Lady Frankenstein

Infobox Film
name = Lady Frankenstein


image_size =
caption =
director = Mel Welles
Aureliano Luppi
producer = Umberto Borsato
Hurbert Case
Gioele Centanni
Harry Cushing
Egidio Gelso
Jules Kenton
Mel Welles
writer = Umberto Borsato
Edward Di Lorenzo
Egidio Gelso
Aureliano Luppi
Dick Randall
Mary Shelley
Mel Welles
narrator =
starring = Joseph Cotten
Rosalba Neri
music = Alessandro Alessandroni
cinematography = Riccardo Pallottini
editing = Cleofe Conversi
distributor = New World Pictures
released = October 22 1971
runtime = 99 mins
country = flagicon|Italy Italy
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:28052
imdb_id = 0067321

"Lady Frankenstein" (Italian: "La Figlia di Frankenstein") is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mel Welles. It stars Joseph Cotten, Rosalba Neri (under the pseudonym Sara Bey), Mickey Hargitay and Paul Müller. The script was written by cult writer Edward di Lorenzo.

Plot

The films opens with a trio of grave robbers (led by a man named Lynch) delivering a corpse to Baron Frankenstein (Cotten) and his assistant Dr. Marshall (Müller), for obvious reanimation purposes.

Baron Frankenstein's daughter Tania (Neri/Bay) arrives from school, having completed her studies in medicine, and is greeted by her father and his servant, the handsome but mildly-retarded Thomas. Tania reveals to her father that she has always understood his work with "animal transplants" to be a cover for his work reanimating corpses, and that she intends to follow in his footsteps and help him in his work.

The next day, Frankenstein, Tania, and Marshall witness the execution of a criminal who is hanged down a well, and it is implied that his body will be harvested for their experimentation. Law enforcement agent Captain Harris (Hargitay) arrives to harass Lynch at the hanging. Harris claims to be on to Lynch's grave robbing.

That evening, having harvested salient body parts, Frankenstein and Marshall successfully reanimate a corpse (The Monster) as Tania secretly watches. The Monster, however, bear-hugs Frankenstein to death almost instantly, then walks out of the castle. Tania and Marshall report the murder to Harris, but claim that it was a burglar.

Meanwhile, the narrative is interspersed with shots of the Monster roaming the countryside killing locals, including Lynch.

Tania then goads Marshall into admitting harboring romantic feelings for her. She responds to his affections, but says that while Marshall's body is old, she finds the body of Thomas young and attractive. The "solution" to this situation will be to transplant Marshall's brain into Thomas's body. To accomplish this, Tania seduces Thomas, and Marshall kills him during their lovemaking with a pillow.

Tania then transplants Marshall's brain into Thomas's body. The local villagers, however, have had enough and arrive to destroy the castle, replete with torches and pitchforks. In the chaos, the Monster arrives and has a fight against Marshall/Thomas and Tania. The Monster is defeated, but Tania's allegiance during the fight is highly suspect.

Harris arrives with Thomas's sister to see Tania and Marshall/Thomas enjoying post-fight sexual intercourse. However, during their lovemaking, Marshall/Thomas strangles Tania to death, and the film ends.

The Frankenstein canon

The film is often compared with the Frankenstein cycle made by the Hammer Studios (1957-72), and may also have been an influence on Paul Morrissey's controversial "Flesh for Frankenstein" (1973).

Feminism

Some have posited that Di Lorenzo intended that this film should present a feminist slant to the mad scientist genre. [http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/reviews/L/ladyfrank.html] Others have disagreed with this assessment, pointing to the ultimately irredeemable qualities of the female scientist, and the copious amounts of female nudity throughout the film.

ee also

women in science fiction.

External links and resources

*imdb title|id=0067321
*google video|-7582272277816946826
*rotten-tomatoes|id=lady_frankenstein
* [http://www.archive.org/details/Lady_Frankenstein "Lady Frankenstein"] at Internet Archive