ExaltedOne
"Frankenstein's Aunt" begins where the story of "Frankenstein" ends: after the failed experiment and the disastrous encounter with the angry mob of torch-bearing villagers, the castle lies in ruins and doctor Henry Frankenstein is nowhere to be found. Enter baroness Hannah Von Frankenstein - a cigar-smoking, sherry-drinking upper class lady who happens to be Henry's aunt. She's terribly cross with her loopy, good-for-nothing, mad-scientist nephew, even more so when she gets to see the sorry state of the family castle. Since the villagers refuse to cooperate in the reconstruction of the castle (unsurprisingly so, considering the fact the name "Frankenstein" is rather unpopular in the neighborhood), she has to find a way to get Henry's former associates to work. Except those associates are a vampire, a werewolf, an alcoholic merman and a couple of cursed spirits, who, of course, refuse to work under any circumstances.The screenwriters took a lot of liberty with the source material. A.R. Pettersson's novel was a short, witty homage to classic Universal horror movies, featuring or at least mentioning pretty much everybody from that era: Dr. Pretorius, the Monster, Frankenstein's Bride, Count Dracula, Lawrence Talbot. The script omits the whole Bride thing, instead opting for an entire new love interest for the Monster (who somehow also became a main protagonist of the story). As a result, the second half of the series feels rather different from the first half, relinquishing the "gothic horror slapstick comedy" feel of the first few episodes in favor of somewhat mundane tale of love, loneliness and redemption, which sets the whole series firmly in the sombre and mildly distressful land of Central European cautionary fairy-tales. In order to drive the whole point in, a host of new characters is introduced in the script, arguably the least necessary among them being a generic orphan boy Max, whose only point of existence is to provide younger viewers with a child hero to identify with. It is fairly obvious that Jaroslav Dietl, a noted screenwriter of many excellent Czechoslovak comedies and social dramas (who, sadly, did not live to see this series on TV) was not used to writing the stories for children; the fact he was only one among four different screenwriters probably didn't help either. The result feels stitched together like the Frankenstein's monster: rather makeshift in many regards, somewhat clumsy too, but lovingly crafted as a whole.All complaints aside, "Frankenstein's Aunt" is a nice and refreshing piece of European TV. Being a multi-national production, the production values are rather high for an 80s European TV series, with period costumes, real exteriors and the like. Both the castle and the village are real (although in reality, they are some 50 kilometers apart). Amongst the multinational cast, Viveca Lindfors, Ferdy Mayne and Jacques Herlin are especially enjoyable to watch; not surprisingly, as they were probably among the most experienced actors of the whole cast.
p800207
During Christmas 1990 this series was aired in Holland. I was ten at the time and I had just bought myself a video game system with a Castlevania game. I really loved that game! To those who know what characters play in Castlevania it should come as no surprise that I love this series as well!The story is set in Transylvania, where a scientist has created a human being consisting of human parts. People of a nearby town raid the castle and baron scientist is forced to flee, leaving his castle and it's residents behind. Since his creation is as dumb as can be, the castle residents try to educate Albert, as he's known to friends. Their primary goal is to make Albert as human and as loving as possible. Although the series was recorded in Chechoslowakia it is entirely in English (at least, the version I saw). The actors playing the parts have done an excellent job! Viveca Lindfors is cast as the Baron's aunt. The Baron's name is actually Henry Frankenstein, so Viveca Lindfors is "Frankenstein's Aunt". As soon as she arrives at the castle she runs the place. She tries to make every castle resident as ordinary as possible. As for those residents, what could you expect in an Transylvanian castle? Ferdy Mayne plays Count Dracula (resemble his Count Krolock in "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967)!) in an brilliant and stylish way and Eddie Constatine plays Alois, the Lake creature. Other minor castle residents include the Phantom Lady, the Fire creature, Igor the manservant and of course a werewolf. Frightened of what has happened in the castle (and probably more of ignorance) some of the townspeople try to find out what DID happen. Most of the townspeople are actually totally unaware of the castle's secrets. Except the local blacksmid and pharmacy lady, they are extremely hostile to the castle's residents, and not without reason. The blacksmid wants, after he found out about the truth about Albert, to abduct Albert and claim this creation his. He would be acclaimed world wide for it! The pharmacy lady sees her daughter falling in love with Albert, whom she calls 'this monster!' She tries to keep her daughter away from Albert and his friends and rather see her daughter getting married with the burgomasters son.I could give an entire excerpt of this series, but it is best that you watch it yourself. The filming locations are gorgeous. The acting is of a very high level. The special are pretty good. The music will be in your head the rest of your life. And most of all... this series has emotion! That's something you don't see very often. On the one hand this series is very funny and entertaining, but on the other hand you sometimes can't hold up your tears!So if you ever, ever get a chance to see this series, don't hesitate, watch it! It's the best series there practically is!
