FrankensteinRating:
Release Date: 28 August, 2001 Retail Price: $24.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (11 total) |
Frankenstein Reviews
Great content, poor packaging
I love all six volumes of the Universal Monster Legacy Collection. It's a joy to see these films again and to delve deeper with the commentaries and making-of specials. For content, I would give each of the volumes 5 stars. However, for packaging, only 1 star. I wish Universal would have taken a good hard look at their product before releasing it; they could have made some simple improvements that would have made it much more enjoyable to view. For example, the Frankenstein volume contains some junk, such as the embarassingly poor "Boo! A short film." Also, I didn't care for Stephen Sommers talking about the monsters in the Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman volumes (he is sincere in his admiration of the classic films but his commentary adds little of interest and the topics are covered much better by the film historians such as Rudy Behlmer and Scott MacQueen in their commentaries). Ditto for the original art and poster galleries (these don't present the posters very well and the film still montages with voices are unnecessary). By cutting out the junk, the volumes may have fit on two discs without using both sides of the second disc. The two-sided format is cumbersome. Moreover, the DVD "outlines" are somewhat illogical, e.g., the "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein" making-of features are included as bonuses under "House of Frankenstein." (Similar outline/design shortcomings are evident in the other volumes.) A better design, and some judicious paring down, would have made the Legacy Collection solid gold.
A better collection
I purchased a while ago some of the classic Black and White Universal Studio's "horror" films from the 1930s and 40s which Universal released under their special collection called "The Legacy Collection".
These collections were themed movies, about 4 to 6 films in each collection, that were focused around the one "big hit" and it's "Sons of" features.
The Frankenstein Collection is probably the best of the collections, containing more films that were of better quality overall than the other collections. Frankenstein seemed to be a bigger hit, and they actually had better scripts and actors in the "Sons of" films than the others.
We start with the classic Boris Karloff "Frankenstein". This film examines our right to be "god" when it comes to "life and death". Karloff plays the monster, and while we see him growling around the set, check out his facial expressions. It is well shot, love the angry mob scenes, and is a classic horror film.
The next biggie is the classic follow up "Bride of Frankenstein". Still staring Boris Karlof, this is one of the few "Sons of" in these collections that was almost as popular as the original. Gotta love the hair, and her "eeps" in the film, it is also a monster love story. Quite bizarre and unique, it is a must have also.
Boris Karloff reprises his successful monster role yet again with the original "Son of" in "Son of Frankenstein". This is again a remarkable film in that it is as good as the original, in some cases probably even better in that it does have an even deeper plot, if that is possible. Good acting, another must have.
The silly entry here is "Ghost of Frankenstein" and while it may have seemed humorous back in the 40s, I found it just silly. Lon Chaney Jr is the monster, playing against Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Oh, and Ygor... painfully played by Bela Lugosi. This is the one that gets all the airtime in classic comic acts on TV... the hunchback dragging his foot around, being chased by the doctor for his brain.
The final entry is "House of Frankenstein". We find Karloff here as a mad scientist escaping from prison, bringing Dracula, played by John Carradine, back to life, unfreezing the monster and throwing in Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man, to produce an all inclusive monsterfest that allows everyone to go on a rampage till we see the monster drown Karloff in the end. This started a chain of "all monster" movies, that are included in some of the other collections. Great for monster lovers, not much in the plot department.
Quality wise, these films are cleaned up, the sound is very good and overall the appearance of these films is remarkable. There are also extras, like the making of the film, theatrical trailers, stills, and film history. This is a two disk set with a double sided DVD.
As I said, this is the better of the collections, with more of the great films that started the horror film industry back then. This one is a good one to own, and I do recommend it.
More Customer Reviews (42 total)
© 2004, 2005, 2006 DVD Booty | Don't Plunder Our Cache of Booty, Matey!
Hosting made possible by donations from Payday Advance Army, PITI The Fool, and About Refinance Mortgages
