Review of Son of Frankenstein (1939) by Forrest P — 04 Feb 2010

Though Boris Karloff is as endearing as ever, Son of Frankenstein fails dreadfully to live up to the standards its two predecessors set.

This was the last time the audience ever saw Boris Karloff play Frankenstein's Monster, so I was very ready to enjoy every minute that he was on screen. Still... there were some huge problems that I had with the story of this film.

First of all, it reduces the great Monster to nothing more than a slasher's tool. All the characterization he had been given in the previous film was wiped clean. He no longer talked or seemed to think for himself. Instead, he mostly bumbled around awkwardly, only answering to the call of Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi (who, interestingly enough, turned down the role of Frankenstein's monster in the first film). While I did like the friendship he forms with Ygor, I disliked the way this picture simplified and reduced the character. I sometimes consider this to be the first true slasher picture. It's a mute killer, void of all characterization, who is sent out to simply kill other people.

Now, I did think that Basil Rathbone did an admirable job as the new Frankenstein. I thought the character was fairly well written and put together, but I'm not sure that he was explored quite as much as he could have been.

Over all, this movie had a fairly strong production value, but its script was entirely to generic and dry. They did too little with the characters, especially the Monster, and at the end of the day did not live up to the previous films' qualities.

Son of Frankenstein was not conceived very well.

4/10.