Son of Frankenstein
Director: Rowland V Lee
Year: 1939
Rating: 7.5
I guess we all
have a mad scientist inside of us if we dig deep enough. Our first impression
of Baron Wolf von Frankenstein upon his returning to take over his father's
estate is that he is a sensible amiable chap, but soon the scientist and
his father's legacy brings out the madness within. The village isn't thrilled
to have a Frankenstein back in their midst which isn't too surprising considering
that the former Baron had created a Monster that destroyed much of their
village, but the police superintendent soothes their fears by telling them
that the Monster is dead, but he doesn't understand the power of the box
office and sequels. The Monster is soon back to his murdering ways.
This film following The Bride of Frankenstein
is a wonderfully smart stunningly designed film that constantly surprises
with its oddities. It is also primarily responsible for the return of the
horror film to screens across America. After 1936 in which a spate of great
horror films were made the Breen Office began cracking down on horror projects
often totally rejecting the scripts from the studios. So in 1937 and 1938
there were really no horror films produced in America. But in 1938 a theater
in Los Angeles began showing a triple bill of Dracula, Frankenstein and
The Mummy to sold out houses and Universal just said to hell with it and
made Son of Frankenstein to big box office success.
It is certainly a worthy successor to
the first two Frankenstein films with a fabulous cast of Basil Rathbone
as the Baron, Bela Lugosi as Ygor, Karloff as the Monster and Lionel Atwill
as the Inspector - but the real star are the set designs that seem
to be right out of the book of German Expressionism with the estate manor
dressed in dark shadows, long barren winding hallways, sharp angles and
an atmosphere of pure dread. I loved every shot of it. Rathbone is great
as an even minded scientist interested in his father's work slowly going
crazy; Lugosi plays a character the town tried to hang but it only broke his
neck and so they let him live - hey we hanged him what else can we do - and
so his neck is slanted at a 90 degree angle - but best is Atwell in this
film. Calmly coming to the realization that the Monster is back he goes about
the business of tracking him down - even with his mechanical arm that the
monster tore off of him when he was a child - that brings back memories of
Dr. Strangelove and his arm movements. In one scene when he and the Baron
are playing darts he just takes the darts and sticks them into his arm as
a holding place.
Rathbone right after this film was to
make The Hound of the Baskervilles and another Holmes for Fox Studio before
the franchise came back to Universal for another twelve films. Rathbone
is one of my favorite actors whether hero or villain but in real life he
had been quite the hero as a soldier and scout during WWI. The only irritation
of the film is the young boy who plays the Baron's son - with his curly
air and thick southern accent he is so annoying that I was rooting for the
Monster to throw him into the Sulphur pit. That and perhaps an incongruous
ending that was very much at odds with all that came before it.
The next film in the series was Ghost
of Frankenstein but Karloff had enough of playing him and the role was given
to Lon Chaney Jr. It is a good film but clearly with a much lesser budget.