Frankenstein's son

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Movie
German title Frankenstein's son
Original title Son of Frankenstein
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1939
length 99 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Rowland V. Lee
script Wyllis Cooper
production Rowland V. Lee
music Frank Skinner
camera George Robinson
cut Ted Kent
occupation

Son of Frankenstein (original title Son of Frankenstein ) is an American horror film of Universal Studios from the year 1939 , directed by Rowland V. Lee and continues to Bride of Frankenstein , the second and final installment of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff of created in the role artificially "Creature". The film was shown on television for the first time in Germany on February 18, 1968.

action

Many years after the death of his notorious father, Baron Wolf von Frankenstein returns with his family to his old hometown. There, however, he and his family are anything but warmly welcomed, because the little town of Frankenstein still remembers very well the creature that the old baron had put together from body parts and that had caused fear and horror throughout the village. The only one who does not prejudge Wolf von Frankenstein is the local police inspector Krogh, although his right arm was torn from his wrist by the monster in his youth.

The series of murders, which began shortly before the von Frankenstein family arrived, does not make it easier for the family to settle in. Several men have already been found dead. Apparently they were pressed by a superhuman force until their hearts burst.

One day, while rebuilding his father's old laboratory, Wolf meets Ygor, his father's hunchbacked old helper who still lives in the ruins. This leads him down through a secret passage into the family crypt, where the creature still lives but has been in a coma-like sleep since it was recently struck by lightning. Fascinated by the creature, Wolf's urge to research awakens. He wants to clear his father's name by changing the monster for the better with a brain operation. However, Ygor does not want to allow that. He needs the creature as a tool for his revenge. Ygor himself is behind the recent murders. Because he procured the corpses for old Baron Frankenstein from which he assembled his creature, he was sentenced to death for desecrating the grave and hanged. Although his neck is broken, Ygor survived and now incites Frankenstein's creation on the jury who condemned him.

The situation is slipping away from Wolf von Frankenstein more and more. He succeeded in resurrecting the monster, but it disobeys him and continues the series of murders, and Inspector Krogh's investigation brings him closer and closer to the old Baron's laboratory. After the last of Ygor's jurors was found dead and with a broken heart, the villagers, armed with pitchforks and torches, banded together to finally exterminate the Frankensteins.

Wolf now sees his mistake and wants to destroy the creature. But when Ygor attacks him, he has to shoot him in self-defense. After discovering its dead friend, the creature goes mad and kidnaps Wolf's young son Peter with the intention of throwing him into the seething sulfur pit under the laboratory as revenge. However, the monster takes pity on the little boy and spares him. At that moment, Inspector Krogh appears and opens fire on the monster that once tore his arm out. Unimpressed by the bullets, the creature charges at Krogh, but at the last moment is pushed into the sulfur pit by Wolf.

After learning from his mistakes, Wolf von Frankenstein leaves the place with his family and leaves the old family castle and laboratory to the community.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of international film : "The star cast, the successful screenplay and the constant atmosphere of the threat made the third Frankenstein film a resounding success that triggered a second wave of horror productions in Hollywood."

Sequels

Frankenstein's son was followed by other sequels, including the comedy Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein , for which stars like Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange parody their star roles as Wolf Man, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster and which at the same time the conclusion of the Frankenstein series of Universal educates.

DVD release

Frankenstein's son is available in German for the first time in The Monster Legacy DVD Collection . The DVD collection includes, among other things, the complete Frankenstein range from Universal.

  • The Monster Legacy DVD Collection , October 14, 2004, Universal Pictures

Others

  • Frankenstein's son was originally intended to be shot as a Technicolor film. However, the decision was made to return to black and white after it turned out that the monster make-up was too bright in color. The color test shots showed Karloff in full mask while sticking out his tongue and suggesting that he would strangle the makeup artist Jack Pierce . In the late 1980s, the film roll with the Technicolor screen tests was rediscovered in the Universal archive, but was stolen from the archivist's desk shortly afterwards.
  • With a length of 99 minutes, Frankenstein's son is the longest English-language universal horror classic, only the Spanish parallel production of Dracula (1931) was about five minutes longer. Most of the films at that time had a running time of less than 80 minutes, which should allow as many screenings as possible per day in the cinemas.
  • The character Ygor was absent from Wyllis Cooper's original draft script. Director Rowland V. Lee, who was an avid Bela Lugosi fan, incorporated the role for Lugosi, who at the time was in financial difficulties and desperate for work. Lugosi received only $ 500 as a fee and was initially only to be employed for a week. However, Lee was able to get Lugosi to stay employed for the full duration of the shoot. Ygor was shot in the end, but returned in the follow-up film Frankenstein Returns ( The Ghost of Frankenstein , 1942). The name "Ygor" is spoken in the original and in the German dubbing like "Igor", but is spelled "Ygor" in the credits. There is a difference in the subtitling of the different language editions: Only with the German synchronization is "Igor" in the German subtitle, otherwise always "Ygor".
  • The name of the town in which Frankenstein created his creature has been changed several times over the course of the film series. In Frankenstein and Frankenstein's bride the story takes place in “Goldstadt”, in Frankenstein's son and Frankenstein's house the name of the village is “Frankenstein”; in Frankenstein returns and Frankenstein meets the wolf man , the village "Vasaria" is the seat of the Frankensteins, but in relation to the sanatorium of Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein, the second son of Dr. Henry Frankenstein and brother of Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, which is called "Visaria" in Frankenstein's house .
  • Claude Rains and Peter Lorre were both under discussion for the role of Wolf von Frankenstein. Lorre's cast was even publicly announced.
  • Jack Pierce , who was again responsible for the make-up of the Frankenstein monster, estimated that it took a total of four hours to transform Karloff into the monster.
  • Boris Karloff became a father during the filming.
  • The actor Lionel Belmore played in Frankenstein the villagers Mr. Vogel, while in Son of Frankenstein , he represented the Councilor Lang and killed by the monster. But that did not prevent him from appearing again as a council member in The Ghost of Frankenstein , albeit without being named.
  • The same with actor Michael Mark, who also played a different villager character in the three previously listed Frankenstein films (Ludwig / Ewald Neumüller / unnamed) and was also killed by the monster in Frankenstein's son , which, however, did not affect him in his work as a council member in the follow-up film. He was even allowed to take part in another film adaptation of Frankenstein (Frankenstein's house) , but this time outside of the home village of the Frankenstein family.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frankenstein's son. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used