Lady Frankenstein (1971)

As you probably know, during the 1960s and 1970s western movies made for American audiences using Italian locations and some Italian actors — frequently called “Spaghetti Westerns”–were a thing. Around this same time, an Italian studio tried its hand at a Frankenstein movie, using a few American and English actors and a bunch of Italian extras. In the true Spaghetti Western tradition, the Italian actors were badly dubbed into English. Doesn’t sound very promising? Read on!

The Plot: This movie pretty much follows the standard Frankenstein story, until Doctor Frankenstein (played by American movie veteran Joseph Cotten) is killed by his creature (about a third of the way into the movie). Then the doctor’s attractive daughter (Italian hottie Rosalba Reri) takes on the three tasks of holding the police at bay, killing the creature, and completing her father’s work. Somehow, she aims to achieve these tasks by transplanting the brain of her father’s aged assistant into the body of a young stud who also happens to be brain-deficient. (Part of the appeal, to her, is she’d get the side-benefit of a perfect lover.) However (spoiler alert), the newly-brained young stud ends up strangling Lady Frankenstein…for no particular reason. The end.

The Atmosphere: Well, it’s the 1970s, so I probably shouldn’t have had my hopes up very high. But the atmosphere is very disappointing for the genre. I’d describe it as typical 1970s garish schlock. The actors have 1970s haircuts, the colors are too bright, the soundtrack is lame, there’s absolutely no fog, and the even the monster is laughable and cheesy. There’s the typical early-1970s fixation on gore for the sake of gore, and gratuitous nudity. Indeed, even Doctor F’s daughter–the (ahem) titular Lady Frankenstein–gets naked on various occasions. I can assure you this was not done to advance the plot.

Overall, this is a cheap, exploitive, forgettable movie. Joseph Cotten gets top billing, probably because he’s the one name that American audiences would recognize. He was of course great in Sunset Boulevard (1950). But his acting here is as wooden as a Louisville Slugger bat. It’s hard to believe he’s in this schlock. This is a guy who you’d expect to see in quality fare, like Citizen Kane. Oh, wait–he was in Citizen Kane!

This movie also includes 1955’s Mr. Universe (Mickey Hargitay) playing a police inspector . I’m not making this up.

The Monster: The creature is played by young Italian actor named Riccardo Pizzuti. This isn’t a demanding part; he just kind of walks around — he doesn’t even shamble like many of the other Frankenstein monsters. His costume (velour top and striped pants) could have been worn by Freddie on Scooby-Do. The makeup folks do give him a grotesque face, but he has absolutely no personality. He wears an expression like he’s driving a bus.

Other Comments: There’s not much to recommend this (aside from Rosalba Neri, for those of you looking for that sort of thing). It’s pretty much the same old Frankenstein story (man creates monster, monster goes on killing rampage, villagers try to kill monster). But there’s no pathos; no thought-provoking questions; no interesting twists. You don’t really feel for any of the characters, and you don’t care much about how the story resolves itself. Other than those quibbles, this is Oscar material.

Tomorrow we review a surprisingly good made-for-TV version of the Frankenstein story. Frankenstein: The True Story is available for free on YouTube, in two installments. (It was broadcast on NBC in 1973 on two consecutive nights.) Try to divine for yourself whether this is really “the true story” or not.