Son of Frankenstein **** (1939, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson) – Classic Movie Review 2,506

The 1939 horror movie Son of Frankenstein is the third film in Universal’s superb Frankenstein series, the last to star Boris Karloff as the Monster but the first to feature Bela Lugosi as Ygor.

Director Rowland V Lee’s classic 1939 horror movie Son of Frankenstein stars Basil Rathbone as one of Frankenstein’s sons, the Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, who returns to the family castle from the United States with his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and young son Peter (Donnie Dunagan).

It is the third film in Universal Pictures’ superb Frankenstein series, sadly the last to star Boris Karloff as the Monster but happily the first to feature Bela Lugosi as Ygor. Universal commissioned it after the success of the re-release of Dracula with Lugosi and Frankenstein with Karloff as a double feature in 1938. In turn, its huge success revitalised Universal’s horror series which had been in decline and helped to return troubled Universal studios to profitability.

Wolf’s father’s assistant Ygor (Bela Lugosi) tells him the Monster that his  dead father created is still alive in a coma. He decides to bring the Monster (Boris Karloff) back to life, but his initial attempts to re-animate the creature seem to fail. Then Peter says he saw a giant in the woods and villagers are mysteriously killed.

Jack Otterson and Richard Riedel’s creepy sets add depth and darkness to the third of Universal’s classic trio of Frankenstein films, following Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Added spookiness comes from Bela Lugosi’s sly, demented, deformed blacksmith Ygor, who uses the Monster to take revenge on his enemies, and Lionel Atwill’s morose policeman Inspector Krogh.

Son of Frankenstein may be slightly slower and more restrained – and less well known – than the two previous films but it is almost just as powerful and enjoyable.

The makeup is again by the legendary Jack P Pierce.

Also in the cast are Edgar Norton, Ward Bond, Emma Dunn, Perry Irvins, Dwight Frye, Eddie Parker, Lawrence Grant, Lionel Belmore, Michael Mark, Caroline Cook, Gustav von Seffertitz, Edward Cassidy, Tom Ricketts, Lorimer Johnson and Bud Wolfe.

Rowland V Lee said his crew let Lugosi ‘work on the characterization. The interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected. When we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he stole the show. Karloff’s monster was weak by comparison.’

Son of Frankenstein began production on October 17, 1938, but filming was delayed until November 9 because Lee was not happy with Willis Cooper’s screenplay. Then rain and cold weather stopped filming, and production was not completed till January 5, 1939. The actors received newly written pages minutes before scenes were set up to be filmed, and Lee himself did some rewriting on set. The original budget was $250,000, later increased to $300,000, but the final cost was $420,000. The film was released on January 13, 1939.

Karloff resolved never to return to the role of the Monster, feeling that it was becoming a joke and beneath him. In 1948, Karloff said: ‘I decided the character no longer had any potentialities. The makeup did all the work. Anybody who can take that makeup every morning deserves respect.’

Lon Chaney Jr took over the role of the Monster in the follow-up film The Ghost of Frankenstein in 1942 and Lugosi returned as Ygor. Lugosi played the Monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943.

Karloff played a crazed scientist surrounded by monsters, vampires and werewolves in House of Frankenstein (1944) and eventually played Frankenstein, grandson of the first experimenting Baron, in Frankenstein 1970 (1958).

Cast: Basil Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, Boris Karloff as The Monster, Bela Lugosi as Ygor, Lionel Atwill as Inspector Krogh, Josephine Hutchinson as Baroness Elsa von Frankenstein, Donnie Dunagan as Peter von Frankenstein, Emma Dunn as servant Amelia, Edgar Norton as butler Thomas Benson, Perry Ivins as servant Fritz, Lawrence Grant as the Burgomaster, Michael Mark as juror Ewald Neumüller, Lionel Belmore as juror Emil Lang, Gustav von Seyffertitz as Burgher, Lorimer Johnston as Burgher, Tom Ricketts as Burgher, Russ Powell as Burgher, Caroline Cooke as Frau Neumüller, Ward Bond as Gendarme at Gate, and Harry Cording as Bearded Gendarme.

Universal dropped all horror film productions from production schedules after the release of Dracula’s Daughter in May 1936. But in August 1938 they decided to make a new Frankenstein film after the success of the triple bill of Dracula, Frankenstein and Son of Kong at Los Angeles’ Regina Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard led them to re-release of Dracula and Frankenstein in a double bill in 1938 in cinemas across America.

Lugosi received a call from Eric Umann to appear at the Regina Theatre for the screenings, and shortly after he was cast in Son of Frankenstein. Lugosi said: ‘I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre. I was dead and he brought me to life.’

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,506

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com