Fabulous Films, out now

When the brilliant scientist Dr Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge. 

Jack Smight’s (Damnation Alley) two-part, three-hour TV adaptation of the horror classic gets a lovely HD transfer from Fabulous Films, and while it would benefit from losing half an hour (not the full hour lost in its theatrical cut) it’s a solid adaptation.

In a six-minute contemporary (to 1973) introduction by James Mason playing himself, we’re told that Frankenstein was not a Hollywood invention, but actually based on a popular novel by Mary Shelley! Wonders never cease! We’re then shown her gravestone in St John’s Wood… except that it’s fake. She’s really buried in my home town of Bournemouth, and the reality of this movie being the ‘true story’ of something that’s a piece of fiction becomes somewhat clouded.

It’s a great cast. Leonard Whiting is the young doctor, supported by David McCallum, James Mason, Jane Seymour and Michael Sarazin as the beautiful creature who starts falling apart. The usual Frankenstein tropes are all present and correct, the familiarity exacerbated by the use of oft-used Hammer locations like Bray and Black Park. Setting the ending in the Arctic Circle (like the novel) is however a novelty.

The disc includes interviews with Jane Seymour, Leonard Whiting and co-writer Don Bachardy, as well a highly-detailed commentary by film-maker Sam Irvin and a double-sided fold out poster of Graham Humphreys’ new artwork.

Verdict: A crisp transfer of a beloved adaptation of Shelley’s masterpiece. 8/10

Nick Joy