Saturday, May 11, 2013

CONTINENTAL FRANKENSTEIN


The October 1971 issue of CONTINENTAL FILM REVIEW (with cover depicting sexy cowgirl Raquel Welch in HANNIE CAULDER) includes an article entitled, This Family Frankenstein. The brief text recounts the history of the monster from Mary Shelley, to the 1931 Karloff verision, to the (then) present Italian version, LA FIGLIA DI FRANKENSTEIN, starring the alluring Rosalba Neri and the venerable Joseph Cotton as Baron Frankenstein.

Titled LADY FRANKENSTEIN in English, it was released in the States in October 1973. Miss Neri played Tania Frankenstein and was credited on screen as "Sara Bay".

The article, written by an anonymous critic, mentions the most popular French monster magazine of the time, MIDI MINUIT FANTASTIQUE, along with a handful of others, as "full of erudite articles on artists, film-makers and writers who are involved in penetrating beyond the surface of material reality." Intentional or not, in the typical style of self-appointed European sophistication, this statement flies directly in the face of the more "low-brow" American publications that were obviously seen as less interested in monster movies as "high art".

Included in the article is a publicity shot of Frank A. Coe as Frankenstein's monster in the Russ Meyer nudie/sci-fi/comedy flick, KISS ME QUICK. Why that particular shot was chosen over, say the more "artful" 1931 FRANKENSTEIN is debatable. Perhaps it was used to further my previous statement. I'll leave it there.



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