The Vinegar Syndrome edition of Andy Warhol’s FRANKENSTEIN (1973) arrived yesterday.
It is a gem.
The bonus material is thoroughly interesting.
While Andy Warhol’s name has been erased from the set the film remains undeniably his.
Director Paul Morrissey would have it otherwise.
Asked if he wanted a 3D release when Criterion produced a DVD version years ago Morrissey said, “No.”
When approached by Bob Furmanek on THE 3D FILM ARCHIVE about a restoration Morrissey asked if THE 3D ARCHIVE would pay for it.
His attitude was that the 3D did not matter.
Morrissey has spent decades denying credit to Andy Warhol.
In the bonus material Morrissey tells us again and again Warhol was autistic.
Perhaps he was.
That does not mean Warhol was stupid.
Nor does it mean Warhol was not courageous.
Warhol was and remains the definition of pop culture at its best.
While Morrissey denies Warhol any involvement in the making of the film the bonus material tells a different story.
Warhol I learned was there.
Certainly the film’s producer Carlo Ponti knew a thing or two about making movies.
He knew that movies are a pop culture medium just as books are.
Morrissey made his films under the Warhol brand.
If we went to see LONESOME COWBOYS, HEAT, TRASH, FLESH we went because they were sold as Warhol films.
We did not go because they were Paul Morrissey films.
Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali said, “It is good taste not bad taste which is the enemy.”
I am firmly with them.
THE 3D FILM ARCHIVE with the help of its many supporters (I am proudly among that number) has saved many 3D motion pictures.
Thanks to Vinegar Syndrome they have saved this one.
Andy Warhol’s FRANKENSTEIN in 3D glared the ads that pulled us from our homes into theatres in 1973 to make this picture one of the most successful 3D movies ever up to AVATAR.
We went because it was, we were told, a film by Andy Warhol, it was FRANKENSTEIN and it was in 3D.
The only thing missing from this presentation is Warhol.
Paul Morrissey’s name on the film would not pulled us from our homes.
A huge vote of thanks to THE 3D FILM ARCHIVE for this restoration.
This is a Limited Edition. It is already sold out.
Now if only the people who own the rights to BWANA DEVIL (1953), the film that set off the 3D Boom of the 1950s, would get the 3D FILM ARCHIVE to restore that.
Warner Brothers own 3D Library more than deserves to be on 3D Blu-ray.
Hopefully they will be.–Reg Hartt
http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/bloodfordracfleshforfrank7475.htm
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