SON
OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)/GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
(1942)Directors: Rowland V. Lee, Erle C. Kenton
SON
OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)/GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
(1942)Despite the mistake of listing these two films in reverse chronological order on the front and back cover, Universal serves up a great quality Double Feature this time around with the third and fourth entries in the original FRANKENSTEIN series.
Peter Lorre was first conceived to star as the SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, but in one of those lucky breaks in the grand scheme of things, thankfully refused the role and so the part was tastefully taken over by Basil Rathbone. In this sequel to BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Dr. Wolf von Frankenstein arrives with his wife (Josephine Hutchinson) and son Peter (Donnie Dunagan) in the village of Frankenstein to claim his late father's heritage. He meets a dark and gloomy reception from the bitter villagers residing there who recall only too well the horrors committed by Frankenstein's monstrous creation.
When scientific machines and experimental equipment get delivered to Wolf's castle, Police Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill) pays a visit to the Frankensteins and informs Wolf that he is ready and willing to aid them if the concerned citizens should get out of hand. Krogh himself can relate to their apprehension, having lost his right arm to the monster as a child when the fearsome creature tore it out by the roots. Wolf assures the Inspector that he is not involved in any type of bizarre experiments or monster-making.
Exploring the charred remains of the lab the next morning, Wolf encounters a sly old blacksmith named Ygor (Bela Lugosi) hiding out there. Ygor was once convicted and hanged for body snatching, yet somehow managed to survive with a broken neck and a twisted body. He shocks Wolf by leading him to a hidden cellar where the comatose body of his "friend," Frankenstein's Monster (Boris Karloff), lies still, awaiting a cure. Ygor sparks Wolf's curiosity and the doctor wastes no time in charging up his electrical machinery to restore the monster and possibly clear his father's good name as well.
Ygor begins to use the revitalized monster for his own personal vendetta, ordering the creature to knock off the remaining jurors who sentenced him to the hangman's noose. As bodies pile up, Inspector Krogh mounts a showdown with the increasingly agitated Wolf, demanding to know of the monster's whereabouts. Figuring that Ygor is responsible for the murder spree throughout the village, Wolf grabs a gun and shoots the vengeful blacksmith down. This only infuriates the monster, who resorts to kidnapping little Peter and making off to a deadly sulphur pit with the boy. There, the monster meets a new fate when Wolf shoves the creature into the boiling liquid, saving his child and winning the approval of the Frankenstein community.
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN was the first of the "new" horror releases to arrive after the 30s ban on fright films was lifted. It remains the last of the "great" early Frankenstein pictures, owing to wonderfully bizarre and shadowy set pieces, a rousing Frank Skinner musical score, and a great cast of actors. Basil Rathbone has been both despised and adored (I choose the latter) for his mounting, over-the-top theatrics as Wolf. His battle of wits with the excellent Lionel Atwill as Krogh make for highly entertaining filmgoing. Boris Karloff could see the downward direction his monster was heading in, and gave up the part after this film. Though Boris shines in some fleeting emotional moments, it's clear that the character was taking a back seat to the shenanigans onscreen, here as merely Ygor's pawn. Indeed, as portrayed by Bela Lugosi, Ygor is the highlight of the movie, and arguably surpasses his Dracula as the best role he ever played.
So good a part was Ygor that Lugosi got to play him again three years later in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. As the film opens, the townspeople are again blaming the Curse of the Frankenstein family for everything wrong with their lives. Taking matters into their own hands, the frustrated villagers set off dynamite at the old castle, where Ygor is still skulking about. The explosion manages to open up the hardened sulphur pit and releases the preserved form of the Frankenstein Monster once more. A delighted Ygor helps his groggy friend up and out of the burning castle, making off to the village of Vasaria in search of Ludwig (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), the next son of Dr. Frankenstein.
Upon arriving in the peaceful Vasaria, the weakened monster is taken prisoner when he is wrongly perceived to be menacing a little girl. Ygor calls on Ludwig and threatens to tell the residents of the town the history of Frankenstein's family if the doctor doesn't agree to free the monster and supply the necessary lightning to restore his friend's strength. Having no choice, Frankenstein agrees to harbor Ygor and the monster on the grounds of the sanitarium where he works and lives with his unsuspecting daughter, Elsa (Evelyn Ankers).
Ludwig receives an unlikely visit from his father's ghost, imploring him to correct the error he originally made by giving the monster a criminal's brain. Seeing this as a way to preserve and re-establish his father's work, Ludwig decides to replace the monster's brain with the educated brain of the recently deceased Dr. Kettering. Unbeknownst to Frankenstein, however, Ygor has made a deal with Ludwig's discredited assistant Bohmer (Lionel Atwill) to provide him with unlimited power and glory if he substitues Ygor's sinister brain for Kettering's.
As the film reaches its conclusion, Frankenstein has unknowingly created ten times the monster his father made when Ygor's cruel and raspy voice snarls through the monster's mouth. The Ygor-monster plans to rule the world with the renewed strength of a hundred men, with Dr. Bohmer as his ally. But as fate would have it, Ygorstein begins to panic when Bohmer's lack of skill manifests itself: Ygor's blood type does not match the monster's, and the creature goes blind as a result of the crude operation, smashing into chemicals and igniting a blaze that sends himself and Bohmer to their deserved deaths.
GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN stands today as one of the most overlooked and highly enjoyable of all Universal's 40s monster movies. Once more a superb musical score decorates the creepy festivities, this time by the great Hans J. Salter. A fabulous cast takes the potentially absurd material seriously, making for a tight, brisk 67 minutes of monsterific delight, with no added dead weight. Lon Chaney, the first to fill Karloff's boots as the monster, manages to be satisfying and convincing as a brutish and powerful hulk of a creature, if not overtly emotional. Besides, it's doubtful that even Karloff could have done much more with the character as presented in the script.
As hinted at the beginning of this review, the new DVD transfers for these films are breathtakingly clear, sharp, and detailed. There is slight grain present, but a simple lowering of your television's PICTURE control smoothes things out. Being the later production, GHOST looks the best of the two, but SON is remarkable as well. It's nearly impossible to find a single speck or dot on either print, and the feeling is that Universal might have actually taken pains to clean up their transfer (of SON in particular). The sound is presented in 2.0 mono, and once again is clear, loud, and free of background noise. Subtitles are also provided.
As with all of these Double Features, the real bonus treat is having two for one (and though the packaging incorrectly puts GHOST in front of SON, it's thankfully fixed on the disc menu itself). You need to hit the TITLE button to return to your main menu to view the second movie once you've finished the first, which is no big deal once you know what to do.
Tom Weaver has provided interesting Production Notes as usual, and the facts he includes are informative and the next best thing to an audio commentary. Again, although we ache for a still gallery for these films, at least the different menus on the disc allow for some varying photo shots (though one for SON mistakenly shows Chaney's monster from GHOST -- not Mr. Weaver's doing, I might add). The Realart trailer is included for GHOST, but sadly, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN is the only title in this new series to NOT have a trailer as well. This must be due to the fact that trailers for SON are not of the greatest quality, yet I'd still take it over nothing at all.
Parting thoughts on this very good DVD is that I wish that SON OF FRANKENSTEIN could have been issued as a Special Edition release. It certainly merits its own documentary, considering Bela Lugosi's great Ygor characterization and given the fact that this film was originally intended to be shot in COLOR. What a pity that Sara Karloff's color home movie footage (seen and treasured by lucky fans over the past decade) could not be utilized. It features Boris as the monster in full costume, clowning around on the set and pretending to strangle his makeup man, Jack Pierce.
Issuing SON on its own disc would also have cleared the path for a two-for-one disc of HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN with HOUSE OF DRACULA (HOD being the only conspicuous monster ingredient missing from this stew). Well, maybe next time. Either way, much thanks to Universal for recognizing their fans and giving the people what they want in another joyous edition of their Double Feature collection! (Joe Lozowsky)