Frankenstein (Hammer film series)
Hammer's seven-film series on Baron Frankenstein's experiments.
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The Hammer Frankenstein film series began with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Britain's first colour horror film and a massive box office success.[1] Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were made stars by the film, with Lee cast largely due to his 6'5" height.[2][1] The series established "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.[3]
Making and release
Sangster kept production costs in mind when writing, avoiding scenes like villagers storming the castle "because we couldn't afford it"[4] Sangster said he had not seen any of Universal's Frankenstein films and simply adapted the book "the way I saw it"[4] Universal fought to prevent Hammer from copying their 1931 film, so make-up artist Phil Leakey designed a new creature look.[2] Production of The Curse of Frankenstein began on 19 November 1956 at Bray Studios with a £65,000 investment.[2]
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour television pilot called Tales of Frankenstein with Anton Diffring as the Baron.[5] Max Rosenberg first proposed the project Frankenstein and the Monster to Hammer's Michael Carreras, using a script written by Milton Subotsky.[6]
What the cited sources add
The BFI Screenonline account notes that Hammer was created in 1934 by William Hinds and Enrique Carreras.[1] The founders' sons James Carreras and Anthony Hinds took over and recognized the horror genre could put Hammer on the map.[1] The BFI Screenonline account states that Hammer's style was considered vulgar and sensationalist in its day but was immensely popular with audiences.[1] The British Entertainment History Project interview records that Jimmy Sangster was born on 2 December 1927 and entered the film industry as a projectionist in 1943.[7]
Sangster worked as assistant director and production manager for Hammer before scripting X – The Unknown.[7] The success of that film led him to become a full-time screenwriter for Hammer's landmark gothic horrors.[7]
References
- "BFI Screenonline: Hammer Film Productions Biography", www.screenonline.org.uk. facts only, no text reused. screenonline.org.uk
- Wikipedia, "Frankenstein (Hammer film series)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rigby, Jonathan, "English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema", Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Frankenstein (Hammer film series)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sinclair McKay (2007) A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films; "BFI Screenonline: Hammer Film Productions Biography", www.screenonline.org.uk (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Frankenstein (Hammer film series)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The British Entertainment History Project - Jimmy Sangster -", historyproject.org.uk (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Frankenstein (Hammer film series)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Meikle 2008, p. 58-60; Meikle 2008, p. 58-60 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Frankenstein (Hammer film series)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Interview with Max Rosenberg for the Blu-ray of "Asylum", December 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "The British Entertainment History Project - Jimmy Sangster -", historyproject.org.uk. facts only, no text reused. historyproject.org.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Frankenstein (Hammer film series) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Horror film series
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Frankenstein (Hammer film series) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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