Countdown to Halloween - Tales of Frankenstein

Tales of Frankenstein produced in 1957 was to be a collaboration between Screen Gems and famed Hammer Studios. Shot in the same year as Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein the pilot, titled "The Face in the Tombstone Mirror" features the latest Baron Von Frankenstein completing work on his Monster. The murderer's brain inside the monster's head makes the first awakening to be that of a murderous creature, the Baron must get a better brain. Paul and Christina Halpert come to the Baron's castle seeking medical assistance for Paul's critical illness. The Baron turns them away and Paul dies in the village a few days later. The baron then goes to the grave for a fresh brain to put in the head of his Monster. The Monster escapes, seeking its frightened, horrified wife, then seeks to kill the baron for making him monstrous and well....watch the pilot and see for yourself.

It's a shame this never came to be in my opinion, a series about an intelligent Frankenstein with a pretty interesting make up design and his adventures in the world would have made a great show years before the Hulk and Werewolf television series gave us fugitive monsters on the run. The make up design used bears a strong resemblance to the Marvel Comics Frankenstein and scenes of him were used in the retro Avengers trailer of YouTube fame. The lab set did a nice job of emulating the Universal Frankenstein lab on a television budget. Details about why the series didn't happen are sketchy, it's reported that Screen Gems wanted a generic Sci-Fi anthology show like the Outer Limits while Hammer wanted a Gothic horror show. 

Ah well leaves me hoping that we'll get a Frankenstein's Monster on True Blood soon....hey they had Adam on Dark Shadows...