The Ghost of Frankenstein
The Ghost of Frankenstein (often referred to without the article "The" in the title), was an
American horror film released in
1942. It was the fourth of in a series of films produced by
Universal Studios based upon characters in
Mary Shelley's novel
Frankenstein. It starred
Lon Chaney Jr. as
the Monster, taking over from
Boris Karloff, who played the role in the first three films of the series, and
Bela Lugosi as the demented Ygor, his second appearance as the character.
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Title card from The Ghost of Frankenstein |
Picking up after the events of
Son of Frankenstein,
Ghost sees the Monster brought back to life with some help from the insane Ygor (again played by Lugosi). Ygor is forced to turn to a second son of Dr. Henry Frankenstein, Ludwig (
Cedric Hardwicke), in order to keep the Monster alive. When the doctor determines to replace the Monster's original criminal brain with that of a benevolent, murdered colleague, Ygor conspires to have his own brain implanted into the Monster instead; however, although the Monster is resurrected with Ygor's mind and can even speak with his voice, a complication in the procedure renders the creature blind, and he is unable in the film's finale to find his way out of the burning Frankenstein mansion. (The footage of the Monster scrambling to escape the fire was later reused at the end of
House of Dracula even though another actor plays the Monster in that film.)
Ghost of Frankenstein marked the final appearance of the Monster in a solo capacity. Beginning with the next film,
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (in which Lugosi plays the Monster with Chaney switching to his
Wolf Man character), and continuing for the rest of the Universal Monsters series, Frankenstein's Monster would be part of an ensemble cast of creatures.
The blinding of the Monster resulted in a lasting stereotype of the creature walking with arms outstretched, even though this is the only film in which it is explicitly indicated that he is blind, such references being omitted from
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. When
Glenn Strange took over the role a few years later, the Monster's sight was restored without explanation, though it is clear in the previous film that the re-energized Lugosi Monster is now able to see. The Monster's ability to speak (now in Ygor's voice) would be dropped after this film (Lugosi's dialogue being filmed but ultimately deleted from
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man), though Strange utters a couple of lines in the later
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Also not addressed in later films is that the removal of the original brain from the Monster in this film results in the end of the Creature as originated by Karloff, and that it presumably carries on with Ygor's brain.
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Lon Chaney, Jr., in The Ghost of Frankenstein |
The film contains a few continuity lapses from
Son of Frankenstein," which rather than being careless are calculated to extend the series. Despite having been killed at the end of Son of Frankenstein
, Ygor is alive again, and the previous film also gave no indication of there being a second son of the original Dr. Frankenstein, yet one appears in Ghost of Frankenstein.
The most obvious change, however, is the replacement of Karloff with the less emotive Chaney.
Ghost of Frankenstein
also marked the changeover of the Frankenstein (and Universal Monsters) series from "A-movie" to "B-movie" status, with noticably reduced budgets and the reuse of actors from previous films. As noted above, footage from this film would even be recycled in a later Frankenstein feature.
The title of the film refers to the fact that Dr. Henry Frankenstein, creator of The Monster in the first Universal Frankenstein'' film, appears (played by Hardwicke) as a ghostly apparition to advise Ludwig.
