Son of Frankenstein

Son of Frankenstein

1939 US Theatrical Poster
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Produced by Rowland V. Lee
Written by Novel:
Mary Shelley
Screenplay:
Wyllis Cooper
Based on Frankenstein 
by Mary Shelley
Starring Basil Rathbone
Boris Karloff
Béla Lugosi
Lionel Atwill
Music by Frank Skinner
Cinematography George Robinson
Edited by Ted Kent
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
 January 13, 1939
Running time
 99 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $420,000[1]

Son of Frankenstein (1939) is a horror monster film, the third film in Universal Studios' Frankenstein series and the last to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster. It is also the first to feature Bela Lugosi as Ygor. The picture is a sequel to James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein. It is directed by Rowland V. Lee and stars Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi.

The film was a reaction to the very popular re-releases of Dracula with Lugosi and Frankenstein with Karloff as a double-feature in 1938.[2] Universal's declining horror output was revitalized with the enormously successful Son of Frankenstein, in which the studio cast both Karloff and Lugosi.

Plot

Years after the events of the last film Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), son of Henry Frankenstein (creator of the Monster), relocates his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and their young son Peter (Donnie Dunagan) to the family castle. Wolf wants to redeem his father's reputation, but finds that such a feat will be harder than he thought after he encounters hostility from the villagers. Aside from his family, Wolf's only friend is the local policeman Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill) who bears an artificial arm, his real arm having been "ripped out by the roots" in an encounter with the Monster as a child.

While investigating his father's castle, Wolf meets Ygor (Béla Lugosi), a demented blacksmith who has survived a hanging for graverobbing and has a deformed neck as a result. Wolf finds the Monster's comatose body in the crypt where his grandfather and father were buried; his father's sarcophagus bears the phrase "Henrich von Frankenstein: Maker of Monsters" written in chalk. He decides to revive the Monster to prove his father was right, and to restore honor to his family. Wolf uses the torch to scratch out the word "Monsters" on the casket and write "Men" beside it. When the Monster (Boris Karloff) is revived, it only responds to Ygor's commands and commits a series of murders; the victims were all jurors at Ygor's trial. Wolf discovers this and confronts Ygor. Wolf shoots Ygor and apparently kills him. The Monster abducts Wolf's son as revenge, but cannot bring himself to kill the child. Krogh and Wolf pursue the Monster to the nearby laboratory, where a struggle ensues, during which the Monster tears out Krogh's false arm. Wolf swings on a rope and knocks the Monster into a molten sulphur pit under the laboratory, saving his son.

The film ends with the village turning out to cheer the Frankenstein family as they leave by train. We also see Krogh has a new false arm. Wolf leaves the keys to Frankenstein's Castle to the villagers.

Cast

Production

After the ouster of the Laemmles from Universal and the British embargo on American horror films in 1936, Karloff and Lugosi found themselves in a career slump. For two years, horror films were out of the Universal Studios lineup. On April 5, 1938, a nearly bankrupt theater in Los Angeles staged a desperate stunt by showing Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong as a triple feature. The impressive box office results led to similarly successful revivals nationwide. Universal soon decided to make a big-budget Frankenstein sequel.

As director James Whale was similarly in a slump and did not wish to make any more horror films, Universal selected Rowland V. Lee to direct Son of Frankenstein. Lee's film explores dramatic themes: family, security, isolation, responsibility and father-son relationships.

Son of Frankenstein marks changes in the Monster's character from Bride of Frankenstein. The Monster is duller and no longer speaks. The monster also wore a giant fur vest, not seen in the first two Frankenstein films. He is fond of Ygor and obeys his orders. Unlike the previous two films, the Monster only shows humanity in two scenes: first when he discovers Ygor's body, letting out a powerful scream, and later when he contemplates killing Peter but changes his mind.

Peter Lorre was originally cast as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, but he had to leave the production when he became ill. Replacing Lorre was Basil Rathbone, who had scored a major triumph as Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

According to the documentary Universal Horror (1998), the film was intended to be shot in color and some Technicolor test footage was filmed, but for artistic or budgetary reasons the plan was abandoned. No color test footage is known to survive, but a clip from a Kodachrome color home movie filmed at the studio and showing Boris Karloff in the monster makeup, clowning around with makeup artist Jack Pierce, is included in the same documentary.

Reception

The movie was a big hit and helped return Universal Studios to profitability.[3]

After the phenomenal success of Son of Frankenstein, Karloff decided not to return to the role of the monster, feeling that the monster was becoming the brunt of jokes. Also Son of Frankenstein marked the final "A" production of Universal's Frankenstein films, which later went to "B" films, beginning with The Ghost of Frankenstein in 1942 in which Lon Chaney, Jr. took over the role of the Monster and Lugosi returned as Ygor; Lugosi himself would go on to play the Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943, while Karloff would return to the franchise as another character in 1944's House of Frankenstein. Karloff would not don the Monster makeup again for film until an episode of the TV series Route 66 in the 1960s.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Michael Brunas, John Brunas & Tom Weaver, Universal Horrors: The Studios Classic Films, 1931-46, McFarland, 1990 p184
  2. ↑ "Revival of the Undead", New York Times, October 16, 1938, p. 160.
  3. ↑ Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomohawk Press 2011 p 240-241

External links

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