The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

So Frankenstein had another son. And this one is willing to destroy his father's creation until the ghost appears to him, pleading with him to fix him. He tries and... well I don't want to give away too much, Karloff wisely turned this one down, having played the monster three times. This is where quantity started to hurt quality.

Universal Pictures couldn't let a good thing go following the release of the first three Frankenstein movies. This was the first film to follow in the tradition of "Frankenstein" and it's sequels "Bride of Frankenstein" and "Son of Frankenstein". It's been a while since I've seen those, so catching this one today wasn't as jarring by way of comparison. I thought it was fairly entertaining, made particularly so with the various debates over who's brain was going to go into the Monster.The film has a great moody and atmospheric opening, reminiscent more of the original "The Wolf Man" than of the prior Frankenstein flicks. Taking an adrenaline inducing booster shot from a lightning bolt, the Monster is revived from a cement encased tomb to live again, contrary to past continuity, but that never seemed to be a consideration in this franchise. Interestingly, the first time Lon Chaney Jr. appeared as the creature, he resembled the Karloff Frankenstein pretty closely, but as the picture progressed, the facial features of the Monster began to resemble Chaney's own appearance more and more. I thought that was kind of interesting.Considering the Frankenstein name and legacy in the story, I thought Lionel Atwill had a fairly major presence here as Doctor Theodore Bohmer. Personally, I thought the switcheroo with who's brain went into the Monster was handled kind of clumsily, though Ygor's (Bela Lugosi) rationale made sense in a dubious sort of way. He was going for the immortality thing but should have figured things don't always turn out as planned. But then again, he was Ygor, so he probably wasn't thinking of unintended consequences.I caught this on Turner Classics, hosted by film critic Ben Mankiewics, and he offered a cool insight into Chaney's role as the Monster. The actor had a bad reaction to his makeup at one point and needed a week off from filming to recuperate. But things got worse - remember that scene of the Monster encased in cement when he makes his revival? After taking hours to put that scene together, Chaney's patience got tested even more when the entire film crew broke for lunch!

Ygor resurrects The Monster and brings him to Ludwig Frankenstein for help. Ludwig wants to replace The Monster's brain with a brain that does good deeds. Ygor wants to give the Monster his brain. I thought this sequel wasn't bad. It keeps your attention throughout and offers some decent suspense. They also learned from their mistake from Son of Frankenstein, trimming it from over 90 minutes back to over 60. As technically sound as this sequel is, this series was really beginning to feel tired. Karloff is no longer here and the magic is gone. It really seemed like they were doing anything to keep making money off the franchise. The Monster is no longer special. Lon Chaney Jr. is pretty good as The Monster, but he can't fill Karloff's shoes. It didn't feel genuine at all. Bela Lugosi is a lot of fun and was one of the main reasons why this was as watchable as it was. Cedric Hardwicke is solid as Ludwig. He's always reliable. Lionel Atwill returns as a different character, which I didn't understand. Evelyn Ankers is one of my favorite horror actresses, so I'm biased. This is perfectly acceptable for a sequel, but the thrills are gone. This series was running out of gas at this juncture. It was far from being done though. 6.3/10

Here we go again. In the grand tradition of Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939) comes the fourth in Universal's series. This time around, the crazy doctor of the title is Ludwig (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), the brother of Basil Rathbone's character in Son of and the (other) son of Colin Clive's original Dr. Frankenstein in the original and Bride of movies.A generation or so has passed since the villagers last destroyed the Monster in a sulphur pit. But, of course, he's only mostly dead, and his old pal Ygor (Bela Lugosi) holds vigil outside the old Frankenstein castle, hoping the creature will revive himself. At the same time, angry villagers are mobilizing; they decide that there's a Frankenstein curse that's prohibiting their crops from growing and businesses outside of town (named after Frankenstein, for some reason) are refusing to deal with them. The curse must be broken, so off the villagers go to burn down the castle. The explosion indeed wakes up the preserved Monster, and he's reunited with his old pal Ygor.There's another Frankenstein a village or so away, as the crow flies - Ludwig. Ludwig, who runs an insane asylum out of his house, also works for the police; when the Monster is captured and put on trial, the good doctor is called in to deal with the situation. But Ygor, he's a cunning sort, and he persuades Ludwig to get the Monster remanded to Ludwig's own castle so that Dr. Frankenstein can work on giving the Monster a nice, new brain. (There appears to be some brain damage for the big guy; he can't speak, as he could - haltingly - in previous films, and simple logic isn't his forte.) Ygor, he of the broken neck from being ineptly hanged, wants his own brain to be placed in the creature's cranium.The setting is as eerie and stark as in other Universal monster movies. Hidden rooms, long staircases, vaulted ceilings - it's a realtor's dream. Ludwig also has a grown daughter Elsa (Evelyn Ankers, another Universal staple), who's probably named after Elsa Lanchester, who starred in Bride of Frankenstein. Elsa's boyfriend is Erik Ernst (Ralph Bellamy), who's stuck between the mob rule of the town and his fondness of the Frankensteins. Lionel Atwill plays one of Dr. Frankenstein's doctor associates. Lon Chaney, Jr., by the way, grunts his way around a macabre set as the Monster itself.For a movie that's the fourth in a series, Ghost of Frankenstein (so named, perhaps, because the ghost of the original Doctor appears) is competently acted, directed, and shot. No, more than that, it's expertly done. There's some overacting (Ankers), to be sure, but overall it's a very well realized hidden gem among Universal's many horror movies of the early 20th century.