Such a frustrating disappointment

Good concept, poorly executed.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Yet another short TV production of the horror perennial whose major point of interest nowadays resides in its being capped by the double-shocker end credits - "Produced by Michael Carreras" and "A Hammer Film Production" - despite the fact that, being shot in black and white and directed by Curt Siodmak, it is clearly emulating the Universal template of almost thirty years previously rather than the fresh angle given by Hammer themselves!; other remnants of that consequently archaic influence are shots lifted from Tod Browning's Dracula (1931; the brides of Dracula) and the INNER SANCTUM series (the talking head). Actually, this above-average program was a co-production between Hammer and Columbia and features both future Hammer (a respectable but dour Anton Diffring in the lead) and past Universal (Ludwig Stossel as a tavern-keeper) alumni. Intended as a pilot for a proposed 26 episode TV horror anthology series to be filmed partly on the Columbia backlot and at Hammer's Bray Studios, it is no surprise that it failed and the plans for the follow-ups aborted. Frankly, the new storyline is weak: despite the fact that Baron Frankenstein has still not completed his life-giving experiments, the villagers are already scared shitless of him(!) and, worse still, an out-of-town couple (including a moribund husband) call on him for a miracle cure!! Even so, the Karloff-like monster - another Universal nod in this anomalous Hammer entry - is suitably menacing (if nothing else) as played by Don Megowan - previously of the Columbia horror programmer THE WEREWOLF (1956), which I will be watching later on during this Halloween Challenge - and, as usual, that wholly intoxicating black-and-white Gothic atmosphere wins the day in the end.

The idea of making a weekly monster show for television was very clever--and a soap opera-like version of this concept was successful in the late 1960s with "Dark Shadows". However, while the idea was great, the execution left a lot to be desired. In this pilot episode, the entire story you'd find in a full-length Frankenstein film is crammed into this tiny time slot. As a result, all the subtlety and atmosphere is diminished. It's obvious that it just wasn't working when an excellent choice for the Doctor (Anton Diffring) came off as bland. He should have been a lot better and easily could if they had done just one thing that "Dark Shadows" did--don't try to tell the entire story in 27 minutes but make the stories multi-part so they aren't rushed. The pilot could have easily lasted two or three or even more episodes. But, because it is rushed, the story is flat...and there was too much use of poorly integrated stock footage (such as the vampire women from Dracula). Too bad, as a weekly monster show was a great idea.If you are curious and wish to see it, it's available for free download at archive.org--a site often linked to IMDb.

A very ill man and his wife approach Baron Frankenstein to help keep the man alive through whatever means. He refuses, fearing that this may be a lot of trouble. It works for him because the man dies in the village and, through a bribe, Frankenstein uses this man's brain and modifies a failed experiment. As is always the case, things don't go so well. The village is always cognizant of what goes on in that house, and this is no exception. What I am most interested in is what the next episode would have produced. What has happened to the "monster," who is now an intellectual, and what will the Baron do for an encore. At one point I noticed for a brief moment, the brides from the Lugosi "Dracula" movie. The laboratory was also, apparently, at least in part a reconstruction of the Karloff films. The print I have is very bold. This must have been a bold venture for the makers of this pilot. I suppose the powers that be just didn't see any heroes in this venue. Most of the fifties was dominated by gunslingers. Maybe James Arness could have reprised his carrot man from the thing and played one of the monsters that Frankenstein produced.

This unused pilot for a television series about Frankenstein's Monster is very good,for what it is. I would have liked to have seen what else they could have thought of. Yes it is cheesy,even for a horror film,but you must remember it was meant to be that way. The plot is great actually for a series pilot.I would have liked to have seen what would have happened next,and with Curt Siodmak,one of the fathers of the Universal Horror Genre,and Creator of The Wolf Man, in the writer,and directors chair we could have had a real treat.