Stardate 06.17.2021.A: "It's Alive! It's Alive!" On This Day In Frankenstein History!

Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein is not only one of the most revered books in literature; it's also recognized by many in critical and academic circles as being one of the books that founded the genre of Science Fiction.  As a consequence, this tale of a scientist delivering life from lifelessness deserves a bit of additional recognition at every available opportunity ... so SciFiHistory.Net has been keeping its eyes peeled for special recognition in our ongoing attempt to highlight the peoples, places, and things we treasure most.

Here are today's citations from Frankenstein history!

Birthdays

Those of you too young to know the name of Ralph Bellamy will have to trust me when I say that he's probably one of the last actors I'd ever associate with any hard core Science Fiction or Fantasy ... but, as Fate would have it, one of the man's earliest appearances of note was in the role of 'Erik Ernst' aboard the Universal Studios' Monster Classic The Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942).  (NOTE: Those interested in this sort of thing: the film is available as part of Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection DVD set originally released in 2004.)  This particular movie saw the good doctor's assistant Ygor enlisting the assistance of the doctor's son in bringing the creature back to life; naturally, this does not bode well for all involved. 

Films

A Hammer film, The Horror Of Frankenstein was first screened for audiences in the United Kingdom on November 8, 1970, and it was American audiences who enjoyed this film on this day in 1971.  Essentially, the feature reexamines the original Frankenstein story with a lot of those Hammer sensibilities thrown in for good measure.  Critical response scored it about average (today's IMDB.com shows it with an audience rating just under 6 on the 10-point scale), but SciFi and Fantasy fans might seek it out for another reason entirely: the dreaded creature brought back to life is played by none other than David Prowse who would eventually go on to be a monster of a different sort -- Darth Vader -- in the Star Wars saga.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

​-- EZ