Had man not been given to invention and experiment, then tonight, sir, you would have eaten your dinner in a cave.
Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). This Hammer horror film had the right amount of gore and fright to make watching it at a drive-in a shocking treat.
This movie has a 6.8[1] rating on iMDB.com. This film is well respected in Rottentomatoes.com with 70 percent on the Tomatometer and 68 percent audience approval[2].
Variety, quoted in Wikipedia, stated, “a good-enough example of its low-key type, with artwork rather better than usual (less obvious backcloths, etc.) a minimum of artless dialogue, good lensing by Arthur Grant and a solid all round cast.” From “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed.” Variety: 40. 11 June 1969 in Wikipedia.org[3].
Actors – Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Returning
Peter Cushing, as so often, was cast in the role of Baron Frankenstein. Cushing was first covered in another role as Baron Frankenstein in The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).
Freddie Jones was Professor Richter, AKA the monster. Jones was recently covered in Krull (1983).
New
Veronica Carlson played the fetching landlady Anna Spengler. She was born in England in 1944. Carlson attended college at the High Wycombe College of Art and Technology. During this time, she participated in theater production. Carlson had a few minimal film roles before the head of Hammer Film say a picture of her and offered her a role in Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). She became the go-to female for Hammer films and other film companies. Her films include Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Old Dracula (1974) with Freddie Jones, and The Ghoul (1975). Opportunites for her faded. She eventually married and moved to the United States. After a 24 year retirement, she returned for House of the Gorgon (2019).
Simon Ward played the role of drug stealing doctor Karl. Ward was born in England in 1941. Ward was educated at Alleyn’s School before joining the National Youth Theatre at the age of 13. Following an eight-year stint with the National Youth Theatre, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Ward began working in repertory theater.
Ward began working on television in 1960. His first film was in 1968. He was later cast in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). He returned to television work before portraying Winston Churchill in Young Winston (1972). He played a convincing Nazi in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973). Ward continued to work on television as well as films playing the Duke of Buckingham in The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge (1974). Ward was in the World War I flying film Aces High (1976), Zulu Dawn (1979) with all the other British actors, and in Supergirl (1984).
Ward died in 2012. One of his children, Sophie Ward, became an actress. One of her many roles was in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), which also featured Freddie Jones.
Maxine Audley has the small role of Ella Brandt. She had a name-mention in The Vikings (1958).
Story – Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
A well-dressed man is walking through the dark streets of London. His face is not shown, and he is carrying a large pail. The man drops into the shadow of a doorway as a coach and carriage drop off Dr. Otto Heidecke (Jim Collier). The man in the doorway pulls a large sickled blade and slices the doctor’s head in one fell swoop. Blood splashes on the office door.
At an old country house, a very happy burglar is robbing what looks like an empty mansion. The murderer with the bucket arrives at the mansion and heads up the stairs towards the burglar. Upon hearing the footsteps, the burglar hides inside in what just happens to be a basement laboratory.
As the burglar evades the coming footsteps, he sees all of the usual stuff, skeletons, tubes and beakers boiling with different color liquids, and finally, a dead man frozen in a glass container. The well-dressed murderer continues downstairs and places his bucket on a table. He confronts the burglar. The killer’s face is hideous. They are pretty even in the fight but manage to spill the bucket containing the head of the murdered doctor, knock the frozen guy’s container over, and generally wreck the laboratory.
The burglar escapes, and the killer pulls off a mask that he has been wearing. It looks just like the one Kayne has been wearing to airports. The killer is Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing). Frankenstein opens a door in the floor.
The fleeing and bloody burglar runs directly into a Bobbie and is taken to the police station.
Frankenstein drops the frozen body and the head of Hans Delbrook, I mean Doctor Heidecke, into the sewer.
Inspector Frisch (Thorley Walters) is interviewing the frightened burglar when another officer comes in to tell that the headless body of Dr. Heidecke has been found in his doorway.
The police go to the basement laboratory, and most of the hard evidence has been disposed of. There is no sign of Frankenstein. The Police Doctor (Geoffrey Bayldon) says they are looking for a doctor. Frisch dismisses his ideas but has medical supply purchases investigated.
The next day at the police station, the Mortuary Attendant (Robert Gillespie) is brought in because the body of a doctor has gone missing from the morgue. The attendant is a jackass and denies he is responsible. The Police Doctor says the missing body may have been the same body that was in the laboratory.
Frankenstein travels by coach to a new town. He seeks lodging at the home of the lovely Anna Spengler (Veronica Carlson). The Baron is a complete gentleman.
The scene changes to an asylum where a mad woman is being sedated by (Karl) Simon Ward. Professor Richter (Freddie Jones) tells Karl that they may be wasting their time trying to cure another patient, Dr. Brandt (George Pravda). Richter says the man has driven himself mad.
All of the borders gather in the den. They think the Baron, who is using a fake name, is standoffish. One of the men mentions that he saw Dr. Brandt in a mental hospital. They continue to talk that Brandt wanted to transplant brains. They also mention that Baron Frankenstein was trying to do the same thing. The Baron hear the entire conversation. The Baron destroys the others in a battle of wits.
Karl arrives at the boarding house because he and Anna are engaged. Karl drops a box of medicine at the doorstep. Anna is worried about her mother’s medical costs. Apparently, Karl is stealing drugs to get the money.
The Baron has found the package. It is cocaine. The Baron knows what Karl is up to because he was listening at the door. The Baron confronts the couple and threatens to turn them in if they don’t help him.
The Baron has Anna throw all the other lodgers out of the house with no notice.
Inspector Frisch tells the Police Doctor that they are going to Altenberg because there have been four robberies of laboratory equipment.
Karl and the Baron are robbing another warehouse when they are surprised by the watchman. Karl kills the man with a knife. Anna is very upset with the Baron as Karl is taking his first murder very poorly. Karl tries to get Anna to leave.
Karl stands up to Frankenstein and gets a slap in the face for his trouble. Karl has stolen a map of the institution, and he plans on breaking out Dr. Brandt.
At the asylum, Ella Brandt (Maxine Audley) is told that her husband is hopeless and is violent when he is not sedated. They recommend that she no longer visit her husband.
Frankenstein tells that he and Dr. Brandt had been corresponding about their individual success transplanting human brains. Brandt discovered the secret of freezing a brain without damage. Frankenstein says they were doing the work to save brilliant brains for the future.
Frisch and the Police Doctor inspect the site where the security guard was murdered.
Karl checks on Dr. Brandt and then tries to give a sedative to the madwoman. Karl is busted by another doctor and can’t sedate the woman.
That night Frankenstein and Karl meet outside of the asylum. They make their way past a sleeping guard and get the key to Brandt’s cell. Frankenstein knocks the guard out. Karl warns that Brandt can turn vicious. When Brandt attacks, the madwoman starts seeing spiders and screaming. Karl and Frankenstein drag Brandt out. An orderly finds a dropped hypodermic needle and the knocked-out guard.
The dogs are called out as Anna waits by an escape coach in the woods. Karl and Frankenstein load Brandt into the coach. Karl heads back to work.
At the boarding house, with the aid of Anna, Frankenstein tries to save the life of Brandt.
Frisch tells Mrs. Brandt that her husband has been kidnapped. She confirms that her husband had been corresponding with Frankenstein.
Karl returns to the boarding house and is told that Brandt has had a heart attack. Frankenstein thanks Brandt will live three days, so he will need another body to host the brain. Frankenstein mentions the work of Dr. Knox, and Burke and Hare. These are historical grave robbers that I spoke extensively about in The Body Snatcher (1945). Frankenstein says professor Richter would be perfect.
Anna wakes in the night and goes outside. She finds Karl sitting in a room with the murdered body of Richter. Frankenstein sends Anna back upstairs, and Karl has to return to work. Frankenstein goes to Anna’s room and rapes her.
Frisch reports to the press that Richter has been forcefully removed from his home. They are ordered not to report the facts.
Karl and Frankenstein are in the laboratory preparing Richter and Brandt for the brain transplant. Karl doesn’t know why Anna is acting strange. They remove the brain from Brandt and place it in the body of Richter. An abnormal brain!
They dispose of Brandt’s body as Anna becomes more despondent. She finds out the police are searching all of the houses and warns Frankenstein. The police arrive at the boarding house. Karl pretends to be a workman who is painting the hallway to help disguise the entrance to the laboratory.
With the successful surgery, Frankenstein begins removing part of the cranium that was causing the madness. Frankenstein tells Karl that it will be over in two days and Karl and Anna will be free.
On the street, Mrs. Brandt sees Frankenstein and thinks she knows him.
In the garden, where they buried Richter, a water main bursts, and the body is exposed. Anna has to hide the body before the repair workers arrive.
Mrs. Brandt searches the newspapers until she finds a drawing of Baron Frankenstein.
Karl and Frankenstein wake the body of Brandt. Brandt’s brain seems to be intact. Mrs. Brandt comes to the boarding house and asks for Dr. Frankenstein. He comes to talk to her. He says he did it all to save her husband. Mrs. Brandt blames Frankenstein for driving her husband insane.
They go to the laboratory to see her husband in the body of Richter. Mrs. Brandt is freaking out. Frankenstein demonstrates that her husband is sane. Frankenstein says that she can take her husband home in a week, but she must not tell anyone in the meantime.
When Mrs. Brandt leaves, Frankenstein takes the body of Brandt and makes Karl and Anna leave with him.
Mrs. Brandt comes to the boarding house and finds it deserted. She goes to the police and tells the story. Frisch finds the body of Dr. Brandt in the floorboards of the boarding house.
At their hiding place, Frankenstein continues to work on Brandt’s brain in Richter’s body. Karl and Anna look for an exit plan. Brandt wakes early and surmises that his brain has been placed in a different body. He is horrified. Anna goes to the laboratory, and Brandt asks for help. He asks for Frankenstein. In a struggle, she stabs him in the stomach.
Frankenstein catches Karl, preparing the coach for their escape. They have a fight, and the young man loses.
Frankenstein finds Anna still holding the scalpel. He stabs and kills her. Karl wakes and finds Anna dead.
Brandt steals clothes and, although wounded, makes it back to his home. Mrs. Brandt is sleeping in her bed. He breaks into the house. Brandt goes to the bedroom and looks at his sleeping wife.
Frankenstein takes the coach to look for Brandt.
Mrs. Brandt wakes to find a letter from her husband. He then begins to speak from behind a dressing screen. Brandt says he has become a victim of what he proposed to perform on others. Brandt says Frankenstein will be coming for the formula he has. He tells his wife she must remain in the house. Brandt prepares to destroy his notes while his wife escapes. She faints when she comes face to face with her husband. When she wakes, she rejects him and even attempts to shoot him.
Brandt pours kerosene all over the house. Finally, Frankenstein arrives. Brandt releases his wife, and Frankenstein comes into the house for the notes. Brandt begins setting the house on fire. Karl arrives as the house is beginning to burn. When Karl enters the house, Brandt shoots him. Frankenstein gets the papers and uses some other papers to burn Brandt and escape out the front door.
Karl, who is still alive, pulls the Baron to the ground. Brandt kicks Karl off of the Baron and then takes him into the house, where they are both burned alive.
Conclusion – Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
The film is the fifth Hammer Frankenstein movie. Peter Cushing played the Baron in six of the seven Frankenstein films. He was not in the sixth, The Horror of Frankenstein (1970). The other films are The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974). Today’s film and four others were directed by Terence Fisher.
World-Famous Short Summary – Every time you create a monster, it destroys you.
Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065738/
[2] Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed – Rotten Tomatoes
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_Must_Be_Destroyed
