Friday, May 30, 2014

Movie review - "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein" (1957) ***

Follow up to I was a Teenage Werewolf is actually a very different type of film because it's not told from the point of view of a teenager (here, the monster) but rather the mad doctor Frankenstein character, played by Whit Bissell. On those terms - a late 50s version of a Universal mad doctor movie - this is quite enjoyable: Bissell does some solid, underplayed mad doctor acting which suits its Einsenhower era setting, and there are some cute flourishes like an alligator in the basement and a finale in colour; the monster make up is impressive; there are some choice lines of dialogue ("I know you've a tongue in your head, I sewed it myself") and moments of pure camp (eg Bissell talking about youth being the future then hearing a car accident outside which results in some conveniently dead teenagers).

Gary Conway is a teenage monster and come to think of it an interesting movie could have been made from his point of view - it might have been more typically AIP. Several plot elements were later used in Konga, also by producer Herman Cohen - the mad scientist protagonist, scientist marrying shrewish assistant who is later killed by the creature. Good fun.

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