Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Director:

Rowland V. Lee

Writers:

Mary Shelley (suggested by the story written in 1816)
Wyllis Cooper (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 January 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror | Drama

Tagline:

The black shadows of the past bred this half-man . . . half-demon ! . . . creating a new and terrible juggernaut of destruction !

Plot:

Wolf Frankenstein, son of Henry Frankenstein, returns with his wife, to his fathers estate to claim his inheritance...

Plot Keywords:

Inspector | Laboratory | Shot To Death | Sequel | Murder

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Baron Wolf von Frankenstein
Boris Karloff	...	The Monster
Bela Lugosi	...	Ygor
Lionel Atwill	...	Krogh
Josephine Hutchinson	...	Elsa von Frankenstein
Donnie Dunagan	...	Peter von Frankenstein
Emma Dunn	...	Amelia
Edgar Norton	...	Benson
Perry Ivins	...	Fritz
Lawrence Grant	...	Burgomaster
Lionel Belmore	...	Lang
Michael Mark	...	Ewald Neumüller
Caroline Frances Cooke	...	Mrs. Neumüller (as Caroline Cooke)
Gustav von Seyffertitz	...	Burgher
Lorimer Johnston	...	Burgher (as Lorimer Johnson)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (2004) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | Spain:13 | South Korea:12 | Norway:16 (cut) | Norway:16 (1955) | Finland:(Banned) (1939) | USA:Approved (PCA #4987) | Sweden:7

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

This film marks the final time Boris Karloff would play the "Monster" - at least in a feature film. In August of 1940 he appeared as the Monster in a celebrity baseball game, with Jack P. Pierce in attendance (Pierce was a coach for an amateur baseball team, and played semi-pro when he was younger). In the next Frankenstein film in which Karloff appeared, House of Frankenstein (1944), he played Dr. Gustav Niemann. Originally the Samuel Goldwyn film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) was to have had a fantasy sequence in which Mitty (Danny Kaye) confronted the Monster, played again by Karloff (who played the villain in "Mitty.") Goldwyn sought and received authorization from Universal to use the image of the Monster, and Pierce re-created the make-up. Stills exist of the film's director, Karloff, Pierce, and Evelyn Karloff, but it has not been verified that scenes were actually filmed. In the Allied Artists film Frankenstein - 1970 (1958) Boris was an elderly Baron Frankenstein - but the twist ending was the revelation that the Baron had recreated the Monster's face in his own image (i.e., the face of Karloff). The last time Karloff donned the Jack Pierce-style monster makeup was in "Lizards Leg and Owlet Wing," a 1962 Halloween special for the TV series "Route 66" (1960). Thus, he played the "Monster" six times in his career (or 6 1/2, if you count "Walter Mitty.").

Goofs:

Continuity: Although the setting is clearly Germanic, Police Inspector Krogh refers to his men as "gendarmes" - which is French.

Quotes:

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein: It appears that my father thought that he could extract from lightning some super-violet ray of life-giving properties.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in One More Time (1970/I)

Soundtrack:

Sailing, Sailing, Over the Bounding Main

It Runs in the Family

Basil Rathbone plays Wolf, the son of Frankenstein, returning to his inheritance of castle and lab with wife and child in tow. Along the way he meets his father's old assistant Ygor, who has a broken neck from having been hanged and living, and the creature his father created. The townspeople get excited, a couple die, and mayhem takes over. This movie is above-average for a number of reasons. First and foremost it is a highly stylized movie in the German impressionistic manner. The sets are incredible and director Rowland Lee spares little in showing us his appreciation of movies such as Nosferatu and Caligari. The castle is a huge atmospheric temple and each room is just as big in its own way. This is the film that inspired most of Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein both in look and plot. The plot is good but the acting carries it beyond that. Karloff as always does a great job in his final role as the monster. Rathbone makes a great scientist trying to avenge his father's name. He starts the movie very relaxed and his tension builds and builds. His scenes with Atwill are his best. That brings us to the two great performances of the film...Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi. Lugosi as Ygor is perhaps his greatest role after Dracula. His voice, his leers, his manner are all wonderfully played. It is Lugosi that steals every scene he is in. That is not bad because Lionel Atwill steals every scene he is in(the two have no scenes together). Atwill brings life into his role as an inspector with a wooden arm. Atwill has grace and charm, and a generous dose of humour. This is his best role as far as I am concerned. Just listening to him give his speech about his encounter with the monster as a child is at one hand chilling and at the other emotional. Son of Frankenstein deservedly ranks as one of the great Universal horror pictures. It is not as good as The Bride of Frankenstein, but looks better than any of the Universal horror pictures. And that is as great a compliment as any!