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 Atwell 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.
