Son of Frankenstein/Ghost of Frankenstein [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Son of Frankenstein has its charms, but what I see here is the beginning of the stereotypical monster. Sure, he has a couple of somewhat emotional scenes, but all such emotions are turned into hatred and manifested in a desire to kill and destroy. This film does have a saving grace, however, in the form of Lionel Atwill, who steals the show time and again as Inspector Krogh. Basil Rathbone starts out quite swimmingly as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, but the mania that overtakes him in the second half of the film just doesn't ring true to me, especially when the man's sudden desire to justify his father's work takes precedence over the safety of his own wife and child.

Some twenty-five years have passed since the events chronicled in Bride of Frankenstein. Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Rathbone) has now returned to the family castle, with wife and little boy in tow. The old castle isn't exactly empty, for Ygor of broken-neck fame (Lugosi) has made a place for himself there. The son can hardly wait to see his father's old laboratory - and whom should we find in an underground crypt but the monster (Karloff) himself. He's not quite himself these days, but young Frankenstein immediately sets to work reviving the monster in an attempt to vindicate the family name. Unfortunately, Ygor commands the monster to do his own bidding. When a number of individuals are found murdered in the village, suspicion naturally falls on the house of Frankenstein. Enter Inspector Krogh (Atwill) and his ridiculous yet entertaining artificial arm; without this fascinating character, Son of Frankenstein would be a wholly forgettable movie.

With no lines and few chances to express any real emotion other than murderous fury, Karloff's monster is a shadow of its former self. Even the makeup job appears second-rate and less than imposing. Frankly, I'm really unsure what so many others see in this movie. All it did was turn Frankenstein into a big dumb monster that would be forced to stumble and bumble its way through one film after another for decades to come. It's impossible to feel much sympathy for him in this context, and I eventually found myself hoping they would just kill the monster already and get the film over and done with.

Much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed Ghost of Frankenstein much more than Son of Frankenstein. There's no denying that Lon Chaney, Jr., who took up the role of the creature, pales in comparison with Boris Karloff, but I actually found the monster more sympathetic this time around. You won't see the type of pathos and innocence that Karloff brought to the role, yet Chaney subtly shows a human side to the creature on a couple of occasions (and, to be frank, the script didn't allow him much room to maneuver).

This film could easily have been called The Other Son of Frankenstein. Ygor (Bela Lugosi) despite being shot numerous times by Baron Wolf von Frankenstein in the last film, still lives; in the course of fleeing the villager-besieged castle, he finds his good, monstrous friend (whom we last saw sinking into a pit of boiling sulphur) and decides to take him to the other Frankenstein brother. Ludwig (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), is none too happy to see Ygor or to deal with the creature he believed had finally been killed, yet rather than destroy the monster, he decides to give him a new brain. In this way, he believes, he can resurrect his father's shattered reputation and renew the good name of Frankenstein.

I must say I loved Hardwicke's performance. Ludwig is a serious fellow who never slips into the madness that claimed his father and brother; his desires to substantiate his infamous father's work and to restore the family name are the driving forces behind his decision-making. Everything might have turned out all right, too, if it weren't for Ludwig's assistant Dr. Bohmer (Atwill). It is in the pool of Bohmer's bitterness that the ever-resourceful Ygor finds the leverage he needs to pull one over on Dr. Frankenstein. Ygor, you see, wants his own brain transplanted into the creature's body.

In Ghost of Frankenstein, I found Ygor to be a much more engaging fellow. I still don't believe it is one of Lugosi's better characters, but clearly Lugosi contributed a great deal to the overall success of this movie. Is Ghost of Frankenstein as impressive a film as the first two Frankenstein films? Hardly. It is, though - at least in my opinion - a much better film than Son of Frankenstein. Chaney turns in a very solid performance as the creature; while not in the same league as Boris Karloff, he deserves much credit for his contributions to the evolving Frankenstein storyline.