Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 4:3 (720x480) VBR | 02:03:02 | 4.4 Gb
Audio: #1 English AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps; #2 English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
#3 French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps; #4 Spanish AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subs: English, French and Spanish
Genre: Horror, Gothic Drama
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 4:3 (720x480) VBR | 02:03:02 | 4.4 Gb
Audio: #1 English AC3 5.1 @ 384 Kbps; #2 English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
#3 French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps; #4 Spanish AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subs: English, French and Spanish
Genre: Horror, Gothic Drama
Director Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel stars Robert DeNiro as a terrifying monster created in an obsessive attempt to defeat death and stretch the limits of medicine in the early 19th century. With the use of flashback, a dying Dr. Viktor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) divulges a tale of gruesome terror to a sea captain (Aidan Quinn): As a medical student, the rebellious Frankenstein elaborates on the work of a brilliant scientist (John Cleese), successfully bringing to life a "man" assembled from the body parts of corpses. Upon realizing the destructive consequences of his experiment, Dr. Frankenstein abandons the creature and attempts to return to a normal life with his medical partner, Henry (Tom Hulce), and his fiancée (and adopted sister), Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter). In the meantime, the nameless creature struggles with loneliness and rejection from society until he sets out to track down his creator in search of one of two things: a bride to keep him company or revenge. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, who previously directed and produced monster-drama Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).Synopsis by Lisa Kropiewnicki, Allmovie.com
The monster has always been the true subject of the Frankenstein story, and Kenneth Branagh's new retelling understands that. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" has all of the usual props of the Frankenstein films, brought to a fever pitch: The dark and stormy nights, the lightning bolts, the charnel houses of spare body parts, the laboratory where Victor Frankenstein stirs his steaming cauldron of life. But the center of the film, quieter and more thoughtful, contains the real story.
The Creature (Robert De Niro) has escaped his captivity and wandered into a pastoral setting where a little family lives peacefully. It is cold, and he creeps into the barn, feeding from the same trough as the pigs, and looking longingly through the window to the peaceful scene around the hearth. In the night he prepares firewood for his unwitting hosts. The family gradually becomes aware that some sort of forest spirit is befriending him - and the old grandfather, who is blind, actually invites the Creature in to sit by the fire.
This Creature, more than those in any of the earlier films, is acutely aware that in appearance he is a hideous monster. He also knows more about his origins. He reads Frankenstein's original journal, and learns how he was constructed from parts of dead bodies.
And he is thoughtful: "Yes, I speak, and read, and think, and know the ways of man," he says, with an echo of Caliban. And he asks, "What of my soul? Do I have one? What of these people of which I am composed?" The whole issue of the Branagh film is concentrated here: Has Frankenstein created a monster, or a man? De Niro brings a real pathos to the role, and there is agony when he asks the scientist, "Did you ever consider the consequences of your actions?" And his loneliness is palpable: "For the sympathy of one living being I would make peace with all." But the film surrounding these scenes is less satisfactory.
Branagh has always been a director cheerfully willing to shoot for the moon, to pump up his scenes with melodrama and hyperbole, and usually I enjoy that (as in "Dead Again" and "Henry V"). Here, however, faced with material that begins as lurid melodrama, he goes over the top.
The movie is bracketed with an unnecessary prologue and epilogue, taken from the original nov el, during which an Arctic expedition encounters Frankenstein and his monster wandering far from home on the frozen wastes. Presumably this material is there to allow the headstrong explorer (Aidan Quinn) to learn from Frankenstein the hazards of indulging one's will. But that's a point the movie has already made.
The story leading up to Frankenstein's desire to create life involves his love affair with Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), his sister by adoption. Carter continues to blossom as a passionate English rose, and Branagh, as Frankenstein, is convincingly obsessed with her (they kiss as the camera whirls around them like an homage to "Vertigo"). But as a blood-soaked Caesarean birth is accompanied by lightning bolts pulverizing trees, we begin to wish Branagh would turn the volume down. (One sequence I did like involved the harnessing of lightning to give the Creature life; it's inspired by the 1935 "Bride of Frankenstein").
I admired the scenes with De Niro so much I'm tempted to give "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" a favorable verdict. But it's a near miss. The Creature is on target, but the rest of the film is so frantic, so manic, it doesn't pause to be sure its effects are registered.Review by Roger Ebert
IMDB 6,4/10 from 35 504 users
Wiki
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Steph Lady, Frank Darabont, Mary Shelley (novel)
Cast: Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter,
Ian Holm, John Cleese, Aidan Quinn and other
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Special Features:
- Theatrical trailer
- Bonus trailers for: "Awakenings" and "Much Ado About Nothing"
All thanks to original releaser
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