PETER CUSHING is photographed in costume as Baron Victor Frankenstein during a studio effects setup for The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), seated high on a practical wagon section positioned directly in front of a large projection screen. The finished illusion is absent here: instead, the photograph exposes the mechanics around the performance, including studio lighting units, support stands, curtains, floor space and crew silhouettes in the foreground. Cushing sits centered above the wagon with his legs braced apart and hands resting near his knees, maintaining the Baron’s controlled, purposeful appearance even while the surrounding soundstage remains completely visible. The contrast between costumed actor and exposed technical environment gives the image its particular appeal, turning a brief screen effect into a revealing record of Hammer production practice.

The wide composition makes the photographic setup unusually easy to read. The wagon occupies the center of the frame, while the large pale screen behind Cushing creates a clean background for the projected moving scenery used in the completed sequence. Lighting and masking equipment flank the screen, and the open studio floor shows how carefully the foreground performance had to be separated from the background image. For collectors of Peter Cushing The Evil of Frankenstein 1964 material, this is a strong behind-the-scenes photograph because it documents not simply the actor in costume but the practical filmmaking method being prepared around him.

Directed by Freddie Francis for Hammer Film Productions, The Evil of Frankenstein was released in 1964 and stars Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, with Peter Woodthorpe as Zoltan, Sandor Elès as Hans and Kiwi Kingston as the Creature. MoMA identifies the film as a 1964 British production directed by Francis and lists Cushing, Woodthorpe and Kingston among its principal performers. Hammer’s own retrospective on Francis also discusses his direction of the film and his close working relationship with Cushing.

The story finds Frankenstein returning to Karlstaad, where he discovers his earlier Creature preserved in ice and attempts to restore it. When the Creature’s mind fails to respond, the Baron turns to hypnotist Zoltan, whose intervention creates a new danger. The film continued Hammer’s Frankenstein cycle while again placing Cushing’s Baron at the center of the story, driven by his determination to revive and control life despite the consequences surrounding his experiments.

Production records place filming from 14 October to 16 November 1963, principally at Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, with location work at nearby Oakley Court. The same records credit John Wilcox as director of photography, Don Mingaye as art director, Anthony Hinds as producer and screenwriter under the name John Elder, and Les Bowie with special effects.

The behind-the-scenes value of this image lies in the removal of cinematic illusion. On screen, back projection could combine a stationary foreground performance with separately photographed moving scenery to suggest travel; here, the stationary wagon section, screen and surrounding technical apparatus are all visible at once. The photograph therefore offers both a Peter Cushing character study and a compact lesson in practical screen-effects photography from Hammer’s Bray Studios period.

Carefully restored from historic photographic source material and professionally lab-developed, this museum-quality photograph is presented uncropped, preserving the complete image area contained in the source. Restoration recovers fine detail in Cushing’s costume and expression, the wagon construction, projection screen, lighting equipment, stands, curtains and shadowed crew areas while preserving the tonal range and natural character of the original black-and-white photography. The finished photograph contains no AI-generated image content.

For collectors of Hammer Horror, Peter Cushing, Frankenstein cinema and behind-the-scenes production photography, this image offers a particularly revealing view of how a familiar screen illusion was assembled before the camera.