Son of Frankenstein (1939)

This, the last time Karloff would play the monster, is the best of the post Bride sequels. Featuring Bela Lugosi in his best role since Dracula, as the embittered Ygor, it has the best, most well thought out story and the best ending.

It reminds me of Roger Corman's Poe movies where old sets were used over for a short period of time to make a new spinoff like The Terror. All of the characters are leftover from when Frankenstein terrorized the land in the first movie directed by James Whale. A bad time filler was where the villagers and their leaders give the Son of Frankenstein his official unwelcoming ceremony to present his inherited papers. Why not just show an unwelcome atmosphere in the town? We also see the large sets from the first movie, while the maids greet the Frankenstein family with bedrooms that have two beds matched head to head, to guarantee dread. It all comes across as Mel Brooks parody satire instead of a serious film.

(Flash Review)As the title explains, the son of Henry Frankenstein, Baron Wolf von Frankenstein moves into the Frankenstein castle estate much to the angst of the local villagers who remember the horrors this family has let loose on them. Ygor enters the picture to meet the son of Frankenstein. I learned that Ygor has the infamously strange posture after he survived a hanging! With Ygor's help, they locate where the monster has been buried. Baron Wolf von Frankenstein has desires to revive his family's name by proving his father was correct with his science experiments. When the monster is revived it only responds to Ygor's commands. Why is this? What has Ygor done? Worse yet, what will Ygor do? As you can tell Ygor plays a big role in this film and with this film's creatively designed sets, which are reminiscent of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the story is full of juicy and gruesome historical goodness.

"Son of Frankenstein" is definitely a step down from the previous excellent "Frankenstein" films.The above film suffers from some poor direction and a narrative that is a bit hard-going at times. Boris Karloff has been reduced in the sense that his character has become a one-dimensional, killing machine. The actors own concerns about the creature character were justified.Basil Rathbone is way over the top as the Baron who inherits his late fathers estate.This film has some good moments but it doesn't help that the dialogue kept being re-written every day of shooting. Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill give the best performances by far. The former proved he was worth far more than playing Dracula. Lugosi was effectively cast against type. The running time of 95 minutes is far too long - about 20 minutes should have been edited.