Braving the Gravitron

The Horror Hotel at this years Royal Adelaide Show.

Today I found myself spinning at 170km, stuck to a wall in side a large saucer shaped object. No it's not an alien abduction but a trip to Adelaide's annual Royal Show. The Australian equivalent of a state fair, the Show has personally been  a great source of fun and excitement, forming some of my earliest and fondest childhood memories. The Adelaide Royal Show began in 1840 and today continues to be a great mix of sideshows, junk food, produce and animals. As a child I remember spending what seemed like hours walking through the stock pavilions with Mum and Dad, hoping that we'd soon leave to find the showbag hall. Often things would go from bad to worse when my parents would stop to talk to friends and acquaintances they'd stumble across, making the anticipation so much greater. When we eventually got to the showbag pavilion it was like heaven. 

Looking back there were several showbags that I remember fondly. I remember in about 1978 getting the Space War showbag full of faux Star Wars novelties. There was the inflatable 'laser sword', the jigsaw puzzle of Star Wars-esque space craft, a Space Wars badge, a Darth Vader-ish mask and black plastic cape. I remember many a fun time being the 'Dark Lord of the Sith' in the remaing days of the September holidays. Another winner was The Incredible Hulk showbag, which amongst other things, included a plastic mask, poster and parachute Hulk. I remember coming home that night and watching the Hulk on TV while playing with my Hulk toys. I could never work out why Ol' Jade Jaws needed a parachute but it was cool none the less. 

It was in 1982 that I remember another fond showbag memory. This particular year they brought out a Doctor Who showbag. It came with a jigsaw puzzle, a badge, invisible ink, a cardboard T.A.R.D.I.S. model and a board game. Coming in at a dollar it was a cheap bag for the time and a gold mine for a merchandise starved Doctor Who fan. What was confusing though was that all the artwork reflected Doctor Who as it was in 1975, made all the more anachronistic in that the Doctor was now played by someone else. I later discovered that the board game had been part of a Weetabix cereal promotion in the UK in 1977 and that the showbag had originally appeared in Australian shows in 1978. Maybe the showbag people were cracking open the old stock. I didn't care, I had a Doctor Who showbag filled with images of my earliest memories of the show.

A wonderful view from the Ferris Wheel.

As I spun around like fruit in a blender, I reflected back on the series of events that had lead me to this moment. I remember walking through the gates with my family and looking down sideshow alley. There spinning in the distance was the Gravitron, that crown prince of fun fair flying sauces. As I gazed at its hypnotic motion, my sons said, 'We want to go on that, but only if Dad does'. After some initial protestations, I knew I needed to man up and take these boys into that swirling world that gravity forgot. Before I could change my mind, I walked up the gang plank of this pseudo-UFO and took my position against the wall inside. Within minutes I was plastered flat to the bulkheads as the machine began to spin. Feeling game, I started defying gravity, climbing backward, Spiderman-like, up the wall. Soon I was half way up, stuck like a fly on a windscreen but loving every minute of it. There I was with my boys, feeling like I was sixteen again, surprised that my coffee was staying down and having the crazy kind of fun only a sideshow, or NASA , can provide. As the ride finished, I staggered out, feeling like I'd been through the spin cycle of a giant washing machine and having loved every minute of it.

As the day went on, I continued to enjoy the time with my wife and children. We watched sheep dog demonstrations, dressage, patted farm animals, played games for soft toys and laughed at each other while we rode a variety of crazy amusements. I continued my fascination with the aesthetics of Ghost Trains, taking copious photos of the facades, but not daring to enter (no one else will go with me). Although the new ones looked cool, I missed the mechanical gorilla holding a severed head that stood on top of the old one (you can never beat the classics). 

The gruesome master of ceremonies on the Hollywood Horror ride.

We ended the day with a ride on the ferris wheel which provided us with a great view of the whole showground.  As I looked at our pile of lolly and novelty filled showbags and the tired faces, I knew that the excitement and the fun of the day would only be over-shadowed by the sugar rush they'd feel when they started to eat the contents of their showbags. As I lent back and looked over the showgrounds, I felt happy and a little bit excited. Soon I would be home, sitting in front of the TV and exploring the contents of my Comic Collector's Showbag, filled to the brim with Phantom Comics and promising even more hours of excitement. The Royal Show may end but the fun lives on.

Watching the dressage while stopping for lunch.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: History Repeating Itself?

Recently the latest instalment of the Planet of the Apes film series was released. Riding high on the success of the previous movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened to box office success and critical acclaim. Although not an official remake, Dawn shares more than a passing resemblance to the 1973 Apes movie, Battle for the Planet of the Apes. One of the main differences between the two films is their positions within their respective series. Where as Battle was the final film in a successful series that was facing decreasing budgets, Dawn, is the second movie in a rebooted series that is just hitting its straps. The original Apes series grew out of a movie that never intended to have a sequel, let alone four. On the other hand, Dawn is part of a pre-planned narrative cycle that moves towards the original Planet of the Apes concept and story line.

The Story Thus Far

Many people would be unaware that the Planet of the Ape began originally as a French novel, Las Planète de Singes by the author Pierre Boulle. Famous in English speaking countries for his novel and the subsequent film, Bridge over the River Kwai (1954), Boulle wrote Las Planète de Signe, a science fiction satire in 1963. Translated in English a Monkey Planet in 1964, Boulle felt the novel to be one of his minor works and potentially unfilmable. However, Boulle was surprised when in 1968, Las Planète de Singes leaped onto the big screen internationally as the Hollywood block buster Planet of the Apes. Following it’s box office success, Planet of the Apes, spawned four cinematic sequels, two TV series (live action and animated), more books, comics and a whole range of Apes merchandise. However by 1977 the Planet of the Apes franchise had seemed to have run it’s course. With the animated series finished and the last British annual and Marvel Comic being produced, the Apes phenomena was soon lost beneath the Star Wars tsunami that would soon engulf the world. Besides a series of 5 telemovies, edited together from episodes of the live action television show and a Hungarian comic adaption of the original novel, both in 1981, all seemed quiet on the simian front.

However by the late 80’s rumours of a new Apes project began to surface. By 1990 original comics based in the world of the Apes movies began to appear. Eventually a another movie adaption of the original novel appeared in 2001 and the Apes merchandising machine began to roll again. Although successful, 20th Century Fox Studios decided not to follow this movie up with a sequel but to reboot the series altogether. In 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes appeared in cinemas. Rise retold the origin story of Planet of the Apes. Instead of having intelligent apes from the future come back to the past to set in motion the ape revolution, Rise presented the origin of Ape civilisation as being the by product of human experimentation on apes in the search of a cure for Alzheimer’s. Drawing some comparisons with Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth film in the original Apes series, Rise was even more successful than its 2001 predecessor. Very soon a sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was in production.

Dawn continued the story set up in Rise. Eschewing some of the Frankenstein themes raised in the first film, this movie explored the ‘fear of the other’ and the selfishness of revenge in the face of acceptance and forgiveness. Taking place ten years after the previous film, we learn that the virus, originally designed to cure Alzheimer’s and had caused the intelligence to grow exponentially in the apes, had gone on to decimate the human population. Many of the humans that were left had then turned on themselves, decreasing the human population even further. Meanwhile the super intelligent apes had continued to breed and advance, unaware that some humans still existed. It is when a group of humans enter into the ape’s forest that things become complicated. Also oblivious to the apes existence, the humans had come hoping to reactive a hydro electric damn to give the ruined San Francisco power once again. Despite the trust that develops between Caesar and several of the humans, war eventually breaks out between apes and humans. The conflict is instigated by the revenge filled bonobo, Koba (Toby Kebell) and the fear driven human leader, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman).

A Comparison of Battle and Dawn

In many ways this film is has much in common with Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) the 5^th instalment in the original series. Both films serve a similar function in the wider narrative of the Apes saga, both depicting the rise of ape society post apocalypse and the deterioration of human civilisation. In the forefront of both versions of ape society is an ape named Caesar. It is he who has lead the apes to emancipation from their human masters. However, these two versions of Caesar are radically different in origin. The Caesar in Battle is the child of Cornelius and Zira, the two chimpanzees from the original Planet of the Apes who have travelled back in time to escape earth’s destruction 2000 years in the future. The Caesar in Dawn is the child of a regular 21^st century ape who has had her DNA genetically altered by being exposed to a virus that stimulates brain development. It is this virus that wipes out most of humanity and accelerates the intelligence of the apes that come in contact with it.

The two stories start with an ape society beginning to codify its morality, embodied in it’ most sacred law ‘Ape shall never kill ape’. It is in keeping this law that the apes believe sets them apart from humans, who have effectively wiped themselves out as a species through nuclear holocaust in Battle and un-elaborated global conflicts, post virus, in Dawn. One major difference between the two films is that Battle presents a fledgling ape society where humans are also present. It appears that various sympathetic humans have joined with the apes only to find themselves as a tolerated underclass struggling to find acceptance amongst the three other primate species. Caesar, although good friends with human adviser, Bruce McDonald (Austin Stoker), still wrestles with the role that humans should play with in his newly formed ape society. It is at this point that McDonald alludes to the fact that the future may rely on a change in ape/human relationships. Before long the two, in the company of an orang-utan scientist, Virgil (Paul Williams) head into the irradiated ruins of the nearby human city to gain access to recordings made by Caesar’s parents after their arrival from the future. McDonald hopes that the recording will alert Caesar to the dangers of ape/human hostilities and that unless otherwise mended, could end in the destruction of the earth in 2955. It is in the ruined city that the group comes into contact with the mutants who still live in the city. The mutants are lead by Kolp (Severn Darden), the former chief government interrogator from the previous film who still wants to see the apes subservient again.

In Dawn, the apes have created a human free community which is thrown into fear when a group of humans arrive looking for a dam control center. Caesar in both films has experienced the positive side of human ape relationship, and despite tensions between the groups, soon begins a friendship with Malcolm, the leader of the human party. Shocked by the arrival of humans after so many years, Caesar and hundreds of apes travel to the human city and declare that they only want peace and demand that they be left alone. Frightened by the ape’s show of force, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), the human leader begins a stock take of the human armoury in preparation for an ape attack.

At this point in the plots of the both films we have a divergence. In Battle it is ape/human society seeking information about the future that stumbles into the home of the ‘other’. The other in this case is the mutant survivors of the nuclear holocaust that ended 12 years before. In Dawn it is humans in search of their society’s future, through the access to electricity, which brings them into the world of the ‘other’, the fledgling ape society. Both films present that moment well known from history, human history that is, when two vastly different cultures come face to face, each assuming superiority over the other. Despite those with in each culture who seek peace, both societies soon fall into conflict based on fear of the different. What hope does a future of peace between ape and human have when humanity couldn’t event live at peace with itself?

'Every Caesar has their Brutus.'

Both movies depict a Caesar who is wisely attempting to guide his new found society in a direction of pacifism. ‘Ape has never killed ape’ is the basic tenant of this ideology and it is this idea that apes believe separates them from humanity and it’s history of conflict with itself. However in both narratives Caesar faces opposition from a rival ape, a symbolic Brutus, who has a score to settle with humanity to the point where he is prepared to break the most sacred ape law. In Escape to the Planet of the Apes, Cornelius reveals that in ape legend it was an ape named Aldo who was the first to say ‘No’ to his human masters. In Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, we come across an ape named Aldo, a government messenger chimp beaten by police after getting spooked by an anti-ape labour demonstration. It is this incident that causes Caesar to yell out in defense of Aldo, thus arousing suspicion that he may be the child of the talking apes from the future. It is this moment that set in place the events that lead to the ape revolution. In Battle, Aldo, now portrayed as a gorilla general, is the leader of the gorilla army and bitterly resents Caesar’s inclusion of human’s in his new society. He plots to arm his troops, destroy all humans and to overthrow Caesar. Unfortunately Caesar’s son, Cornelius, over hears the plot and is pushed out of a tree and mortally wounded by Aldo. Aldo then raids the ape armoury; rounds up all the humans in the ape village into the coral, just as an army of human mutants begin to attack the ape city. Following the defeat of the mutants, and the slaughter of the survivors by Aldo’s gorillas, Caesar confronts Aldo in relation to the death of his son. This confrontation fittingly ends with Aldo falling to his death from a tree at Caesar’s hand. The question is then asked by Caesar if one murder should be repaid with another. Here Caesar realizes that violence and hatred of ones brother is not just the domain of humanity but of ape as well.

Aldo’s equivalent in Dawn is a badly scarred bonobo named Koba. In Rise, Koba is a lab ape who carries the marks of years of mistreatment across his face and body. Initially loyal to Caesar, he becomes incensed when Caesar befriends the humans who have come searching for the dam. Believing that Caesar loves humans more than apes, he follows the humans back to their city, finds their armoury and raids it. Driven by the need for revenge, Koba shoots Caesar, and convinces the apes that it was perpetrated by humans. Soon Koba is leading the apes, armed with stolen guns, in an attack against the human city. During the battle, Koba demonstrates his willingness to kill any ape who disagrees with him, throwing a chimp, Ash, to his death when he refuses to shoot an unarmed human. This and other actions soon begin to polarise the apes, especially those still loyal to the memory of Caesar, including Caesar’s son, Blue Eyes. Fortunately Caesar is not dead, and after being nursed back to health by Malcolm and his family, is able to regain the leadership of the apes through the help of Blue Eyes. Once again we are presented with a scene where Caesar confronts his rival in a battle to the death. This time, rather than a tree, it is the remains of a multistory building from which Caesar’s rival falls to his death. As Koba looks to Caesar to save him from falling, he appeals for mercy saying, ‘Ape shall never kill ape’, to which Caesar replies, ‘Koba is not Ape’.

The Simian Loss of Innocence

Here we have an interesting contrast in the narratives of the two films. Where as Caesar in Battle recognises that both apes and humans can be guilty of violence and hatred, Caesar in Dawn insinuates that any ape who deviates from the great law, ‘ape shall never kill ape’ is no longer ape and therefore has no place amongst their number.

These divergent outcomes reflect the place these films play in the narrative of the series. Battle is a film that is attempting to wrap the up the Ape series with some kind of conclusion. In the end Caesar chooses to include humanity in his new ape society having seen that evil is no respecter of great ape species. The narrative itself is presented as a flashback sequence, a tale told by the Ape Lawgiver, 600 years after the events of the main story, to an audience of humans and apes living in harmony. It is a film that has taken the story of The Planet of the Apes as its starting point and has attempted to move the narrative to a place which is more optimistic. Despite the final ambiguous, but ominous, image of a weeping statue of Caesar, the suggestion is that things have changed for the better on the planet of the apes and men, at least for the time being. Dawn, on the other hand, is a part of a narrative that is working toward the events of The Planet of the Apes. It ends with Caesar’s sad realisation that further war with the humans is now inevitable. Rather than finding a place for humans with in his ape society, he must continue to protect and strengthen his community so it truly will be a place where ‘ape shall never kill ape’, despite the forces that threaten it from with out.

'Who Knows the Future?'
It will be interesting to see where the creators of Rise and Dawn take the Apes narrative next. The follow up to Battle was a TV series that was set 415 years after the scenes with the Lawgiver, in an a future where once again apes were the dominant species and man was a slave class. It is, however, unclear whether it was set in the the same fictional Apes universe as Battle.  Pictures of a futuristic New York City depicted long after the destruction of civilization as portrayed in the movies makes continuity with the film series difficult. It may have been that the creators of the television series merely wanted to set there story in an Apes world where lost astronauts could face the latest ape villain of the week with out worrying about tangled time lines and changed destinies. For all intense and purposes the original Caesar narrative has come to it conclusion at the very same point that the new Caesar narrative is beginning to take off. Dawn may easily be construed as a remake of Battle but the next installment will be breaking new ground in the ongoing story of the Planet of the Apes, as it heads to the point where the original series began. This also something that effects the overall tone of the movies. If the future at the end of Battle is an open book, the future in Dawn is preordained and pessimistic. Dawn's narrative is working its way towards that moment when Colonel George Taylor collapses before the half buried Statue of Liberty on a beach two thousand years in the future. Both films tell the story of ape society’s loss of innocence and its first conflict with its former oppressors since the initial revolution. However with out the insight passed down by apes from the future in Battle, the Caesar in Dawn has to fight to create a future for his ape society rather than trying to avoid a particular version of it that may end in a global mushroom cloud. Either way, it will be a future where the evolved exploits of humanity's closest relatives will continue to thrill audiences, as they have done since Boulle first unleashed his dystopian tale upon the world in 1963.

King Jesus Meets the Taxman

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19: 8-10)." 

I have always been captivated by the story of Jesus' meeting with a particularly infamous man. Jesus was visiting Jericho, one of the great taxation centers of Palestine and while he was there he came in contact with Zaccheaus, a tax collector. Tax collectors, not unlike today, were severely disliked and had the ability overcharge people, taking advantage of their position as Roman representatives. The amount of monies due was often unclear and the chief tax collector was paid by what he could collect on top of the required taxation. To add to the situation, the chief tax collector usually had minor tax collectors under him, who also relied on adding to the taxation required in order to receives payment for themselves. With such an open ended situation, corruption was inevitable and the reputation of the tax-collecting profession was abysmal. While Rome got its required amount to build the needed infrastructure, the subjects of the empire were taxed in a way that was unfair and exploitative. In Judea, the tax collector was also seen as a Roman collaborator, working with those who dared occupy a throne belonging to the line of King David. Tax collectors were hated plunderers of their nation, extortionists and traitors who were far from God. In the eyes of the general populace they were on par with thieves and murderers. If a person who pleased God was one who followed the laws given by Moses to the letter, then the tax collector was seen to be the antithesis. Most Jews knew that God despised tax collectors. If God was a King and good law-abiding people were citizen of his kingdom, then tax collectors were the kingdom's enemies.  One such chief tax collector was Zacchaeus of Jericho. It was while Jesus was visiting his town that Zaccheaus went to catch a glimpse of this travelling teacher who had a reputation of associating with 'tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5: 30).

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.  All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'"(Luke 19: 1-7)

It was then the penny finally dropped for Zacchaeus. Whether it was a prior awareness of Jesus' message or a prompting from God, Zaccheaus showed himself to be a changed man. In a heartbeat of Jesus' loving acceptance of him, Zaccheaus set about showing that he was different. Where once he had behaved unjustly to others, he know showed that he had become a 'just' or righteous man, full of loving kindness to those around him. He had become 'born from above' or 'born again'.

Jesus said “I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. (John 3:3). In Jesus Christ, or King Jesus, the Kingdom of God had arrived and those who heard his message and obeyed him had a place in that Kingdom. With this came a renewed, reborn understanding of self, God, and the world around, based on love for one another. In this kingdom it was love that ruled, summed up in Christ's commands,

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22: 37-40)."

Christ's disciple, John, son of Zebedee, wrote,

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love (1 John 4: 7-8). 

This was the day Zaccheaus became 'saved', the day he knew that he no longer belonged to the old world, bound by injustice against others and God. It was the day he became a citizen of the God's world of loving kindness that was just beginning to blossom. As an outcast Jew, he knew it was impossible to follow all the laws given by Moses to the letter but he saw that Jesus offered a way of love that would fulfill that law in spirit and make him 'righteous' or 'just' in God's eyes. In fact all who followed the way of God through Christ could be set free from the chains of the past. Zaccheaus now traveled the path of love that would lead its very pro-claimer, King Jesus, to die in the place of all who deserved death for their injustices against God and others. The greatest act of love in history set us free so we could walk this world in love, representatives of the God's kingdom, in a world struggling under the Kingdom of Darkness to emerge into the light of love.


 

The Love of my Life

Nat King Cole once sang ‘The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return’. I must say that as I grow older this continues to be the greatest truth I’m learning. When I think of fashion, money and fame, they all fall dim in comparison to love. My love journey began in the arms of my parents who taught me about family, loyalty, sacrifice and this adventure continued when I met the love of my life, Susanne. We met on Australia Day in 1995. It was a beautiful summer evening at a popular South Australian beach. I had gone there with a group of friends to visit someone we all knew who was pole sitting for charity. 

Now for those who don't know, the pole sitting discussed here involves a small cabin perched in top of a 10 foot pole. A series of these poles are lined up in a row and the participants are lifted up into the cabins via a cherry picker. With each of them being sponsored financially by family and friends, the pole sitters spend 24 hours in their cabins before changing over with someone else. While the pole sitters are up they are also able to collect money from passers by via collection buckets on the end of ropes. It was amongst these lofty towers that I met my beautiful wife. 

As I talked to my friends and pole sitters, I started chatting with a girl who seemed amazing. All I could see was a silhouette, ..…but oh what a silhouette. She had a voice that was golden and to top it off she knew who I was. She was a friend of the person we'd come down to see and she'd seen me before. All I knew was that I wanted to see her again…and in the light of day. To make sure of this, I left my phone number in her donation bucket. 

As we left to go home, I knew the long wait had begun. Would she find the number? Would she call and when? Would she be interested in me? And what did she look like in the light? She did call eventually, but only after making me sweat. And we've been together ever since.

My beautiful wife is a truly amazing woman. She is the mother of my four beautiful children, a hard working nurse and my best friend. She puts up with my grumpiness, passive aggressive mood swings, my aversion to organization, my vagueness, my weirdness and my ability to leave my shoes lying anywhere. This is by no means an exhaustive list but enough has been shared. On top of this there is the children. They've also inherited some of this unfortunate behavior. Now there are 5 pairs of shoes lying around.

Susanne is a woman with a deep commitment to God. This is highlighted by the ten years of service she gave as an officer in The Salvation Army, as well as her continued involvement in the life of the church and her work as a nurse. She has a beautiful way with people and I love to watch interact others. Basically I think my wife is amazing.

After 17 years of marriage I am forever grateful that my love journey is with Susanne. She is the most beautiful and graceful woman I know (my mother, mother-in-law and daughter definitely get an honourable mention though). She is fun, fabulous, smart and drop dead gorgeous. Everyday I am thankful she is in my life and everyday I try to make sure she knows, with out a doubt, how much I love and respect her. 

Through our relationship I've learnt that it's so important to find out those things that make your partner feel loved… and to actually do them. Don't assume those things are the same for them as they are for you. Be careful not to dismiss and ridicule them when they're not. We all give and feel love in different ways. You might think your showing love but they may not see it that way. 

‘The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return’. Be merciful to those you love. Relationships aren't about scoring points for yourself but about enriching the lives of those you care for. At the end of the day life's not an exercise in how much you've earned or achieved but about how well you've loved. As for me, I want Susanne, and the family we have together, to know that they are loved, not because of what they do but because of who they are. She is the love of my life and every day, through the fog of work and parenting, I try to make sure she knows it. Life's too short for anything less. Susanne Castle…I love you.

Where the fang is Visaria?

The Regional Anthem of Visaria

There is a land where winter skies,
Resound with wolf and vulture cries,
Thunder and lightening paint the clouds, 
those dark grey clouds.
Where misty swamps and mountain crags,
Are crowned with bats and alpine stags,
And here we sing before that ancient flag,
Visaria, Visaria, Visaria

(Translated from the High German).

The Forgotten Land of Visaria

As I was growing up there were many ancient lands spoken of by my family. My mother and father told me about our family origins in the UK. There were stories passed down about my Cornish, Irish, Scottish and English ancestors and the way they forged a new life in Australia. Then I married into a German family and began to learn about a whole lot of places on the other side of the English Channel, such as Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria. Eventually I met someone from Transylvania and read up on the histories of that ancient land and the tales of the infamous Prince Dracula and Countess Bathory. However amongst all this discussion of European regions, there was one land that no one ever talked about. 

Visaria

It was In the 1980's I first heard the name of the mystical land of Visaria. This forgotten region is little known by many and its mention is only found in important film texts from the 1940's. The occasion of my first hearing of Visaria was on Peter Goers' Late Night Horror Show on Channel 10, Adelaide, South Australia. That evening he was presenting a screening of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), the first meeting of two Universal monsters in one film. As a child, cartoons and other programs had convinced me that it was Transylvania that was the scene of the Universal Monster's horrible supernatural crimes but here I began to see otherwise. Visaria, this land of 'hills, mountains,..forests (Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)', and festive villagers, was also a mecca for mad scientists and monsters alike.

Document 1: Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
The first document to reveal the existence of the region was The Ghost of Frankenstein. It begins with the villagers of Frankenstein deciding to blow up Frankenstein Castle, left deserted by the Frankenstein family for many years since the last appearance of the monster (The Son of Frankenstein (1939). The only occupant of the Castle is Ygor (Bela Lugosi), the hunchbacked friend of the monster. It is while the castle is being demolished that Ygor finds the still living creature (Lon Chaney Jr) encased in sulfur. The creature had been pushed into the castle's basement sulfur pit many years before by Henry Frankenstein's first son, Wolf (Basil Rathbone). As the castle explodes,Ygor and the Monster escape through the wilderness to find Henry Frankenstein's second son, Dr Ludwig Frankenstein (Cedric Hardwicke). Ludwig is a brain surgeon extraordinaire who has set up practice in Visaria, a peaceful town at the foot of the Alps, fond of singing, dancing and spontaneous village mobs. It is at this point that the location of the Frankenstein saga moves from the Village of Frankenstein to the Visarian region.

Document 2: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

The could be one of the quaint rustic streets of Visaria,
the location of many a village festival. .

In Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man we discover that Ludwig's sanitarium is also known as Frankenstein's Castle and that there is a mountain stream that runs beneath the castle and drives the  turbines that power the laboratory. This stream is dammed, the wall of which can be seen adjacent to the castle. This dam is eventually blown up in an attempt to kill the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr)  and the Monster (Bela Lugosi), washing the remains of Ludwig's castle away. It's in this movie that we get exposed to Visaria's wonderful alpine culture with its depiction of a boisterous village festival. We also get to hear a rousing rendition of the the Visarian folk song 'Faro-la Faro-li'. 

Document 3: House of Frankenstein (1944)

This could be a surviving watchtower from
Dr Ludwig Frankenstein's Castle. 

In Document 3, the Monster (Glenn Strange) and the Wolf Man are found frozen in the bowels of the original Frankenstein Castle. The icy discovery is made by the insidious Visarian scientist , Dr Gustav Neimann (Boris Karloff) and his hunchbacked assistant Daniel (J. Carrol Naish). This is remarkable seeing as they were last seen battling in Ludwig's castle in Visaria, a town shown here as being some 152 km away by road. The ruins of the original Castle Frankenstein appear with a ruined dam wall reminiscent of Ludwig's Castle. At this point it could be suggested that the writers have actually fiddled with the details put forward in the previous installment to serve their new narrative direction.  Perish the thought. An analysis of the details in the text suggest that there may have been ancient tunnels and glacial caverns linking the two ancestral fortresses of the Frankenstein family. The villages of Frankenstein and Visaria were geographically close, separated by an alpine ridge that can be crossed on foot or by a 152 km journey by road through the nearest alpine pass. When the dam was destroyed in Visaria, the Monster and the Wolf Man were washed through the subterranean tunnels into the cavern below the ruins of the original Frankenstein Castle. This explosion also overwhelmed the second dam wall on the Frankenstein village side. This dam was once a prime example of the rare double wall dam design unique to Visarian/Frankensteinian alpine architecture. It also a prime example of the needs of alpine experimental brain surgeons driving hydroelectric technology.

Visaria, a land of hills, mountains and forests.

Document 4: House of Dracula (1945)
It's in Document 4 that we discover that Visaria is also located in a coastal region. Here we are introduced to Doctor Franz Edelmann (Onslow Stevens), another Visarian brain surgeon, whose house and practice are situated near the Visarian coast. The action starts when Count Dracula (John Carradine) arrives at Edelmann's house claiming to seek a cure for his vampirism. Not long after, Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man, also arrives looking for an answer to his supernatural curse. Before long Dr Edelmann is vampirised by Dracula and Lawrence Talbot tries to end his life by throwing himself into the ocean. While rescuing the Wolf Man from his failed watery suicide, the skeletal remains of  Doctor Niemann and a dormant Frankenstein Monster are found in a coastal cave. The Monster and  Dr Niemann had met their demise in the previous installment by sinking into a pool of quick sand, eventually emerging in the cave. Soon Dracula is dead, Dr Edelmann has turned into a homicidal mad scientist vampire and the Monster is laid out in the laboratory ready to be revived. When the curtain comes down on this installment the house is in flames as a hostile village mob storms the premises to send the Universal monsters to a fiery demise.

Where is Visaria?

My scribbled map of the mysterious regions of Visaria and Frankenstein.

The House of Dracula is the last we hear of Visaria. Soon the Universal Monsters had shifted to America and left their European homelands far behind (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). But where is this region of Visaria to be found and how does one book a holiday there? When we look at an atlas some related landmarks jump out. First of all there is Castle Frankenstein located in the west of Germany in the State of Hesse and the Village of Frankenstein located to the east in the State of Saxony. In the South there are the Alps located in the State of Bavaria and the ocean in the far north. As exciting as it is to pinpoint these places, it becomes quickly apparent that the region Visaria is a geographical impossibility. Visaria is located in a fictional Germany of the imagination. It is found in a 1940's American dream of a Europe that is free of war and where the only evil to be found is of supernatural and fantastic origin. In Visaria there are no jackboots only the asphalt-spreader's boots of the Frankenstein monster. In this far off land the only bullets fired are those of silver and not of Nazi lead. In the wartime Europe of the imagination, mad scientists are obsessed with creating artificial life and not death on a massive scale. The only way to holiday in Visaria is to find a copy of these cinema classics, grab some popcorn and while away the hours in the company of The Monster, The Count, The Wolf Man and the feistiest village mob this side of Transylvania. Faro-La, Faro-Li!

The Universal Frankenstein Series
Frankenstein (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
House of Frankenstein (1944)
House of Dracula (1945)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

'Elvis and Me' or 'Drawing a Long Bow'.

A dramatic recreation complete with hound dog.

Recently it was Elvis' birthday. On the 8th of January this year, Elvis Aaron Presley would of been 79 if he was still alive...or would come out of hiding. I clearly remember the day he died. I was 5 years old and in my first year of primary school. Even at such a young age I knew that a living treasure had died and that some things would never be the same again. A few years later I remember watching my younger brother play with his Elvis Paper Doll Activity Set and explaining to him who Elvis was, soldier, movie star, King of Rock-n-roll, and why he wore such amazing sequined jump suits. But what many don't realise is that Elvis and I have a lot in common and a connection of sorts. We are both male, singers, wear jeans and married beautiful women. I own a copy of Bubba-Hotep. He was a king and I am a Castle. I even got to impersonate him as 'The Pharaoh' in an amateur production of Joseph and his Technicolour Dream Coat back in 94.  Outside of these ties that bind me to the King, I didn't believe there could possibly be much else.  I was wrong, oh so wrong.

I strongly believe that some places on this earth are nexus points of mystical and mythic power. Places such as Loch Ness, Castle Frankenstein and Hanging Rock are places where fact and the fantastic caress each other in an intimate embrace.  I believe that in Adelaide, South Australia, Semaphore Beach is one of those places. In fact in my own life, Semaphore Beach has conspired to draw my fate together intrinsically with Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll.  You may ask 'How can that can be?' I will now tell you the fantastic tale of manifest destiny that drew us together.

The  beachside view of the Semaphore Carnival

Recently I was visiting my brother who lives not too far from Semaphore Beach. We were talking about the local seaside carnival and the vintage carousel that's been there for years. This beautiful merry-go-round has been on the Semaphore foreshore for the last for 76 years. The carousel was built in Adelaide by Len Northey in the 1920’s as was one of earliest electric powered models. With its forty handcrafted horses, it is said by some to be the largest operating carousel in Australia, beating all other takers by four wooden ponies. Originally situated at Henley Beach, the carousel was moved to the Jubilee Oval for six months during an expo in 1936 and then found a new home in it’s current location in 1938 (http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/11/09/2414408.htm). 

Me as Billy Bigelow posing on the Carousel on the bottom right with
Jo Lawry as Julie Jordon on my left.

On top of my city's sentimental love affair with the sideshow ride, I also had my own connection to the carousel. Back in 1995, my first year out teaching, I was given the lead role in the school production of Carousel. The character I played was that of a handsome carnival roustabout, Billy Bigelow, who uses his sex appeal to entice young ladies onto the ride. It's while he is working that he meets and falls in love with, Julie Jordon, and love soon blossoms. Incidentally, the role of Julie was played by Jo Lawry, at that time a final year student who's currently carving out a successful career as a vocalist singing back-up for Sting (see Jo in the Oscar winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom (2013). However Billie and Julie's romance is frowned upon by those around them, and through a series of related circumstances, they find themselves unemployed.  Soon the couple are married and Julie falls pregnant. Upon hearing the news of his impending fatherhood, Billy is over whelmed with the responsibility of being a parent, especially if the child is a girl. This sense of responsibly misguidedly leads Billy to his tragic death in a robbery aimed at ensuring his child's financial security. Following his death, Billy finds himself in heaven with a chance to return to earth to try and guide his young daughter through to a better life.

The Semaphore Carousel

With the option of building a full size carousel well outside the meagre school production budget, the director opted to open the show with a silent film that showed the meeting of the two leads on the carousel. And so it was on one sunny afternoon that some of the cast, and a film crew from the school media department, headed down to Semaphore to film the opening sequence on the Semaphore carousel. There I was, playing a carnival roustabout for the cameras, pretending to romance my leading lady, while riding the Semaphore carousel. There I was, a cinematic legend in my own lunch time, being recorded for posterity on celluloid (well video tape anyway).

As I pondered these sweet memories, the discussion with my brother turned to the ferris wheel that is also a permanent fixture on the foreshore. As he did so, a bombshell was dropped that sent ripples through mystical realms. This ferris wheel had cradled the very royal backside of the King of Rock-n-Roll himself. Now I knew that Elvis had never performed in Australia and even if he had, a trip to Semaphore probably wasn't on the cards. So what was the story with this chunk of Elvis history? In 1964, Elvis appeared in a movie called Roustabout. The movie tells the story of a singing biker, Charlie Rogers (Elvis Presley) who gets work at a traveling carnival. After being run off the road by an angry Father (Leif Erickson) who has caught him flirting with his daughter Kathy (Joan Freeman), Charlie gets work as a roustabout at their family carnival while he waits for his bike to get repaired. It is here that he meets the tough carnival owner, Maggie (Barbara Stanwyck), who is also Kathy's mother.  (IMDb Plot: Roustabout (1964). Of the story IMDb says, 

Along the way, Charlie (who's got a chip on his shoulder about being an orphan) somehow learns about family values from this vaguely dysfunctional one (IMDb Plot: Roustabout (1964). 

It was in a scene with Freeman that Elvis rode what would become the Semaphore ferris wheel and serenaded her with the the song  It's a Wonderful World. The scenes featuring the ferris wheel were filmed in a cow paddock in Seven Oaks, California, with the King riding in carriage number 2. But how did the ferris wheel come to be at semaphore 50 Years later? It arrived in Australia in 2000 when it was featured on a barge under the Sydney Harbour bridge during New Year Celebrations. In 2004 the 12 carriage ferris wheel was given an over haul with new carriages and came to reside in its current location.

(http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMBYN7_Elvis_Ferris_Wheel_from_Roustabout, https://www.portenf.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/sem_bro_FINAL_PRINT_Julie2.pdf)

A few weeks later I returned to Semaphore and began to ponder these two wonderful artefacts of carnival history before me. It was there, surrounded by seagulls and sideshows, that I began to feel chills running up and down my spine.  Elvis and I were now connected by a strange cord, woven in the mystic merry-go-round that is the Semaphore Carnival. Both Elvis and I had played carnival roustabouts on film in stories that had explored the concept of the itinerants search for home and family. Both of us had ridden a carnival ride to woo our romantic leads and now these rides were only metres from each other. Both rides had searched for a home and had found it at Semaphore, ferris wheel here, carousel there. Roustabout here, roustabout there. Elvis here and me there. I even owned a copy of Joan Freeman in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Could this be coincidence? I think not! Elvis and I were inextricably connected once again, separated by time but not by space. The long bow of destiny had been drawn.

Sometimes at night when I close my eyes, I begin to hear the haunting music of the carnival steam organ. Once again I am there, riding the carousel as the sun slowly sets. As my horse circles round to the front of the pavilion, I look over and see Elvis coming over the top of the ferris wheel. We both look at each other, wave and share a knowing smile, aware that we are inextricably linked forever. And on we ride, long into the night......

Hammer's Frankenstein: The Unreliable Narrator

In 1957 Hammer Studios released their original Gothic horror hit, The Curse of Frankenstein". The film was an immediate success for the British company and spawned the Hammer Horror phenomenon. The Frankenstein legend was a goldmine that had already been well mined by the American movie studio Universal through a series of 7 films. The series, beginning with Frankenstein (1931) and concluding with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1947), had told the ongoing story of the Frankenstein Monster. From  his creation in Germany to his apparent demise on a flaming pier in the USA, the Universal series had introduced the monster to various descendants of Henry Frankenstein, other classic monsters and finally a popular comedic team. By the end of the series the popular usage of the name Frankenstein for the monster and not a member of the Frankenstein family was being reflected in the titles. The Universal image of the monster, designed by Jack Pierce and portrayed by Boris Karloff and his successors, had become the dominant one in the public consciousnesses and would over shadow every depiction to come. This was Hammer's dilemma when they set out to produce their own adaption of the classic 1819 novel. Unable to imitate the popular but copyrighted monster make up, Hammer chose to take a very different approach to the Frankenstein legend. In lurid Technicolor, Hammer created a taught Gothic thriller which featured a homicidal monster (Christopher Lee) that, despite stitches and height, bore no resemblance to Universal's monster. However the biggest departure from Universal's take on the story was that the real monster of the piece was Baron Victor Frankenstein himself, a homicidal sociopath who is prepared to kill in the course of his quest to create life. But the quest itself proves to be a fatal one, with the monster falling through a sky light into a vat of acid and Victor being taken to the guillotine for the murder of his maid Justine (Valerie Gaunt), who had died at the hands of the Monster with a little help from the Baron.

The Revenge of Frankenstein
The film was a success for hammer and more horror thrillers soon followed. In 1958 the studio decided to follow up their 1957 hit with a new Frankenstein outing. The only problem was that both the monster and the Baron were dead, the latter dying childless. This problem was over come when The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) made it clear that Victor had survived the guillotine via the help of a group of co-conspirators lead by a deformed prison attendant named Karl (Oscar Quitak). Three years later a certain Doctor Stein is setting up his practice in the nearby town of Carlsbruck. With parts obtained from his work at a nearby poor hospital, Frankenstein has built a new body for Karl. After an initially successful operation things quickly go wrong. Karl, in his new perfect body, receives a blow to the head and is transformed into a twisted cannibalistic maniac and the local medical council discover the true identity of Doctor Stein. Soon Karl is burned in a fire and Victor is savagely beaten by an angry mob in the poor hospital. As the authorities close in on the dying Frankenstein, his brain is transplanted by his assistant Hans (Francis Matthews) into a new body that has been constructed to resemble the original one. With his brain in a new body and the authorities finding his  lifeless corps and declaring him dead, Frankenstein flees to England with his companion Hans. The film ends with a certain Dr Franck opening up a practice in London making it clear that the story of Victor Frankenstein hadn't ended.

The Universal Deal
With the Baron know a reanimated creature himself and very much alive, it was clear that Hammer had learnt its lesson about killing it's hero off. However this could not be said of the original Frankenstein monster which had met its demise in a vat of acid and seemed to be irretrievably dead, that is until the third installment of the Hammer series went into production. In 1958 Hammer struck a distribution deal with Universal/International. One of the upshots of this was that Hammer now had permission to use elements from the original Universal horror cycle. One example of this was their version of Universal's 1931 classic The Mummy. Rather than being a straight remake, The Mummy actually drew characters and scenarios from several films in the Universal Mummy series. Outside of allowing Hammer to remake Universal's popular monster movies, this turn of events also had an impact on Hammers Frankenstein series. Now the popular image of Universal's Frankenstein Monster was no longer off limits and Hammer sought to revisit the story of the original creature. The problem Hammer faced was that the creature was now nothing but a collection of disassembled proteins in the bottom an acid bath and was obviously never coming back. How could the return of the Monster be achieved? The answer was to ignore the events of the original film and retell a whole new story.

The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The resulting film, The Evil of Frankenstein, did just that. Baron Frankenstein returns to his home town of Karlstaad with his assistant Hans (Sandor Elés) after being away for ten years. Broke and in need of money to further his  work, Frankenstein heads to his Castle only to find that it has been ransacked and it's contents confiscated by the powers that be. Victor tells his companion all about his initial experiment via flash back which shows Victor working alone his creature. He describes the resurrection of the creature and it's progress after. However the monster soon escapes and is hunted down and shot by farmers after it has slaughtered a herd of sheep. Victor is also shot in the arm by farmers as he tries to stop them. Shot in the head, the monster staggers around eventually falling of a cliff, lot to his creator. Frankenstein then describes how he was run out of Karlstaad, never to return until the present time ten years later. After heading into town, Victor notices some his belongings in the possession of the Burgomaster (David Hutcheson) and soon sets off to reclaim them. After confronting the Burgomaster, Frankenstein is chased by the authorities, forcing he and Hans to take refuge in a cave. They hide with the help of a local mute beggar girl (Katy Wild) who leads them to the Monster frozen in a glacier that is visible with in the subterranean ice wall. Soon the Monster is defrosted, revived, and with the help of a carnival hypnotist (Peter Woodthorpe), is brought out of a catatonic state.  Things quickly go wrong when the hypnotist sends the Monster out on a burglary spree that soon turns murderous. Before long there is a village mob seeking the monster, which returns to Frankenstein Castle only to go on a laboratory destroying rampage. The film ends with both Frankenstein and the Monster seemingly burned to death as the castle's tower collapses in a fiery blaze.

Universal's Frankenstein Hammer-style 
The Evil of Frankenstein contains many plot elements derived from the Universal movie series. The creature preserved in subterranean ice, village mobs, the monster's friendship with another outsider and an exploding castle, are amongst a few of the narrative references from the Universal cycle. This influence also extends to the visual design of the movie which presents a monster, laboratory and castle that are reminiscent of the Universal versions. This creates an interesting contrast when comparing The Evil of Frankenstein with the version of the origin story as told in The Curse of Frankenstein, a movie that set out to avoid the similarities with the Universal series and present a fresh take on the Frankenstein legend. However design and plot elements aside, the real thing that creates a contrast between the two films is the drastic contradictions in their versions of the origin story. Curse clearly presents the Monster as being dissolved in a vat of acid, making its preservation frozen in a glacier in Evil a major continuity problem with in the series.

Frankenstein Rebooted
It's apparent that Hammer intended to over look it's previous Frankenstein entries and reboot it's continuity utilizing the well known tropes of the Universal series. Truth be told, in popular consciousness, the Universal movies had replaced Mary Shelly's novel as the primary Frankenstein text and now Hammer had the opportunity to adapt that too. This, however, would be short lived, as the next three films (not counting the origin story remake, The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) would leave the original creature behind and instead continue to focus on Victor's further medical misadventures.

The Lying Baron
But from a narrative perspective, when placing the two films side by side, some interesting conclusions can be drawn that go some way towards harmonizing the continuity problems between the two films. Both films contain narrative that is told in flash back from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein. It may be that the Baron is an example of the 'unreliable narrator', a story telling device that presents a narrator who is telling a story that can't necessarily be trusted.  Frankenstein is a character who is known to be manipulative and prepared to lie to protect his own interests. In Revenge, Victor sets up a practice in the town of Carlsbruck under an alias and works in the poor hospital to harvest parts from unwitting patients. In Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969) he blackmails a young couple who are stealing narcotics into helping him with his latest experiment. The Baron is also a dangerous psychopath who is happy to take human life in order to further his plans. In Destroyed, Frankenstein murders a surgeon purely because he is a suitable candidate to provide a body for the brain he is trying to save. As a source of information he is hardly a reliable as his very version of events may be another endeavor to cover his tracks. This is especially the case in Curse where most of the narrative is framed as his plea of innocence in relation to the murder of his maid Justine. He claims he is not guilty of her murder, but that she met her death at the hands of the monster. Frankenstein's reflections in Curse also describe his years of experimentation, assisted by his tutor Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart). In Evil this collaboration is not mentioned and Frankenstein's creation of the monster is presented as an individual pursuit. It can be argued that Paul had decided to cease his involvement with the experiment before the monster was activated and that in Frankenstein's ego-maniacal thinking the work was all his, which is naturally reflected in his retelling of the monsters origin.

A Tissue of Lies
The crux of the issue revolves around the death or disappearance of the monster with in the narrative. Both versions of the story relate the escape and fatal shooting of the creature. In Curse, Victor describes how He and Paul went out after the creature only to find the dead victims of it's murderous rampage. Once confronted, Paul shoots the monster in the head against Victor's protestations. However Victor goes onto explain how he retrieved the body and revived the monster once again. In Victor's flashback in Evil, he describes how, while searching for the escaped creature, he comes across a trail of dead sheep rather than human bodies. Soon he finds the creature feasting on a sheep's carcass and a policemen and two others also hot on the monsters trail. It is at this point that the monster is shot in the head, disappearing over a cliff, lost to his creator.

Although the details of Victor Frankenstein's flashbacks vary in many ways, the shooting of the monster in the head by another during the search is the consistent point between the two. I contend that within the narrative Frankenstein alters his recollection of events to suit his audience and tries to elicit the response that will aid his current circumstances. To try and piece together a series of events that helps explain the contradiction between the two accounts, one must reflect on the events outside Victor's flashbacks.

We know that prior to his impending execution for the murder of Justine, Victor appeals to Paul to back his story about Justine's death at the hands of the monster. In the flash back he is complicit in the pregnant Justine's death, locking her in the room with the monster in order to silence her after she had threatened to expose his experiments. Earlier in the same flash back Victor also pushes the elderly Professor Bernstein (Paul Hardtmuth) over the balustrade in order to use his brain in the creation of the monster. To cover his crime he makes it look like an accident, although Paul is suspicious. Victor claims that Justine was murdered by the monster but his own recollection implicates him. He says the death of the Professor was an tragic accident but his reflection reveals other wise. Frankenstein is not only the 'unreliable narrator' but the also the inconsistent narrator, revealing pieces of information that would seemingly hamper his cause rather than exonerate him. This is something that is not foreign to the character else where in the series. In Frankenstein Created Women (1967) Frankenstein openly shares information about his latest experiment, the transplanting of the soul of an executed man into the body of his dead lover, to the authorities to explain why the fugitive is homicidal. The Baron, aware of the genius of his work but blind to its horror, will at times naively share details of his grisly work under the impression that others will be won over by the brilliance of his achievements. Here, in pleading his case, he further implicates himself in other crimes. In believing that some how telling of Justine's death at the hands of his animated monster would actually exonerate him, Frankenstein has either proven his guilt to an even greater degree or merely convinced the priest he is telling his story to that he is lying or delusional.

The Facts of Fiction 

If it wasn't for the follow up story Revenge of Frankenstein it might be a reasonable suggestion that the later two points of you may be the case. In Revenge Frankenstein's abilities  to do amazing, but gruesome things is confirmed. Even his creation of the monster is some how known by the Doctors of Carlsbruck. However, how much of his story in Curse is true, and if he was lying, what really happened to the monster and Justine.

I believe the answer comes in Evil when the monster is found frozen in a glacial cave. Just as Frankenstein described at the beginning of the film, the monster had been shot and fell of the cliff only to be preserved in the ice. The monsters resurrection following his shooting, as described by Frankenstein in Curse, was a lie, a lie I believe was concocted to shift the blame for the murder from himself to his creation. The murder of Justine was the work of Baron Frankenstein himself, silenced when she threatened to expose his experiments to the authorities after he refused to marry her. I also suspect that Victor's fiancé  Elizabeth (Hazel Court) herself was accidentally shot by the Baron in the situations that surrounded the discovery of the body. In his flashback she was shot by Victor who was firing at the unseen Monster behind her. Unfortunately for Victor, Paul and Elizabeth refuse to support his concocted alibi as he has exhausted their loyalty. Death is what he deserves for his crimes and Paul refuses to corroborate any part of his story leaving Victor to appear like a deluded mad man.

With Our Thoughts We Shape the World

However Victor is rescued from the guillotine and lives to gain a reputation as a monster maker. Interestingly in Evil, he tells his assistant Hans that, rather than condemned to death for murder, he was charged with 'assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and working against God' and run out of town. Once again Victor changes the story to suit his audience. Justine's murder is conveniently forgotten and he presents himself as the misunderstood genius returned to claim what is rightfully his. Truth be told, this is how he sees himself. He is a man above all others, a master of life and death. He is quite at ease remaking the past, remaking himself and manipulating the present to assure his man-remaking future. In Hammer's version of the tale, the Baron truly is the Monster.