Frankenstein The True Story Brought Universal Monsters to Modern TV

Frankenstein: The True Story Brought Universal Monsters to Modern TV

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1973’s Frankenstein: The True Story brought a classic Universal monster tale into audiences’ living rooms, paving the way for horror television.

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Frankenstein The True Story Brought Universal Monsters to Modern TV

In 1973, Frankenstein: The True Story flickered on TVs across British and American households. Loosely based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the made-for-TV film was directed by Jack Smith and written by Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. The movie marked one of the first times that a Universal monster appeared on modern TV.

It wasn’t the first time the world saw a movie version of Frankenstein, though. The first adaption was in 1910 in the form of a 14-minute short film, followed by several more versions, including two other 1973 pictures—Flesh for Frankenstein and Frankenstein. And, of course, many more would follow (including Young Frankenstein just one year later), as would other Universal monster stories. For background—”Universal monsters” refer to characters from the horror and science fiction films made by Universal Studios from the 1920s through the 1950s. The films made up the first shared universe in cinematic history—both in Hollywood and globally—later encompassing characters like Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Frankenstein: The True Story starts with Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting), a young doctor with a fiancé (Nicola Pagett), losing his brother and declaring that he would befriend the devil if it could bring his brother back to life. As he pursues his medical studies—which take him further and further down the road of “mad” science—Victor meets Henry Clerval (David McCallum), who has discovered how to bring dead matter back to life. Henry wants to create a new race of “beautiful” beings created from corpses, and his twisted plan draws Victor to him. Henry eventually dies, but Victor continues his mission. All too famously, Victor crafts a “creature,” played by Michael Sarrazin. He puts Henry’s brain inside of the creature, and the well-known modern-day Prometheus story proceeds from there.

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How Frankenstein: The True Story Brought Universal Monsters To Television

Frankenstein: The True Story wasn’t audiences’ first depiction of a Universal monster, but it was one of the first to come to viewers through TV rather than the cinema, where movies like 1931’s Dracula and Frankenstein debuted. The 1973 vehicle was, in fact, made specifically for at-home audiences, shown cut into two separate broadcasts—an early version of a mini-series. Later, more Universal monsters would broadcast in the same sort of style.

The movie was also modern in that—in the portion of the movie that portrays the creation of “Prima” in Victor’s lab—there are nude sequences, which were extremely rare on prime time network TV in the early 1970s. Also making the film ahead of its time was its technology; the creation scenes are full of color, and the creature’s make-up effects were innovative at the time. Today, horror fans can enjoy all of these elements; as Bloody Disgusting reported last year, the movie is coming to Blu-Ray.

Overall, Frankenstein: The True Story remade an oft-told tale for modern TV audiences, bringing the famous character into their living rooms. The “creature” would, of course, later be resurrected over and over again in various other television and silver screen adaptions of the chilling Mary Shelley story. Today’s viewers might soon be treated to a new reboot of the story; Jason Blum hopes to make one following the success of 2020’s The Invisible Man, and many suspect that James Wan is currently tackling a Frankenstein film.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/frankenstein-true-story-universal-monsters-modern-tv/

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