Son of Frankenstein
Son of Frankenstein is the third film in
Universal Studios'
Frankenstein series and the last to feature
Boris Karloff as the monster. Released in 1939, it is often cited among the movies that critics list as the best of that legendary year in cinema.
The film was a reaction to the incredibly popular re-releases of
Dracula and
Frankenstein as a double-feature in the late 1930s. 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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Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone in Son of Frankenstein |
The story begins with
Wolf Frankenstein (
Basil Rathbone), the 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 dedication to recasting his father's reputation is strengthened to obsession by what he believes to be unfounded hostility from the townspeople; before long he finds, with the help of demented hunchback
Ygor (
Bela Lugosi), 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 (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 ('til next time!). By the film's end, Wolf has become realized in his more important role as a father rather than as a son.
After director
James Whale created the first two iconic films, with
Bride of Frankenstein ranking among the great masterpieces of any genre, Universal selected
Rowland V. Lee to direct
Son. While Whale's films were wonderfully terror-filled and perverse, Lee's film explores dramatic themes that resonate with everyday individuals: family, security, isolation, responsibility, and father-son relationships.
Of all the films in the series,
Son of Frankenstein has been called the one that is most accessible to modern audiences. Its
German Expressionism-influenced look is clean and crisp; its characters have depth and complexity; it's half-again as long as the other films; and it lacks the dated comedy relief and vapid young lovers common to horror films of the era. It has an exceptionally strong cast who create famously memorable characters that rank among their finest portrayals. Its score is so rousing that Universal used it again and again in subsequent horror films. To top it off, its scenes burst with brilliant dialogue (by
Wyllis Cooper and Lee), costuming, set design, lighting, and composition.
Son of Frankenstein significantly alters the monster's evolving persona from the previous film,
Bride. 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. However,
Son would not be such a success without Karloff's A-movie creation, whose searching eyes still disclose a thoughtful and reflective mind. In the next film,
Ghost of Frankenstein, a brisk but colorless sequel that diminishes
Son's characters and resolution,
Lon Chaney, Jr. assumes the role and solidifies the monster's reputation as a frowning, robotic brute.
As Frankenstein, Rathbone brings an elegance and dimensionality to the role. The experience takes Wolf through a full range of human emotions, and Rathbone proves that horror-movie scientists don't have to be mad to be thoroughly engaging and effective. As police inspector Krogh,
Lionel Atwill gives one of his signature performances, one which resonates further when compared to the flat roles he was given in the subsequent sequels (most notably his transformation into a disgraced doctor in
Ghost, which has the miscast Atwill interacting with Lugosi's
Ygor). Krogh lost an arm to the monster as a child and symbolically loses it again at the end of the film, and he battles with his private demons while engaging in his professional responsibilities with the pride and duty he demands of himself. (The character, with his ratcheted shoulder, elbow, and wrist, was so memorable it was spoofed by
Kenneth Mars in
Mel Brooks'
Young Frankenstein.)
While
Josephine Hutchinson is stuck with a typical movie-wife role, she properly communicates the discomfort and fears of an unhappily displaced young wife. As their son Peter,
Donnie Dunagan (who voiced
Bambi) is infamous for his over-the-top precociousness but at least provides a very memorable characterization that softens over subsequent viewings.
It is Lugosi, however, who has received the greatest acclaim from his appearance in
Son. His demented Ygor (the origin of the name that is associated with mad assistants like
Dwight Frye's
Fritz in the first film) is so unlike Dracula that one never considers the vampire when watching
Son. His appearance, voice, and overall countenance is so strikingly creative that nearly every line he utters is a classic of the genre:
To Wolf: "Heinrich Frankenshtein vas you-a fodda too...but his [the monster's] mudder vas light-e-ningk."
About the monster: "He's my friend; he...does tingks for me."
On why he was hanged: "I stole bodies...they said."
Pleading with Wolf to revive his friend: "Make him better, Frankenshtein!"
Denying culpability to the town burghers: "I scare him to death...I no have to kill him to death!"
Some of Lugosi's lines became iconic almost immediately; he repeats or paraphrases them at the beginning of
Ghost (which adds to the sequel's diminished, B-movie feel).
