Joe
Bob Briggs Presents “Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter”
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: C-
William Beaudine was one of the most enduring journeyman
director’s ever, staring in the early silent era of filmmaking before the dawn
of Hollywood and was also a major TV director.
He made some good films, some forgettable ones and some very bad
ones. His last picture was Jesse
James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, his 1966 coda that constantly shows up
on worst of all-time lists in celebratory fashion. Now, the great drive-in guru himself (some one this site can
really appreciate) Joe Bob Briggs teams up with Elite Entertainment to present
the film like never before.
The famous cowboy outlaw is in town, but little does he
know the (grand) daughter of the most infamous monster maker of all time and
her new plot to revive her father’s legacy monstrously with a new lab (on a
real low budget) and all hell will break loose, if enough sets and locations
can be found to shoot the film. Jim
Davis is the only known name here thanks to the hit TV series Dallas,
but he was one of the few to continue a career after this. You have to see it to believe it.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image has color poor
issues (originally from Pathé) and detail troubles, but that makes this
funnier. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Sound is
also dated, more so than it would be for a film of the period except that this
was such a low budget production. That
leaves the extras, the real reason to catch this version of the film. Besides the trailer, Briggs offers a
terrific full-length audio commentary track with as many great facts as there
are great jokes. I hope this is the
beginning of a new relationship of bad B-movie/drive-in cinema. Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter
was the last of over 500 features. At
least he went out with something memorable… memorably bad. Don’t miss this.
- Nicholas Sheffo
