The best way to view I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN is with the lights off and taking the subject matter very seriously. Whit Bissell is Dr. Frankenstein, an eminent British surgeon who has travelled across the pond whose research extends to transplanting organs.
With his almost paternal mask of cool precision, Whit Bissell could easily be pictured as a nuclear physicist at Los Alamos Proving Grounds explaining in his reassuring,avuncular manner the splitting of the atom to a group of his peers. When you get down to it, the man could explain how paint dries and make you hang on his every word. In this role, he is the American version of Peter Cushing in Hammer Films THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Both characterizations appear kinder and gentler on the surface.
Poor Phyllis Coates. From the aggressive,no nonsense news reporter 'Lois Lane' during the first season of television's THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, she is now the wife to be of Dr. Frankenstein, enduring emotional and physical abuse from her fiancé. In a rare emotional outburst, Bissell actually delivers a hard slap across Phyllis's face when she girlishly teases him about daring to discover what he's up to in the 'lab.' Alas, for Phyllis, George Reeves is nowhere to be found. The 'Man of Steel' was already off the air when this flick hit the drive-ins.
Gary Conway's all-American chiseled good looks would later play well as Gene Barry's sidekick for two years in BURKE'S LAW. In the title role of this picture,it certainly provided for Gary an element of cult classic cache and something to show off to the grandkids.
As I said, I watched this movie in a serious frame of mind. That is,until I saw that crocodile being used as Dr. Frankenstein's means of solving problems that would not go away.
