Frankenstein in Gaol

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973)
Directed by Terence Fisher
Screenplay by Roy Skeggs

If Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed represented an Endarkenment version of the title character, then Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell is a return to a mostly Enlightenment gone wrong interpretation.   Whereas in the earlier film Victor Frankenstein really was a monster, in the latter film he is once again merely a brilliant man who likes to experiment in abominations.  In fact, in this film Victor  is more moral than the character portrayed by Peter Cushing back in 1957.

Let's start with the fan aspects.  This is Peter Cushing's last appearance as Victor Frankenstein in a Hammer film.   It is also the first film pairing for Grand Moff Tarkin (Cushing) and Darth Vader (David Prowse).  This is Terence Fisher's final film.  If you're a fan of Bond films you'll notice that Tarmut the sculptor is M (Bernard Lee).   And for the Whovians, the bodysnatcher is Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor.   And since Peter Cushing played the Doctor in two films from the '60s that means that technically there are two doctors in this film.   And then there's Madeline Smith who was a Bond girl in Live and Let Die. In a remarkably refreshing decision the filmmakers don't give in to the worst excesses of the 70s and keep their female lead clothed and Ms. Smith manages to be quite expressive for the major portion of the film where her character is mute.

As with other Hammer films from this period there is an attempt to pair their older stars with younger counterparts in a sometimes muddled attempt to pass the torch.   And while there are some attempts at a continuity of Victor Frankenstein in the Hammer series it is a very loose continuity and in many ways it is best to pretend that the character who perished in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed actually did die and that this character is another version entirely, especially since this Frankenstein incarnation is mostly benign.  I mean, apart from the murders of course.  But I'll come back to that in a moment.

The film commences with the young Simon Helder exercising his fan appreciation of Dr. Frankenstein by reading his book and attempting to continue the experimental progress of the Baron.  Unfortunately the law is not particularly kind to Dr. Helder's science and he is arrested and put on trial.  The policeman and the judge are model representatives of an unimaginative society.  Simon seems almost delighted to be sentenced to the same mental institution that Baron Frankenstein was sent to, because of course Simon really wants to be just like his role model.  As for the crimes involved, it's interesting to note that while in Curse of Frankenstein the Baron's only known crime was murder, here he (and Simon) are being specifically condemned for their abominable scientific experiments.  (Or at least for the illegal trafficking in body parts and grave robbing that are required for their research.)

Once Simon arrives at the institution he is initially mistaken for a visitor by the befuddled director Klauss who is furious at being deceived.  Klauss and his henchmen are not only incompetent but they are also quite corrupt.  If the law enforcement and judicial system on the outside are unimaginative and somewhat repressive they are not overtly corrupt or evil.  In the asylum, though, the system is brutal and corrupt.  It is no surprise that it turns out that Baron Frankenstein faked his death and has taken up the position of asylum doctor continuing his experiments with equipment provided by Klauss through threat of blackmail.  Klauss is so obviously incompetent that it's hard to believe he is afraid of being held to account for his job competence.  Instead, it turns out that Frankenstein rescued Klauss's daughter Sarah from an attempted rape (the shock of which left her mute) and has achieved his state within a state through the threat of blackmail.  This leaves Victor Frankenstein in a strange state of moral ambiguity.  On the one hand he is certainly a more benign and competent presence than Klauss.  (e.g. The brutal hazing Klauss's henchmen give to Simon, scarring his back with a forced shower with the high pressure water hose.)  But Victor's motivations aren't in any way altruistic (he wants the freedom to work on his experiments) unless you believe entirely in the notion that Frankenstein's experiments represent scientific progress in which case you might at least buy some portion of the argument that it is important to support his experiments.  Of course, Frankenstein's actual experiments undercut the notion that he is really achieving progress for humanity and the expansion of scientific knowledge.

But the bigger problem with Frankenstein's ethics is the fact that he does murder inmates in order to collect their most prized body parts.  Tarmut the sculptor, for instance, is killed for his hands.  In the case of Durendel, meanwhile, Victor drives the poor man to suicide in order to collect his brain.  Whatever kind of relative goodness we want to believe separates Frankenstein from Klauss, these acts of murder (there is no other word for it) undercut the sympathy we might have for Victor.  Sure, he's not a rapist in this film and he doesn't murder anyone for mere convenience as he did with Justine in Curse of Frankenstein, but nonetheless he is actually killing people in this film and in the case of Tarmut and Durendel they are seemingly very nice people.

As for Frankenstein's creature in this film it really is a creature.  It is not so much a monster from hell as a monster from a very large bath drain.  Herr Schneider is described as feral.  I think that's a real understatement.  Herr Schneider is as apelike as Mighty Joe Young.  (But the beast can be soothed with music--or rendered unconscious with a serious dose of chloroform.)
It's difficult to imagine what Frankenstein was thinking when he decided to use a hirsute beast as the base model for his cobbled together life form.  Even Frankenstein seems to acknowledge this when the beast is torn to pieces by a mob of inmates.  (The culmination of the film, mind you.)  The Baron shrugs it off says that it's "best thing that could have happened" and starts planning for a new experiment.  Simon and Sarah have the most priceless expressions as they realize that Frankenstein is simply shaking it off and moving on as if the entire "crisis" of the film was merely a bad inning and that there's still plenty of baseball to be played.   There is some ambiguity as to their enthusiasm for continuing to serve as Frankenstein's sidekicks as they seem to betray a sense of disbelief in Frankenstein's near delusional final monologue.  But on the other hand, with Klauss dead and Frankenstein now unrestricted in his control of the asylum that might be better than leaving things to the mob rule of the inmates or to whatever cruel and unusual new director the governing authorities might think to send in to replace Klauss.  There is every reason to believe that the outside world will not even notice Klauss's absence and will be content to not know anything about what goes on in the asylum.  (And once people go in they never come out.)

Klauss's death is the one act of justice in the film, but it is, like the tearing apart of the creature, an act of mob disorder.  Like other cases of "poetic justice" or "street justice" we have to have a certain civilized revulsion at it even when it is somehow satisfying because we "know" the "truth" about the character.  Certainly the mob of inmates at the asylum know plenty about Klauss's abuses.  They might have every moral right to take out vengeance for the wrongs done unto them.  It may be ethically compromised but at least the audience and characters are all aware that Klauss has it coming.  The creature is certainly violent, but does it really deserve to be torn into pieces?  Frankenstein is right in the sense that it is certainly a convenient way of ending the experiment and the creature will no longer threaten anyone.  But the creature, while achieving cleverness, does not really seem to have awareness of right and wrong, just feral rage.  Frankenstein, on the other hand, actually murders at least one person (and has probably done away with many more) driven some others to death and is even at the end of the film planning more murders.  He is delusional enough to think of the murders as involuntary organ and tissue donations.  To his credit, though, Frankenstein does his best to conceal the actual murders from Simon and Sarah (thus insulating them from complete complicity).  And his affection for Sarah and Simon seems to be genuine and paternal.

Simon and Sarah are complicit in the criminal aspect of Frankenstein activities now that they are fully aware of what he's up to.   We have no idea about their level of cooperation with the Baron in the future, but they really don't have any escape.  Of course, the trio will probably rule the asylum in a more benevolent fashion than Klauss, but Frankenstein is still planning to kill more people.  That's what leaves us with a sense of unease as the film closes.  As a valedictory film in the Hammer Frankenstein franchise Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell is a fine example of non-closure.  There is no burning castle, no execution, no disastrous plunge from a great height.  There's just the eternal tinkerer going back to the drawing board to keep working on his "science."

Cast
Baron Victor Frankenstein -- Peter Cushing
Dr. Simon Helder -- Shane Briant
Adolff Klauss -- John Stratton
Sarah Klauss -- Madeline Smith
Herr Schneider, The Creature -- David Prowse
Durendel -- Charles Lloyd Pack
Tarmut -- Bernard Lee
Transient -- Michael Ward
Wild One -- Elsie Wagstaff
Ernst -- Philip Voss
Hans -- Chris Cunningham
Old Hag -- Lucy Griffiths
Muller -- Sydney Bromley
Brassy Girl -- Andrea Lawrence
Gerda -- Sheila D'Union
Smiler -- Norman Atkyns
Twitch -- Mischa De La Motte
Letch -- Victor Woolf
Mouse -- Winifred Sabine
Chatter -- Janet Hargreaves
Aggressive -- Gordon Richardson
Death Wish -- Nicholas Smith
Bodysnatcher -- Patrick Troughton
Police Sergeant -- Norman Mitchell
Judge -- Clifford Mollison
Landlord -- Jerold Wells
Coach Driver -- Peter Madden
Inmates -- Hugh Cecil, Ron Eagleton, Lianne Gilmore, Beatrice Greek, Toni Harris, Peter Macpherson

Music by James Bernard
Cinematography by Brian Probyn

Special Features
1. Commentary by Jonathan Sothcott, Madeline Smith & David Prowse
This is a gentle and genial commentary with authoritative moderation by Sothcott.   Prowse and Smith are quite affectionate and friendly and Sothcott keeps the commentary informative without being overly intrusive.  Everybody loved Peter Cushing.  Director Terence Fisher was a serious alcoholic and this was his final film.  (But he was also a very nice man.)