Title: Frankenstein: The True Story
Writer: Don Bachardy and Christopher Isherwood
Released: November 28-30, 1973
Distributor: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Bibliographic Reference: DVD Release
Type: Screenplay
Character: Victor Frankenstein; The Creature; Elizabeth Frankenstein; John Polidori; Henry Clerval; DeLacey
Keywords: ANDROID; BYRONIC HERO; CLASS [and FRANKENSTEIN]; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER; MAD SCIENTIST; POSTCOLONIAL [FRANKENSTEIN]; QUEER FRANKENSTEIN; SHADOW FRANKENSTEIN; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER
Critical Summary: After his brother dies, Victor Frankenstein renounces God and begins a quest to find the secret to creating life. By happenstance, Victor meets Dr. Henry Clerval who has learned to preserve dead matter and return it to life. Dr. Clerval plans to create a race of perfect beings using his experiments. After a mining accident, the two doctors dig up the bodies of the peasant victims and stitch together a physically perfect body. The night before the reanimation experiment, Dr. Clerval discovers that the reanimation process is only temporary and that necrosis sets in after time. He dies from heart failure before he can tell Victor.
The next morning, Victor removes Clerval’s brain and transplants it inside the creation. The experiment succeeds, and Victor introduces the Creature to upper-class London. Shortly, the reversal process starts to affect the Creature. Victor keeps the Creature locked in his room as he tries to reverse the process. Victor’s landlady, Mrs. Blair dies from shock after seeing the Creature. Distraught at his appearance, the Creature tries to kill himself but it fails. He jumps into the ocean and Victor assumes the Creature is dead.
The Creatures washes up on a beach and befriends a blind peasant. When the man introduces the Creature to his family, they react in horror. His daughter Agatha flees in terror and is struck dead by a carriage. Agatha’s boyfriend attacks the stranger and is killed. The Creature takes Agatha’s body to ask Victor to restore her to life. Dr. Polidori, Clerval’s mentor, has been trying to force Victor to create another android, so he blackmails Victor to reanimate Agatha’s head on a new body. She is reanimated and named Prima.
After a time, Victor realizes Prima is evil. Victor’s wife Elizabeth demands Prima be sent away. Polidori tries to kill the Creature, but he manages to escape. The burned Creature crashes a party to confront Prima. She attacks the Creature, and he decapitates her. The Creature flees. Elizabeth persuades Victor to start life anew in America.
On their voyage, Victor and Elizabeth discover Polidori is on the ship. The Creature has also stowed away. While on the ship, Dr. Clerval’s mind resurfaces in the Creature to declare revenge on Polidori. The Creature hoists Polidori to the top of the mast where he is struck by lightning and killed. Victor is injured in the process and the Creature cares for him. The Creature strangles Elizabeth. Victor awakes with the ship frozen in the Arctic. He follows the Creature to an ice cave. Victor begs the Creature’s forgiveness. His voice sets off an avalanche. The Creature forgives Victor and the two laugh joyfully as they are buried in the ice.
Frankenstein: The True Story reverses many of the expectations for the Frankenstein narrative: The Creature is born of solar energy rather than lightning; he is physically beautiful before becoming the “wretch” described in Shelley’s work; also, a female creation is made who is born evil. However, even with these reversals, many themes remain the same. Victor, though more well-intentioned and naïve than the novel’s version, still sets forth a series of horrific events through his ignorance which ultimately culminate in his and his creation’s death. Of special note is the film’s characterization of Polidori. The doctor differentiates himself in his eccentricity among the London aristocracy. Polidori’s two valets are Asian men and his carriage is gaudily decorated with large, gold, Eastern-dragon styled statuary. This characterization of Polidori, the movie’s focus on the physical perfection of the Creature’s form, and the deep homosocial bond between creator and creation warrant a queer analysis.
Administrative Notes: Gareth O’Neal, California State University, Fullerton. Entry editors: Adriana Lora and Samuel Ortiz, California State University, Fullerton.