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| 1971 Director: Mel Welles Starring: Joseph Cotton, Rosalba Neri * * * |
Full review after the jump.
In his final role, the great actor Joseph Cotton stars as the good Dr. who true to his heritage, creates a monster from dead cadavers that were snatched from graves. He is immediately killed by his creation (Cotton apparently was only rented for a day or two) which promptly eescapes and begins terrorizing the countryside. Dr. Frank's promiscuous and sexually liberated daughter (Rosalba Neri aka Sara Bay) along with the doc's lab assisstant, Marshall continue in the er, experiments. The two fall in love (well, he does anyway) and decide to attempt to transplant Marshall's brain into the body of muscular but retarded hulk servant, Stephen in order to combat the rampaging monster... and to better satisfy doc's daughter's insatiable sexual desires.
'Lady Frankenstein' was met in the U.S. with mostly poor reviews (I distinctly remember Leonard Maltin giving it his 'BOMB' rating; he probably never saw it) which I never really understood as I always thought this was a mostly fun and well made little pic. Welles as a director seemed careful with both camera placement and scene buildup (there's a wonderful interview with him in an issue of Video Watchdog magazine in which he discusses in detail about this film in particular). There are some genuinely tense moments on display and a surprising amount of sexual frankness. Rosalba Neri is wonderful as Cotton's cold, conniving daughter and puts forth a memorable and completely convincing perf (the sequence where Marshall smothers Stephen while the latter is engaging in sex with Neri, causing her to bite her wrist in orgasm is easily the film's most unforgettable moment). If the movie stumbles at all, it is in it's portrayal of the monster. I was fine with the idea of a souless creature, but the actor didn't seem to understand that he had to look menacing (his expression in most scenes is merely passive). Worse, he is subject to suuden and jarring outbursts often in mid sequence as if he were being directed by two different people with two very different ideas about the portrayal (surprising, given Welles' attention to detail in nearly every other department). Nevertheless, the finale where the doc's monster battles the lab enhanced Stephen is ineteresting and pretty cool to watch.
Overall despite it's flaws and occasional slow pacing, 'Lady Frankenstein' adds up to good, sleazy entertainment. Definately recommended.
As a footnote, I had read that Mel Welles ran his own website where he would post anicdotes and sell autographed memorabilia. He passed away mere months before I purchased my computer and his website was shut down. That made me feel very sad.
In his final role, the great actor Joseph Cotton stars as the good Dr. who true to his heritage, creates a monster from dead cadavers that were snatched from graves. He is immediately killed by his creation (Cotton apparently was only rented for a day or two) which promptly eescapes and begins terrorizing the countryside. Dr. Frank's promiscuous and sexually liberated daughter (Rosalba Neri aka Sara Bay) along with the doc's lab assisstant, Marshall continue in the er, experiments. The two fall in love (well, he does anyway) and decide to attempt to transplant Marshall's brain into the body of muscular but retarded hulk servant, Stephen in order to combat the rampaging monster... and to better satisfy doc's daughter's insatiable sexual desires.
'Lady Frankenstein' was met in the U.S. with mostly poor reviews (I distinctly remember Leonard Maltin giving it his 'BOMB' rating; he probably never saw it) which I never really understood as I always thought this was a mostly fun and well made little pic. Welles as a director seemed careful with both camera placement and scene buildup (there's a wonderful interview with him in an issue of Video Watchdog magazine in which he discusses in detail about this film in particular). There are some genuinely tense moments on display and a surprising amount of sexual frankness. Rosalba Neri is wonderful as Cotton's cold, conniving daughter and puts forth a memorable and completely convincing perf (the sequence where Marshall smothers Stephen while the latter is engaging in sex with Neri, causing her to bite her wrist in orgasm is easily the film's most unforgettable moment). If the movie stumbles at all, it is in it's portrayal of the monster. I was fine with the idea of a souless creature, but the actor didn't seem to understand that he had to look menacing (his expression in most scenes is merely passive). Worse, he is subject to suuden and jarring outbursts often in mid sequence as if he were being directed by two different people with two very different ideas about the portrayal (surprising, given Welles' attention to detail in nearly every other department). Nevertheless, the finale where the doc's monster battles the lab enhanced Stephen is ineteresting and pretty cool to watch.
Overall despite it's flaws and occasional slow pacing, 'Lady Frankenstein' adds up to good, sleazy entertainment. Definately recommended.
As a footnote, I had read that Mel Welles ran his own website where he would post anicdotes and sell autographed memorabilia. He passed away mere months before I purchased my computer and his website was shut down. That made me feel very sad.
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