Main Cast: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson
Release Year: 1939
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
The most elaborate--and longest--of Universal's Frankenstein series, Son of Frankenstein represents Boris Karloff's last appearance in the role of the Monster. The title character is played by Basil Rathbone, who with wife Josephine Hutchinson and son Donnie Donegan returns to the Old Country to take over his late father's estate. Rathbone receives a cool reception from the local villagers, who remember all too well the havoc wreaked by his father's monstrous creation. Though he assures his neighbors that he has no intention of following in his father's footsteps, Rathbone is hounded by suspicious town constable Lionel Atwill, whose stiff artificial arm is an unfortunate legacy of an earlier confrontation with Karloff. Also hanging around Frankenstein Castle is crazed shepherd Bela Lugosi), whose neck was broken in an unsuccessful hanging attempt. Lugosi wishes to exact revenge on the city fathers who'd tried to execute him, and to that end persuades Rathbone to revive the hideous Karloff. At first resistant, Rathbone becomes as obsessed as his father with the notion of creating artificial life. Now the fun begins, directed with Germanic intensity by Rowland V. Lee. Though Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein has rendered Son of Frankenstein virtually impossible to take seriously, the film remains an excellent marriage of the slick, sanitized production values of the "New Universal" and the Gothic zeitgeist of the earlier Frankenstein epics. Best line: Lugosi, looking over the dormant body of The Monster, explains raspily that "He does...things...for me." Hans J. Salter's intense musical score for Son of Frankenstein would continue to resurface in Universal's Mummy B pictures of the 1940s. Watch for Ward Bond in a bit part as a police officer...and see if you can spot Dwight Frye, whose supporting part was excised from the final release print, among the villagers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Son of Frankenstein is unusual because it maintains its quality despite being the third film in a series, and despite a change in directors. While Roland V. Lee was hardly in the league of predecessor James Whale, he was an above average director who could do good work with the proper material and resources. Here he has a strong story, fine inherited production motifs, and an excellent cast that includes Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson, and Boris Karloff, in his final movie performance as the Monster. The film established several motifs that would later be used in similar films -- for example, the initially uninterested son who gradually becomes obsessed with the work of his mad-scientist father. Mel Brooks fans will instantly recognize the story line of Young Frankenstein (1974), which borrowed several other bits of this film, including a delightful satire of Atwill's stiff-armed performance. Son of Frankenstein is a step down from the expressionistic heights of Whale's Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein, but the step is not so great as to leave the film without its own substantial merits. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Jack Otterson - Art Director, Vera West - Costume Designer, Fred Frank - First Assistant Director, Rowland V. Lee - Director, Ted Kent - Editor, Frank Skinner - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Charles Previn - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Pierce - Makeup, George Robinson - Cinematographer, Rowland V. Lee - Producer, Russell A. Gausman - Set Designer, John P. Fulton - Special Effects, Willis Cooper - Screenwriter
The film was a reaction to the incredibly popular re-releases of Dracula and Frankenstein as a double-feature in 1938.[1] Universal's declining horror output was revitalized with the enormously successful Son, and the studio enjoyed two more decades of popular monster movies.
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The story begins with Wolf Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), the adult son of the monster's creator, relocating his wife and young son to the Frankenstein estate in the village that bears the family name. Wolf's desire to recast his father's reputation is strengthened to obsession by what he believes to be unfounded hostility from the villagers, memories of the monster being still too fresh in people's minds. Aside from his family, Wolf's only friend is the local police Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill), one of whose arms is now wooden as a result of being torn off by the monster (a scene which was not featured in the previous movies).
With the help of demented blacksmith Ygor (Béla Lugosi), Wolf finds the monster's ailing carcass, and he imagines rehabilitation of the creature to be the perfect means by which to restore the family's honor. When he heals the monster (Boris Karloff), but only to consciousness, Wolf discovers that its horrible legend is a reality, but his residual denial prolongs the search for the monster and its eventual destruction about kidnapping Wolf's little boy. By the film's end, Wolf has realized his role as a father is more important than his role as a son.
After director James Whale had departed from Universal Films, Universal selected Rowland V. Lee to direct Son. Lee's film explores dramatic themes: family, security, isolation, responsibility, and father-son relationships.
Son of Frankenstein significantly alters the monster's evolving persona from the previous film, Bride of Frankenstein. Gone are his alert intelligence and speech capabilities; in Son, the monster is duller and mute, which is his basic image through not only the rest of the series, but also in the lasting public perception of the character. The monster's brain was obviously damaged in the explosion from the end of the last film, and has reverted into a childlike state. He is immensely fond of Ygor, and finds faith only in him. Although he lost his ability to talk, he obviously remembers his creator, as he sees the resemblance of Henry Frankenstein in Wolf. The films most touching scene is when the monster finds Ygor, apparently dead, trying to wake him up, and when he understands that his only friend is gone, he screams out in sorrow.
The look of the creature is unique in Son. While his physical appearance does not change, he is shown with a fur vest and tall boots. In the previous and following movies in the Universal series depict the monster in a dark suit. Even later movies by different companies tend to follow the trend of a dark suit, making the monster from Son one of the most visually striking versions.
In the next film, Ghost of Frankenstein, Lon Chaney, Jr.'s performance solidifies the monster's reputation as a frowning, robotic brute. Peter Lorre was originally cast as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, but he had to leave the production when he became ill. This is explained in the 1996 Ted Newsomhorror filmdocumentary, 100 Years of Horror: The Frankenstein Family.
