Film Review - Tales of Frankenstein
Starring - Anton Diffring, Helen Westcott, Don Megowan, Ludwig Stossel, Raymon Greenleaf, Richard Bull | Directed by Curt Siodmak | Alpha Video DVD FF Not Rated 28min 1958
Review By Xmortis
Tales of Frankenstein was to be a weekly TV show that followed the good doctor on his quest of life and death. In this pilot episode, Christine Halpert and her ill husband Max go to the Doctor for help to stop Max's impending death. Baron Frankenstein declines to help the couple and waits for Max to die. After Max's death, the Baron steals the man's brain and puts it in his recreated monster. Christine finds that her husband's grave has been ransacked. A cemetery caretaker spills his guts to her after she threatens to get the police involved, and soon she heads to castle and comes face to face with the good doctor and his monster. The monster remembers who he use to be and has a fight with the doctor. The monster is about to kill him when Christine stops him. The monster puts an end to his undead life, leaving her a widow once more and leaving the doctor in the care of the police.
What a fun TV show this could have been! The short show was a nice mix of Universal Horror, Hammer Horror and spooky old pulp novels. The black and white look of the show made it feel like I was watching an old horror film that drew lots of inspiration from Dark Shadows (which was made years later). Don Megowan does a good job as the monster and from the little movements we see in this pilot, he seems to have the Karloff movements down. Anton Diffring is amazing as Baron Frankenstein and is the right mix of sinister and charm. The backgrounds and lighting in this show helped add to the spooky feel and give this pilot more charm. It's a shame that this show was not picked up because I would have loved to see more tales of Frankenstein.
The DVD extras include the Roger Corman film, The Terror, starring Boris Karloff and its trailer along with a DVD catalog of other Alpha releases.
This was a fun short watch and was worth the $4.99 price tag. If you like Dark Shadows, Universal Horror and Hammer Horror, then this is for you for sure. I say it's worth a buy.