Son of Frankenstein (1939)

★ 6.7 1h 39m IMDb

One of the sons of late Dr. Henry Frankenstein finds his father's ghoulish creation in a coma and revives him, only to find out the monster is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.

Son of Frankenstein

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Cast

Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein Died 1967 · Johannesburg, South African Republic Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967), was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily c...
Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff as The Monster Died 1969 · Camberwell, London, England, UK William Henry Pratt (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969), better known as Boris Karloff, was an English-born actor who emigrated to Canada in 1909. Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror...
Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi as Ygor Died 1956 · Lugos, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Lugoj, Timis County, Romania] Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian stage, screen, and television actor. He is best remembered for his iconic por...
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill as Inspector Krogh Died 1946 · Croydon, London, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lionel Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England. He studied architecture before his stage deb...
Josephine Hutchinson
Josephine Hutchinson as Elsa von Frankenstein Died 1998 · Seattle, Washington, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Josephine Hutchinson (October 12, 1903 - June 4, 1998) was an American actress. Hutchinson was born in Seattle, Washington. Her mother, Leona Roberts, was an ac...
Donnie Dunagan
Donnie Dunagan as Peter von Frankenstein Age 91 · San Antonio, Texas, USA ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Donald "Donnie" Roan Dunagan  (born August 16, 1934) is a semi-retired American former child actor and United States Marine Corps drill instructor. He was a vo...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 8/10 Sep 30, 2018
Baron Wolf von Frankenstein.

Son Of Frankenstein, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Basil Rathbone as Baron Frankenstein, Boris Karloff as The Monster (his last turn as the creature), Lionel Atwill as Inspector Krogh and Bela Lugosi as Ygor. That's quite a cast list, add in a sharp script from Willis Cooper and the stunning sets from Russell Gausman, and you got a sequel that's well worth its salt.

Following on from Bride Of Frankenstein (25 years later), the film sees son of Frankenstein Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Rathbone) return to the family home and scene of his fathers monstrosities. Receiving a less than lukewarm reception on arrival, Wolf is presented with a box containing his fathers papers. After being told in no uncertain terms that continuing his fathers work will not be tolerable, Wolf laughs off the notion. However, the next day he's out wandering in the ruins and comes across Ygor, his dead fathers assistant. Where it's revealed that "The Monster" is still alive but very much comatose. Wolf then becomes obsessed with bringing the monster back to full life, thus to prove his father had the right intention but not the right execution of his ideas.

It's a ripper of a sequel is this, perhaps lacking in the humour that James Whale brought to the first two films, it is however a well constructed feature boasting great performances from Rathbone (the part was originally planned for Peter Lorre), Lionel Atwill (having a riot with his false arm) and Lugosi (possibly a career high in terms of substance). Lee stamps his own marker on the piece and I think the nicest thing one can say is that his film sits well along side Whale's classics. The only let down is actually Karloff's monster, stripped of voice at Karloff's insistence, the monster is now reduced to being a lumbering robot. It's not a fitting farewell to the great work that Karloff did with this quite brilliant creation on page and screen. 8/10

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