Son Of Frankenstein [1939] | ![Son Of Frankenstein [1939]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uIhHfscFL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Rowland V. Lee
Actors: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Basil Rathbone
Studio: Universal Pictures UK
Category: DVD
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £4.98
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Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 7761
Format: Black & White, Pal
Rating: Parental Guidance
Region: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5050582544091
ASIN: B0016586UY
Theatrical Release Date: 1939
Release Date: May 5, 2008
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Basil Rathbone comes to Transylvania to inherit his father's estate in this second sequel to Frankenstein. The townspeople are suspicious, but young Frankenstein has no interest in reviving his father's work--until he discovers the monster hidden away in the castle, inert but very much intact and watched over by Ygor (Bela Lugosi), a sinister, snaggletoothed peasant with a broken neck. Convinced to revive the creature and vindicate his father's name, Frankenstein toils away in the lab not realising that Ygor plans to use the monster to revenge himself on the jury that sentenced him to hang. Boris Karloff makes his final appearance as the Monster, now little more than a mute, lumbering robot under the hypnotic control of Ygor. Rathbone is a dignified, suave scientist and a marvelous match to Lugosi's mad Ygor, a richly malevolent performance that dominates the film. Lionel Atwill makes a marvelous addition to the Frankenstein gallery as the wooden-armed constable, a legacy of the monster's rampage 25 years before. (Mel Brooks's loving lampoon Young Frankenstein, a veritable remake of this film, features the constable and his lumber limb in a major role.) Universal abandoned horror films in 1936, but the success of this sequel single-handedly revived the genre. Though lacking the gothic splendor and macabre humor of James Whale's originals, Rowland V. Lee's handsome production remains an intelligent, well-made classic of the genre and Universal's last great horror film. Lugosi returns as Ygor in The Ghost of Frankenstein.--Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews:
One doesn't easily forget an arm torn out by the roots... June 4, 2008
Matthew Mercy (Wigan, England)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My personal favourite of all the Universal Horror movies, Son of Frankenstein was the last of the classic trio starring Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster, and marked the high-point of the Universal horror cycle; with an all-star cast and a satisfying, fast-moving storyline, this lavish A-picture still stands up well today.
After fleshing out the character in Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Karloff now returns the Monster to the status of a mute brute, more obviously the villain of the piece, though his friendship with Bela Lugosi's broken-necked Ygor is still quite touching in a monstrous kind of way. Speaking of Lugosi, he gives the performance of his life here, forgoing the oily hair and hammy gestures of his melodramatic Count Dracula to play a toothy, grotesque grave-robber. Basil Rathbone is a worthy successor to Colin Clive as the scientist, and Lionel Atwill enjoys his greatest role (famously spoofed in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein) as the one-armed Inspector Krogh.
With its grand, expressionistic sets and doom-laden atmosphere, Son of Frankenstein is for me the definitive horror film of the period, using the era's most famous stars to great effect in a production worthy of their talents. Unlike James Whale's two Frankenstein films, there are no duff notes in the performances, with the one possible exception of Donnie Dunagan, the small boy who plays Frankenstein's son. He drops a couple of lines and his comic timing is terrible, however, as he is visibly about five years old this is easily forgiven.
After this movie Karloff decided that he had done all he could with the Monster, and it was time to leave the part behind; however, Universal had no intention of giving up on such a profitable formula and continued to churn out more ever-more contrived sequels with a variety of stiffs replacing him in the role...
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