Score: 7 Out Of 10
I am a huge fan of "Frankenstein (1931)," and because I love that movie so much I have found myself, over the years, drawn to movies with "Frankenstein" in the title. These movies are pretty much hit or miss. "Frankenstein Vs. The Space Monster (1965)" was a miss. Fortunately, "Lady Frankenstein (1971)" is much more of a hit. The film was directed by Mel Welles and Aureliano Luppi and it stars Joseph Cotten, Rosalba Neri and Paul Muller. The film tells the story of Doctor Frankenstein building and then being murdered by the creature. His daughter then decides to continue on with his work but her motives are much more dark (and sexy in a weird kind of way) than her father's were. The immediate turn off here for most viewers I think will be the over all quality of the film. Even when converted to high definition the picture is still pretty grainy and has plenty of imperfections (although there are quite a few people who dig that kind of look in a film) and even for it's time the film had a pretty low budget. The budgetary constraints show mostly in the special effects the department (the creature looks a little too much like the Toxic Avenger).
What this film does have going for it, however, is the acting and writing. Granted it is not academy award winning and there are a couple of scenes that are almost laughable, but for the most part you get solid dialogue and some pretty good performances. Another thing I would like to touch on is that this film has been used as an example of pro-feminism with in the horror and science fiction genres quite a bit over the years. The film features a very strong and very intelligent (she is a surgeon after all) female main character who manipulates the male characters in the film to achieve her goals. This actually makes for a pretty interesting take on the Frankenstein mythology. Most of the other women in these films are hysterical and just down right dumb. If nothing else, this film will serve as a breathe of fresh air for Frankenstein fans.
Love,
The B-Movie Guy.
Facebook: B-Movie Guy Twitter: @BMovieguy #BMovieBlog #LadyFrankenstein
No comments:
Post a Comment