mary conceived the Frankenstein story, but in this movie, he's a deformed practitioner of hypnosis and a cross between Dr. Pretorius, of "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), and Dr. Fu Manchu.Meanwhile, Frankenstein's creature is an Adonis, at first, but transforms into a dark and slightly-Neanderthal-looking version of Mr. Hyde, but he remains clearly human in appearance, which makes the adverse reactions of the blind man's fellow cabin dwellers to his hideousness rather unbelievable.
The monster's "bride," however, is a more perfect specimen (even more so than in the 1935 film) and, in keeping with the story's overall misogyny, an insensitive and catty schemer, who draws the ire of Victor's wife, Elizabeth.As aforementioned, Elizabeth is a distasteful character this outing, Bible thumping and becoming hysterical at the sight of anything reanimated, including a ridiculous scene involving a butterfly brought back to life.
standard for the creature in dozens of films thereafter.In Frankenstein: The True Story we get a different slant on the creation.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein is taken on as a protege by Dr. David McCallum who is experimenting with the origin of life and reviving the dead.
Let's start with the title: FRANKENSTEIN THE TRUE STORY would imply that it is the most faithfull version of Mary Shellys book.
"Frankenstein - The True Story" starts with the redoubtable James Mason introducing himself and explaining that what we are about to see is all from the imagination of 19 year old Mary Shelley.
This film is a hybrid of the novel, the 1930's movies and the 1950's Hammer version, all mixed up by Christopher Isherwood of "Cabaret" and "A Single Man".
And while the film is not particularly gory or scary, there are some genuinely unsettling moments - like the insinuation that the monster's soul is an amalgam of all the dead that went into making him.There's a terrific cast including James Mason as the malevolent Dr. Polidori (and no-one seems quite so delighted with themselves when being evil as good old JM).
In lieu of this, the novel I think begs to be adapted to the cinema because its premise is so strong  and the drama alone between Victor Frankenstein and his tragic creation effects a lot of dynamism.
If you want a version of Frankenstein that actually follows Mary Shelley's novel check out the version produced by Hallmark and released to DVD by Lion's Gate starring Luke Goss as the creature.
By all accounts, this movie is a faithful reproduction of Mary Shelley's novel, but like with faithful adaptations of Shakespeare's plays for example, it just made me want to sleep.
I had remembered seeing a Frankenstein movie with James Mason in it.
I loved the entire movie and my favorite scene is near the very end when the creature (Michael Sarrazin) says: "Bravo Victor".
However, having watched it myself, I found no complaints with the former and, being a first viewing, I had no opinion about the latter - to be honest, Frank's description of The Creature ripping out Prima's head from her body had fired up my imagination all these many years, and found the scene as is in the film something of a let-down, but I couldn't verily say if it was trimmed or not; likewise, I felt that the opening sequence (the drowning of Frankenstein's younger brother) was too abrupt, i.e. without having taken the time to create a genuine rapport between the two (which would have made Victor's subsequent obsession with bringing the dead back to life that much more purposeful!)...but, again, I don't know if it has always been this way or if it originally ran longer!!
Obviously, I've watched countless adaptations of the Mary Shelley classic along the years - and it's always interesting to see the way in which the original text is 're-invented' by the various writers and film-makers; this epic, star-studded production is certainly among the most intelligent, literate renditions (co-scripted by Christopher Isherwood) although, to be honest, I found it most compelling during the first hour or so; maybe that's because I was used to seeing a hulking, misunderstood creature rather than the dapper and relatively inconspicuous one depicted here!
Michael Sarrazin, as I said before, makes for a rather unalarming creature - though his subsequent physical and mental deterioration provides some undeniably effective moments (such as in the afore-mentioned scene with Prima, the unsuccessful attempt by Polidori and Frankenstein to destroy him, and the doomed sea voyage at the finale); that said, it appears that the conception itself of The Creature has problems: at first, MacCallum's Henry Clerval complains that he has been saddled with a peasant's brain for his creation and, yet when Frankenstein eventually substitutes it with that of Clerval himself, Sarrazin still emerges an illiterate - until the very end when he unaccountably starts reasoning the way Clerval would have and is even able to guide the ship to the Arctic (it somehow doesn't feel right that Prima receives schooling whereas The Creature does not, or rather learns precious little from his various misadventures, such as the encounter with the blind hermit or his sojourn with Polidori - when both these incidents, as depicted in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN [1935], had proved crucial to The Creature's formation of character)!
One of the most satisfying aspects to the film is the unusually strong participation of the female leads, both of whom add effortless grace to the proceedings but also deliver fine performances: Nicola Pagett is certainly the most significant Elizabeth I have seen, while Jane Seymour appears in a 'dual' role as the blind hermit's grand-daughter and the mischievous, sexy Prima (The Creature's female counterpart whom Dr. Polidori proposes to integrate into affluent London society, for his own sinister ends, with disastrous consequences).
In the prologue, the script has James Mason, the actor, come out and show us Mary Shelley's grave and explain the origin of the story.
If Frankenstein's monster was flawed in that it aged too quickly, Polidori's creature (whom Polidori names "Prima") turns out to be thoroughly cuckoo.
Elizabeth, now Frankenstein's bride, begins to get jealous -- and so does the original CREATURE, who wrenches off Seymour's head.
My advice is skip this and go right to the film.As for the title, it implies that this is closer to Mary Shelley's original story and in most ways it is closer than other versions---in particular, the famous 1931 version.
Frankenstein's acting like a jerk is excellent--and more in keeping with the novel--something often forgotten in other versions of the story.
This portion of the film is as far removed from the original story as you can get and the film only gets back to the original story after the whole "Dr. Polidori" segment is complete.It turns out that Mason was an evil mad scientist (unlike Frankenstein who was just a misguided and irresponsible mad scientist), as he decided to use Sarrazin for his own end--to force Frankenstein to help him make another, and hopefully better, creation using the body of Seymour (among others).
Now, following an attempt by Polidori and Frankenstein to murder the creature, it's no wonder that Sarrazin's character goes insane and starts to do bad things!!
Unfortunately, it also was NOT the "true story" it purported itself to be, as at times it bore little semblance to Shelley's novel.Interestingly, 1973 was a banner year for made for TV Frankenstein films (in addition to the freaky Andy Warhol version).
I hope to find the full version of this film so that I can watch it again for the first time in 30 years.
When Clerval (David McCallum) and Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) construct their body from the best of the remains of seven dead men, they agree that they need the 'perfect' brain to place in their creation.
I have to agree with others, this idea is just the opposite of what the story is about: The Creature/Monster is LIVING so it all of his tissues, which means he his flesh will not rot away.The movie is an okay, drawn out version that is barely satisfactory in the end.