Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Why so much hype?

A Disappointing Continuation

A different way of telling a story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Son of Frankenstein" is definitely a step down from the previous excellent "Frankenstein" films.The above film suffers from some poor direction and a narrative that is a bit hard-going at times. Boris Karloff has been reduced in the sense that his character has become a one-dimensional, killing machine. The actors own concerns about the creature character were justified.Basil Rathbone is way over the top as the Baron who inherits his late fathers estate.This film has some good moments but it doesn't help that the dialogue kept being re-written every day of shooting. Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill give the best performances by far. The former proved he was worth far more than playing Dracula. Lugosi was effectively cast against type. The running time of 95 minutes is far too long - about 20 minutes should have been edited.

The interesting thing about this is how they still manage to be faithful to the original novel. I really have no idea if Mary Shelley made any actual sequels to the book, but these films represent the source material quite well. Don't let the title fool you. Or rather, do let the title fool you. Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not the monster. The monster has no son in this film, but the scientist does. I believe there's even a scene where they talk about how the monster has been referred to as "Frankenstein" in universe. The plot is that Frankenstein's son is moving into his old residence, but his family's past catches up with him.It's great to see Bela Lugosi as Igor. Most people recognize him as Dracula, but he only did that role twice. He was simply in many of these old monster movies. I especially love the guy with the metal arm. The action scenes are quite well done and it's hard to tell who's side the monster is on. There's even a scene where the monster is destroying stuff and then notices a book of fairy tales, which causes him to stop. Wait, wasn't that same scene later used in "Citizen Kane"? Did "Citizen Kane" actually rip this movie off?! While not as good as the first two, still worth your time. The monster appears to die again, but I doubt he's gone for good. ***

Returning to his family's ancestral castle, the Baron's youngest son finds that his father's hunchback assistant has been keeping his father's creation alive and attempts to resurrect it only to learn the creature is seeking out revenge on the town and tries to stop it.This one here was quite the fun if overlong effort. What really short-changes this one is the extremely long running time that slows this one considerably as the build-up to getting the creature to live again really feels way too drawn-out. Though settling the issue of what's going on and getting many of the story lines set up, the fact that it goes into overdrive with the detail of the villagers' distrust of him and their coldness towards the family as well as settling into the castle and preparing to reanimate the creature as there's quite a long time here before anything happens and altogether drags this one out far longer than it really should've been. Even more overlong scenes here come from the rather overblown manner of this one going for the endless scenes of the Baron being questioned and threatened at the end while he's stuck at the house, as the repetitious nature of these scenes quickly wears on the viewer. These here are the film' few flaws, as even though it might not be a classic like the original entries, this one is a lot of fun. Most of that comes from when the discovery of the creature is made, this one really kicks up a little bit with some rather solid action scenes. The initial resurrection is quite spectacular, as it's a little unknown if the experiment will bring it back to life as the various methods used, from the scientific explanations about the creature to the medical work done to fix damage done and the final blow comes in the moment where the electricity comes into play, makes this scene is all the more watchable. When it gets to the monster's first moving appearance as it emerges as a silhouette behind an unsuspecting character and slowly lumbers over to them, it makes for a great visual to open with. That the creature also manages a slight rampage at the end of the film, including the one highlight where it stalks the victim through a mountain pass and the really spectacular part where it goes berserk in the laboratory makes for some exciting scenes. The final fate of the creature is quite exhilarating, making it a little on the sad end of the spectrum, does have a sense of lifting the film out of it's action doldrums and putting some life into the proceedings. As well, the rebuilding of the creature looks quite good and just as great as ever. The last plus here is that the house itself does have some great designs to it that give it a distinct look, featuring a rather impressive Gothic atmosphere with the overall layout and design of the house that's especially true with the huge open spaces in the kitchen and the laboratory as well as the distinct appearance of the stairway in the main room, and then there's the traditional fog- lined set-up that gives this a chilling overall feel. Overall, this was a really fun entry in the series.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

WHEREAS SOME SAY that many believe hat this is the last of the Universal Pictures "A" picture Frankenstein movies, we beg to differ. In our view, the next installment, the GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1940) was sufficiently produced and framed along with a correspondingly generous budget to merit its being classified in the very first order.THAT THIS PRODUCTION followed Director James Whale's masterpiece of the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) definitely put an additional burden on the production team to succeed in "keeping up the Joneses" or rather, in this case, the Waleses. The project was given to top rated Rowland V. Lee; whose credits included THE TOWER OF London done that same year at Universal.WE'VE RERAD THAT plans had called for this picture to be done in Technicolour. We did see some color production stills in some publication some time ago. It would have been interesting, but good old Black & White has always served Horror Pictures quite well. (It's only those "modern" productions that have become addicted to colour; being that they tend to substitute blood & gore for true horror.) THE ORIGINAL MUSICAL score was done by Frank Skinner, who replaced classically trained Franz Waxman; whose immortal score remains as memorable to this day. (Mr. Skinner, who would appear to have been a "hack", had done the themes and incidental themes for most of the remainder of the studio's "B" picture run. And confidentially, it mostly sounded the same!) THE OVERALL EFFECT is good and as unique as either of the previous outings. This rating is highly deserved and the story holds up very well. Story, direction, sets and budget all contribute to this success.AND LET'S NOT forget the outstanding cast. Headed up by Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi; one would be hard pressed to find a better or more appropriate crew for such a project.