it's safe to say that Shelley's opus did not include crawling disembodied arms, sinister Chinese coolies, solar power, or the flabbergasting paisley dressing gown that Dr. Frankenstein wears for one brief but startling scene. In fact, The True Story deviates from Shelley's story in almost every detail. In this version, the young and handsome Dr. Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting, star of Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet ) is lured into reviving the dead by the obsessive Dr. Clerval (David McCallum, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ), who gruffly tosses off lines like "Fail? That is a
word I shall teach you to forget!" and "This was specially prepared with chemicals--I'll explain what they are later." Clerval's untimely death doesn't stop Frankenstein from bringing his Creature to life...
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Director: Jack Smight ♦ Actors: James Mason, Leonard Whiting, David McCallum, Jane Seymour, Nicola Pagett