THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) generally gets a bad rap but it isn't the worst in Hammer's Frankenstein series (and keep in mind that I don't consider THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN with Ralph Bates to be part of the series). It isn't a very good film by any means but it's OK -- at least that's my opinion of it on this most recent re-watching. For the curious, the worst in Hammer's Frankenstein series is without a doubt FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN -- because it commits the worst offence any movie can make: it's deadly dull! But having said all this spiel as prologue, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN is an OK movie. It's chief claim to fame probably comes from the fact that Universal Studios finally, at long last, gave Hammer permission to use it's copyrighted Frankenstein's monster makeup a la Jack Pierce/Boris Karloff. The monster (played by wrestler Kiwi Kingston) has the squared-off head, the beetling brow, the asphalt spreader's shoes etc. familiar to all who've ever seen the Universal Frankenstein movies. As for Kiwi Kingston, director Freddie Francis has said that he wishes he would have had the services of an "actor" under the makeup (such as Christopher Lee) in order to give more to the part. However, I don't think Kingston does too badly; given the fact that the monster is not given anything much to do emotionally by the script. Kingston does fine with what he's given to do and I really don't see what an "actor" could have added to the part. In fact, Kiwi Kingston's non-actor status may have helped convey the creature's bewildered flailing about -- pretty much all the script requires by way of a performance. The monster's brain (as per usual) has been severely damaged by bullets being fired through it; not to mention the fact that the monster has been encased in ice inside a frozen glacier for the better part of ten years (shades of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN). Consequently, a more klutzy Frankenstein's Monster you're not liable to get. One scene has the monster offered a bottle of hooch by a deaf servant girl (Katy Wild); the monster smashes the bottle to the ground, then decides it quite likes the taste and then attempts to pat up the spilled wine with it's fingers. The dolt then finds a trunk full of wine bottles, grabs one and SMASHES ALL THE REST. Not much on planning for the future is our monster!

Like all Hammer's Frankenstein series (again I'm not including HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN in this), Baron Frankenstein is played by Peter Cushing with all the fanatical drive to which we've grown accustomed. Really, you can't have a Hammer Frankenstein film without Peter Cushing; there's really just no point! THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN opens with a resurrection man stealing a body and bringing it to the Baron's fix-it shop (OK, laboratory). While Frankenstein and his eager assistant Hans (Sandor Eles who also played Lt. Toth in Hammer's COUNTESS DRACULA) attempt to keep a fresh heart alive in a tank, the bombastic stick-in-the-mud local priest (wildly over-the-top James Maxwell) busts in and starts smashing up the Baron's equipment. Party-poopers like this are what give mad scientists a pain in the neck bolts! This is without doubt the most memorable scene in the film (and the fact that it occurs within the first 5 or 10 minutes may reveal why the film isn't better than it is). The Baron's experiment ruined, he's run out of town once again. In a flashback, he reveals to Hans his first successful creation of the Monster in his hometown (Kiwi Kingston's creature rather than the monster played by Christopher Lee in the first film of the series THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN). The monster had gone on a rampage killing livestock and had been shotgunned through the brain; this incident also caused the good people of Karlstaad to kick the Baron out of town. Ever since, he's been roaming around trying to restart his monster-making hobby. After almost ten years, the Baron returns to his Chateau in Karlstaad with Hans. Through numerous plot intricacies, the Baron comes into contact with a deaf and dumb peasant girl (Katy Wild), a carnival hypnotist named Professor Zoltan (the booming Peter Woodthorpe -- who played a similar slimy character in the Amicus film THE SKULL) and the flash-frozen monster trapped in a wall of ice. The Baron waits for a nice electrical storm, hooks up his Kenneth Strickfadean lab equipment and revives the monster. Unfortunately, the thing is alive but it's damaged brain is dormant. The Baron enlists the unsavory Zoltan to make contact with the monster's mind and revive it. This he does but the cagey Zoltan also sees to it that he alone can control the monster. The hypnotist sends the monster out to steal some gold knick-knacks and then assists the Baron's revenge fantasies by sending the monster out to kill the Burgomaster and all others who offended Frankenstein in the past. Things get messy from here on as the film careens toward a patented fiery climax.

THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN is an interesting if seriously flawed film. At least it's entertaining throughout (which cannot be said for FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN). The Universal-approved monster makeup by Roy Ashton gets a lot of flak but seriously I don't see why; it's perfectly acceptable if uninspired. Peter Cushing's Baron is perfection as usual and Sandor Eles' Hans makes a good (if unremarkable) assistant. Katy Wild's deaf peasant girl can get a little annoying but that's not really her fault; the script by John Elder (Anthony Hinds) gives her nothing much to do but to mutely gesticulate with wide eyes or to be carried around by Kiwi Kingston. Peter Woodthorpe gives a hissable, barrelling performance which stops just short of evil mustache-twirling. The film looks great with passable art direction by Don Mingaye nicely photographed by John Wilcox. The sets don't match the lush genius of Bernard Robinson but Mingaye does a good job nonetheless. A definite step down from the glory days of Hammer's HORROR OF DRACULA etc. but still a fun and enjoyable entry in the series. An interesting hypothesis has suggested that we should perhaps view THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN as a dream had by the Baron while he's unconsciously recuperating from the injuries received in FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED; this requires a reshuffling of the order of the Frankenstein films if one should watch them all back to back. Since the Hammer Frankenstein films don't really lend themselves to a seamless viewing experience watched in the order they were made, it has been suggested the Frankenstein movies should be watched back-to-back in the following order:

• THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
• THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN
• FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED
• THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN
• FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN
• FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL

I must say I have yet to try this experiment but someday in the future I will drag all the Hammer Frankenstein films out and see how they play in this sequencing. If you do so before me, drop me a comment and let me know.