Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)

Oliver, direct descendant of the notorious Dr. Frankenstein, has experimented on the helpless niece of his "scientific patron" Tracey Morton, drugging her with a potion that temporarily makes her a monster. When these experiments don't exactly come to fruition, he follows in his ancestor's footsteps and creates a monster, this one a woman...

There are some movies that even I feel some measure of guilt watching. This is one of those films. After reading the plot, you're probably wondering why Oliver Frankenstein wants a female monster. This is why, in the mad scientist's own words: "Now we're aware that the female brain is conditioned for a man's world. Therefore it will take orders when the others (his ancestors' creations) didn't..."

Of course, this brings up another problem. This movie isn't about Frankenstein's daughter, but rather about a female monster, yet still all the characters still melodramatically refer to the monster as Frankenstein's daughter. You have to admire a film with the courage to carry through with its title, no matter how inconsitent it is with the plot.

And, boy, what a plot! The film starts off with Oliver Franknestein (who goes by the enigmatic alias of 'Dr. Frank') giving the object of his desire and average 50s teen a drug that turns her into an ill-concieved bathing suit-wearing monster who goes on rampages through suburbia. All witnesses to her rampage feel compelled to point out the "bathing suit" part, much to my amusement.

The other high point is a completely extraneous scene designed to speak to the "hip youth crowd." And since this is the 50s, this means you get to see a bunch of white kids gyrating around to bad pop music, which is always a gauranteed improvement to the cinematic experience. Never since Terror at Blood Beach have I been so thankful that I didn't spend my teenaged years in the 50s.

Despite the bowing to the youth culture, there's still plenty of mad scientist fun to be had by all. Oliver Franknestein is as arrogant and melodramatic as can be expected (although he doesn't give any really superb "I do not care if I must meddle in God's domain" speeches), the heroine as helpless and worthless as can be expected, and, of course, the lab dramatically goes up in flames! If you have an appreciation for this kind of thing and can stomach the "even more obvious than most 1950s films sexism" sexism, it's certainly worth checking out, at least for the notorious bathing suit monster.

Cast Connections

Donald Murphy (Oliver Frankenstein) was also...a coach passenger in 1931's Dracula. Yep.