Son of Frankenstein

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: "Herr Lang, eh? Never heard of him before. Oh, well. I suppose the villagers will say I that killed him just the same."
Inspector Krogh: "No, not that you killed him, but that you know who did."
Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: "Really? But of course I know who did. Haven't you heard? The monster!" [laughs]
Inspector Krogh: "Yes, that's what they think."

The third Universal classic Frankenstein movie, it’s also the last time Karloff played the monster. Let’s take a look at this lesser known movie about Frankenstein’s creation, and see how it holds up to the prior two films.

Our main cast here is nothing short of great. We have Basil Rathbone as Wolf von Frankenstein, the titular son of Frankenstein; Boris Karloff returns as the monster; Bela Lugosi goes to town as the enigmatic Ygor; Lionel Atwill as the dutiful and wise Inspector Krogh; Josephine Hutchinson as Wolf’s sympathetic wife, Elsa von Frankenstein; Emma Dunn as Amelia, the Frankenstein’s maid servant; Edgar Norton as Thomas Benson, the Frankenstein’s butler; and a very young Donnie Dunagan as Peter von Frankenstein, son of Wolf and Elsa.

Once again, we return to castle Frankenstein as Wolf, son of Henry Frankenstein, his wife Elsa, and their young son Peter arrive by train. But they are not met by jubilance from the people as they return to their ancestral home, but with fear and loathing. The frightened and superstitious locals recall the terror of the monster that wreaked havoc on their peaceful existence, and not just once, but twice! They have no desire to see the son of the creator of the creature resume his father’s work. This creates tension between our main family and most of the rest of the cast immediately.

There are two locals that are more congenial than the others. The first is Inspector Krogh, who while having a prosthetic arm after the monster tore off his real one, is not vengeful or judgmental, which makes him both more open-minded and sympathetic than the rest of the town. The second is happy to see a Frankenstein return for far darker reasons, and that is Ygor. Ygor is a miserable wretch that was hung for graverobbing, but instead of dying at the noose it merely twisted his spine. Once he knows that Wolf does indeed wish to revive the monster, since he comes to feel he must prove that his father was correct, he wants to use the creature for his own nefarious purposes.

When Wolf and his family first arrive, he shows little interest in his father’s work. But between his own growing resentment of how the locals treat his family and their ill regard for his father and then finding the monster, and with Ygor’s manipulation of the situation, he becomes obsessed with reanimating his father’s infamous creation. Elsa is of course not exactly thrilled with her husband’s ever more eccentric behavior, and makes her consternation known to him, consternation that grows as his insistence on raising the monster, and then him dealing with the risen creature, makes him more irritable and secretive with her. This kind of husband vs. wife situation is a common occurrence in these types of films for the day, so it is a bit cliched, but it also makes sense and is done well enough that it only makes the film better by creating that tension.

"Wasn't that monocle on your other eye?"
"What monocle?"

Once the monster is revived, Ygor takes full advantage of it. Convincing him that he’s his friend, he coerces the monster to exact his revenge on the town that hung him and continued to avoid and isolate him. The initial murders arouse little suspicion as they appear to be tragic accidents, but this changes when the body count rises, and Ygor uses the creature more blatantly. Wolf grows warier and angrier at the crazed Ygor, and their relationship eventually sours to the point of violence, violence that includes the monster, Wolf’s son Peter, and Inspector Krogh, and leads to an impressive ending to a solid film. Another great source of tension is that between Wolf and Ygor. Wolf wasn’t in this to aid Ygor’s revenge fantasies, he wanted to prove his father was a good man and that he created a man and not a monster. So like his relationship with his wife, his relationship with Ygor is another great driver of the plot.

"Quick, while he's not looking! Queen to Rook 4!"

The cast here are all quite good, but a few stand out more than the others with their excellent performances. Lugosi almost steals the show as Ygor. He makes this depraved, despicable character come to life with a mix of dark humor and outright malice. Lugosi will likely always be best known for playing Dracula, but he’s excellent here as well. Rathbone too deserves a lot of praise as the practical, decent Wolf, that plunges into the depths of his obsession before climbing back out again. His ability to convey the character in such different lights but make it all come off as the same man is phenomenal. Atwill is very good as Krogh, and also needs special mention, but his character is more level-headed and lacks the extremes of the previous two, so he comes off less obvious, but still great for all that. Karloff does not speak in his last turn as the monster, which is a bit of a downgrade from the sublime Bride, but he still makes the creature work like no other.

The mood of the film is wonderfully expressed in the lighting and sets, but of special note is all the German impressionist art that makes up a lot of those sets, especially in regard to the castle. It gives it a surreal feeling with strangely shaped furniture and staircases, and reinforces the haunted, gothic mood so well. The odd proportions and angles just don’t feel right, even as they are visually striking, and it makes the proceedings, even just chatter among the characters, feel wonderfully alien.

This sets the eerie mood so well.

"Avon calling!"

The last of the great Frankenstein films from Universal, it doesn’t quite reach the dizzy heights of Bride, and with the monster regressed to a state before the growth of that earlier film, I can’t give it the highest rating, but it does get very close. Having Lugosi, Karloff, and Rathbone in the same movie makes it worth watching for that reason alone, but it's so much more than that. I highly recommend this gem of early horror cinema.

Three and a half reanimated creatures out of four.

--Inspector Krogh is the main inspiration for Inspector Kemp in Young Frankenstein, and both inspectors are involved in a darts scene, although less comical here of course. They both even have prosthetic arms.

--Building on my above point, this movie has the most in common with Young Frankenstein of all the original classics. A lot of scenes here should evoke several memories of Mel Brooks’ wonderful spoof.

--Lionel Atwill starred in many other movies, including more Universal horror movies that I will be reviewing in future.

--Basil Rathbone is mostly known for his time as Sherlock Holmes and he’s my first thought when one mentions that famous detective, but he also starred in many other films, including several forays into horror.

--Donnie Dunagan is more famous for providing the voice for Bambi in the original 1942 movie, but he was fine here as well. One of the least annoying children in a movie that I’ve seen.

Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.

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