Universal Monsters Castle Films Question in Universal Horrors Forum

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Universal Monsters Castle Films Question

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MonsterGuy95	Universal Monsters Castle Films Question	Lead	[-]
Dec 24 11 10:10 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was wondering, when Castle Films released Ghost of Frankenstein as Trial of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's New Brain, how would they have created a difference between the two. I have seen Trial and noticed that the climax actually is taken from the start of Ghost when the castle is blown up. What happens in New Brain? Also do any other Castle Films digests use this, I know The Wolfman's Cure.
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Bobtheman		#1	[-]
Dec 24 11 10:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	http://www.monstersfromthevault.com/LittleGiants.html To increase the number of titles it offered, the company sometimes split a feature into two digests. Ghost of Frankenstein, for example, was condensed into The Trial of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's New Brain. Both House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula were also split into two independent shorts,
PShields79		#2	[-]
Dec 24 11 1:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MonsterGuy95 wrote: I was wondering, when Castle Films released Ghost of Frankenstein as Trial of Frankenstein and Frankenstein's New Brain, how would they have created a difference between the two. I have seen Trial and noticed that the climax actually is taken from the start of Ghost when the castle is blown up. What happens in New Brain? Also do any other Castle Films digests use this, I know The Wolfman's Cure. In FRANKENSTEIN'S NEW BRAIN, I seem to recall the digest ending as GHOST ended. I can't remember how it started. I cut them together in sequence and that's all I can remember. Perry Shields Member, Torrance Theatre Company
DonM435		#3	[-]
Dec 24 11 1:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's odd that Castle never got around to issuing the early scenes (.i.e., the good parts) from Dracula in an 8mm digest.
Wich2		#4	[-]
Dec 24 11 4:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They tried to do little stories that had a middle, beginning, and end. And that generally lead to a digest that had a lot of the last act of the original.
Andy		#5	[-]
Dec 24 11 5:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Merry Christmas, Everyone! It was not until 1994, I began collecting 16mm Universal Horrors. I was not financially able to seriously assail such a "hobby" until my middle thirties. (I know, "It's more than just a hobby.) Equipped with a then-new Bell and Howell 2592 projector, I contacted Modern Sound Films in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. That venerable operation was beginning to divest itself of its considerable 16mm holdings, and founder Kent T. Smith was still living. Mr. Smith sold me two 1600' reels of Castle Films 16mm "Complete" digests that had formerly made the rounds of schools and church youth groups during the Halloween season. Of all these Castle Films digests, I vote for Son of Frankenstein as the leader in terms of exciting scenes, coherent story line, and trenchant dialogue. As time went by Big Reel magazine and then eBay began to stand out as reliable sources for theatre-length movies, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for the entry-level access Castle Films provided enthusiasts of my era with 8mm titles from the 1950's until the late 1970's. Best regards, Andy in Vancouver.
pinkfloyd95209		#6	[-]
Dec 26 11 3:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I find it funny that Castle utilized the Glenn Strange Frankenstein Monster on its cover with Elsa Lanchaster on the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN 8mm film box
Ted Newsom		#7	[-]
Dec 26 11 4:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I find it fast and cheap. They just re-used the bottom half of the Abbott & Costello box, complete with the fumbled cut-out around Frankie's fingers. But the pose vis a vis the Bride is kind of nice, if only by accident.
Joe Karlosi		#8	[-]
Dec 26 11 6:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	FRANKENSTEIN'S NEW BRAIN opened very awkwardly in the middle of action, with a shot of Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke) running through the halls and turning the gas on to overpower the Monster. Then, Ludwig decides to give the Monster a new brain, and Ygor fouls up his plans, with the ending of Ygorstein talking and the house burning up. TRIAL OF FRANKENSTEIN utilized different scenes, with the Monster first being resurrected form the sulphur pit, Ygor taking him into town, the Monster gets arrested, and then the Trial scene, where Ygor and The Monster escape in a wagon. They then finished with the actual GHOST beginning, with angry villagers storming the castle and blowing Ygor and the castle up . When I was a kid I re-arranged everything to make my own GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN 20-minute film! "Guy named Squeamy got thrown from the fifth floor. He's deader'n a mackerel."
TomWeaver999		#9	[-]
Dec 26 11 7:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Once I got a toy Movieola (sp?) and a 8mm splicer, I loved "tightening up" my Castle Films. One of the first thing I did was shorten the intertitles in IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, where the words appeared one at a time so you'd get the idea that the aliens spoke slowly.
Wich2		#10	[-]
Dec 26 11 9:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Castle 200' SON OF FRANK and later Universal Eight 400' edition used different cuts. Lots of folks combined the two. I strung together the 200' HOUSE OF FRANK and 200' DOOM OF DRAC into my first 400' film.
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Count Gamula		#11	[-]
Dec 27 11 12:34 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As far as when the two GOF castle films were released, I wanna say the early '70s, around the time they also released films like THE WOLF MAN'S CURE from HOUSE OF DRACULA. I never had any of those later ones. Kerry Gammill www.monsterkid.com
Ray Faiola		#12	[-]
Dec 27 11 11:19 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I never saw TRIAL OF FRANKENSTEIN. As some of you may know, when MCA remade the tv negs in 1971, there was a problem with the soundtrack of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN and the music at the end of the buckboard getaway was dubbed over with the music from the Monster's table-awakening. Did TRIAL OF FRANKENSTEIN contain this anomaly? Or was Castle still using 35mm fine grain material by the time they got around to the two GHOST cut-downs? Classic Film Scores Restored on CD http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com
thehorrorboy		#13	[-]
Dec 27 11 11:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Count Gamula wrote: As far as when the two GOF castle films were released, I wanna say the early '70s, around the time they also released films like THE WOLF MAN'S CURE from HOUSE OF DRACULA. I never had any of those later ones. 1976.
thehorrorboy		#14	[-]
Dec 27 11 11:25 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ray Faiola wrote: I never saw TRIAL OF FRANKENSTEIN. As some of you may know, when MCA remade the tv negs in 1971, there was a problem with the soundtrack of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN and the music at the end of the buckboard getaway was dubbed over with the music from the Monster's table-awakening. Did TRIAL OF FRANKENSTEIN contain this anomaly? Or was Castle still using 35mm fine grain material by the time they got around to the two GHOST cut-downs? I've always heard that Castle used 35mm material right up to the end. When the company became Universal 8, they started using 16mm.
federal operator 99		#15	[-]
Dec 27 11 11:40 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Castle Films' "Trial of Frankenstein" in its entirety (fast-forward to 1:36 for the start of the digest): http://bowery-bijou.blogspot.com/
Ray Faiola		#16	[-]
Dec 27 11 1:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well - you answered two questions. They made it from 16mm AND it had the replaced music during the wagon escape. THANK YOU! Classic Film Scores Restored on CD http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com
thehorrorboy		#17	[-]
Dec 27 11 2:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	How can you be certain it was 16mm? From the general slight softness of the image? If it was 16mm, it was very clean, without the marks and blemishes often seen on Universal 8 400 foot editions.
Wich2		#18	[-]
Dec 27 11 5:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'd always heard that Uni 8 went to 16 from 35, too.
Ray Faiola		#19	[-]
Dec 27 11 5:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Castle was always from 35mm until the last couple of years. Then they started copying from 16, as did Universal 8. When they expanded the one-reelers to two reels, they often mixed-and-matched 35mm from the original versions with additional footage from 16mm. A real mess. I have a very early Castle S.O.S. ICEBERG with Gibson Gowland and Gavin Gordon. It looks and sounds like 35mm nitrate. A simply amazing print. Classic Film Scores Restored on CD http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com
Wich2		#20	[-]
Dec 27 11 5:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Same here, Ray. I've seen early 8mm's from Castle that are just pin-sharp, with rich black-grey-white (or color!) pallettes.
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Universal Monsters Castle Films Question

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