More Monster-Making On Hammer Tap

The Good Baron Breaking Bad in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1970)

Customers may have advocated the title solution by 1970 and another of this series now in fifth Hammer incarnation, and who but most devoted could tell one from another? Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed did about half of domestic rentals for Warner distribution ($524K) as previous Hammer Dracula Has Risen From The Grave ($1 million), so we might assume vampires had twice the draw of man-made monsters. Of course, it was never F's creation that mattered at Hammer, Peter Cushing the whole show and rightly so. Without him, these things would have fizzled long before Destroyed juncture. FMBD seems to me overlit and less atmospheric than Hammers before, or was that nature of HD streaming on Warner Instant? A lot rides on presentation, and chances are an old IB Tech print would look better. Baron Frank is a most ruthless here since Curse of ... in 1957. He even rapes good girl Veronica Carlson in a scene that shocked our '70 sensibility far more than whatever trepidations his monster engaged. As with Revenge Of Frankenstein twelve years before, the monster is more pathetic than frightening. Hammer worked admirably at keeping concepts fresh, this entry from writing's standpoint an improvement over a last couple of Frankensteins, and Cushing of course is his usual transcendent.