Frankenstein 1970 04/13/19

We make it a point to give reviewer Charlie Largent the tough jobs, and in Allied Artists’ 1958 Boris Karloff opus he has his work cut out for him. This is the Karloff film that begins with a highly atmospheric scene of gothic terror, only to revert to 80 minutes intrigues in a movie company that decides to film in Dr. Frankenstein’s creepy castle, the kind with a Mad Lab in the cellar. Charlie exposes the spiritual epiphany that helped director Howard W. Koch fashion this monument of cinematic art, that sums up everything important in human existence. The part where he explains that the bandages over the monster’s waste-basket head are … but I shouldn’t spoil the illuminating connections Charlie makes to the works of Marcel Proust and Irving Klaw. The disc features a beautiful CinemaScope transfer. Also with Tom Weaver’s entertaining commentary — his guests are Bob Burns and star Charlotte Austin. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
04/13/19