Amazon.com: 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, snaggle-toothed peasant with broken neck. Convinced to revive the creature and vindicate his father's name, he toils away in the lab not realizing 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 Ghost of Frankenstein. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - FRANKENSTEIN,THE WIZARD AND SCARLET! YEAH '39 WAS A GREAT YEAR!
'Son Of Frankenstein' is the last great Frankenstein film! Karloff would say goodbye to the role that made him a star forever after this picture. The sets are great and the atmosphere is rich, add Rathbone ... Read More
Rating: - Artistically great, story average
Storywise, "Son of Frankenstein" is just an average monster movie. Boris Karloff's make-up and costume is not as good as in "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein." Who came up with that furry, sleeveless ... Read More
Rating: - less effective than the two previous films, but still good.
"son of frankenstein" doesn't work quite as well as the earlier two films, but is still enjoyable thanks to a brilliant cast, a good script and some marvellous film sets.
always a pleasure to see some british ... Read More
Rating: - Boris Karloff plays the Frankenstein monster for the third and final time
The 1939 film "Son of Frankenstein" was Boris Karloff's third and final appearance in the role that made him famous, but as you can tell from the art on the cover of this VHS the title character is played by Basil Rathbone. ... Read More
Rating: - Enter the stereotypical Frankenstein monster
Son of Frankenstein has its charms, but it is less than a worthy successor to the first two Frankenstein films. What I see here is the beginning of the stereotypical monster; whatever humanity the unfortunate creature had left ... Read More
- Artistically great, story average