ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

___________

A film with so many plot twists, every reviewer's synopsis makes it sound like a different movie.

And no wonder — even the characters (and their players) are confusing.

Bear in mind that this is the fourth film in the series, a sequel to "Son of Frankenstein", and it's own sequel is "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman". The director was Erle C. Kenton.

First, let's straighten out who plays who.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke plays a relative of Henry Frankenstein, a doctor who wants to put a normal brain into the monster.

Bela Lugosi again plays Ygor, the evil hunchbacked shepherd, despite the fact that Ygor died in the previous movie.

Lionel Atwill is Hardwicke's assistant, despite the fact that he played a one-armed policemen in the previous film.

Lon Chaney, Jr. ("The Wolf Man") doesn't play the Wolf Man, he plays the monster — but he ends up with Bela Lugosi's brain, because Lugosi tricks Hardwicke into putting his brain into Chaney!

Meanwhile Dwight Frye, the actor who played Dr. Frankenstein's crazed assistant in the original film, plays a concerned villager in this one.

Evelyn Ankers and Ralph Bellamy are among the cast, but I'll be damned if I can remember who they played.

And now let's deal with the convoluted plot, which goes like this.

The monster allegedly kidnaps a little girl (actually she befriends him), and the townspeople put him on trial for kidnapping. He escapes and gets his brain swapped for Lugosi's, then he goes blind because the Lugosi-brain blood type is wrong for the monster's body. The blind Lugosi-brained monster goes berserk, destroys the laboratory, and gets burned up in the ensuing fire.

There now — that should clear things up once and for all!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Same complaint I had for House of Dracula.

Monsters needed to be all together in some scenes.

Have battles.

Had to wait until Bud & Lou met up with them to see that action.

[Bud Brewster]

And I'll add the same comment here as I did after your comment on House of Frankenstein.

These movies would be fun to share in our chat room. Maybe somebody will send me a PM and offer to do this some Halloween. Or even the 4th of July!

I'm not picky!
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[The Spike]

Of course the problem with the Frankenstein sequels, of the Universal Studios kind, was that they had to follow the genre firework that was "Frankenstein (1931)" and the monolithic titan that followed that one in 1935, "The Bride of Frankenstein". These are tough acts to follow - still are actually!

"Son of Frankenstein (1939)" managed very well, it had Basil Rathbone in it and Bela Lugosi giving great horror oomph as Ygor. Boris Karloff bowed out as the monster after that one, leaving an iconic legacy and an insistence that the monster didn't speak. The result of Karloff's (ahem) request has proved divisive amongst Frankenstein fans, does it need a voice for personality, or is it better off as a lumbering rage machine only?. Point being that in this one, he gets a voice, courtesy of Lon Chaney Junior's stint in the role, and it's not exactly a success.

Ghost of Frankenstein represents the start of the decline of the franchise, a noticeable drop in quality across the board. It's like Universal caught the cash cow disease and decided that quantity and not quality was what mattered. They would eventually team up the bolted necked one with "Abbott and Costello", with fun results, but the horror aspects began to wane here in 1942. Lugosi is on hand for some more Ygor mischief, Cedric Hardwicke and Lionel Atwill as scientists with opposite ideals are reassuring presences, while Evelyn Ankers is sexy and costumed with a great eye for detail.

At just 67 minutes in length the film thankfully doesn't have time to be boring, though action is in short supply, so hooray for castle destruction and fire unbound!. While Woody Bredell and Milton R. Krasner, via their photographic lenses ensure Gothic atmosphere is consistently ripe. Right, it's time for Universal Monster Tag Teams next... 5/10
_________________
The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

___________________________________________

IMDB has an interesting trivia items about this production.
__________________________________________

~ Lon Chaney Jr. was known for his hard-drinking ways. During production of this film, Chaney became inebriated while in full costume and got lost in the intricate mazes that were part of the laboratory sets. It took several minutes for him to find his way free.

A similar incident occurred many years later when Chaney played the Frankenstein Monster on an episode of "Tales of Tomorrow." Once again, Chaney became intoxicated and mistakenly believed that the show's live telecast was the final dress rehearsal. For much of the performance, Chaney stumbled about, picking up breakaway props he was supposed to destroy and then setting them back down.

Note from me: This illustrates the old adage, "Friends don't let other friends drive drunk, especially when they're monsters appearing on live television."

Of course, it's been shortened considerable over the years, for obvious reasons.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Boris Karloff wanted to reprise his role of the monster for the film. However, he had a scheduling conflict because he was on Broadway appearing in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Lon Chaney had a severe reaction to the monster makeup.