I don't know when it crept into the public domain, but apparently someone let the copyright lapse on Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.If you can't make it to the theater to see The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, this flick is not really a substitute but it's free.
It's available on Archive.org and Public Domain Torrents, though oddly there aren't a lot of seeders. I can't imagine why with a Golden Turkey classic like JJMFD. (I also can't figure out why JJMFD is in public domain yet it's companion in Shockorama Billy the Kid vs. Dracula isn't?!)
At any rate, I'll be watching on the treadmill at the gym over the next few nights. When the program director on my local channel when I was a kid screened it in a weak moment one Saturday afternoon, I only caught the tale end of it.
Jesse and his buddy Hank were already in the Daughter of Frankenstein's clutches, so I didn't see the complicated tale of betrayal that led them to that fearful place.
Now I'm getting caught up--fortunately there's a long-ass expository scene at the beginning that gets things set up. The daughter of Frankenstein has fled from Europe to the old West and is devoting her time to completing her father's experiments. Her earliest attempt fails because she doesn't read the directions correctly.
Jesse James, having diverged from historical accounts of his life, is busy avoiding Jim Davis of Dallas and things just go downhill from there.
I haven't noticed any of the mic shadows and other flaws that made the director, William "One-Shot" Beaudine infamous, so the video iPod may be the film's perfect medium.
It's not a classic, but did I mention it's free!
2 comments:
After watching Billy the Kid vs Dracula I've avoided this one. My god it was horrible.
Oh, come on, at least it had John Carradine as the Count.
Post a Comment