Frankensteins Sohn (1939)

Frankensteins Sohn: Directed by Rowland V. Lee. With Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill. Returning to the ancestral castle long after the death of the monster, the son of Dr. Frankenstein meets a mad shepherd who is hiding the comatose creature. To clear the family name, he revives the creature and tries to rehabilitate him.

“Usually the third film in a series shows signs of decline either in quality or inventiveness. Even the third u0026#39;Godfatheru0026#39; was significantly less than its predecessors. Universalu0026#39;s u0026#39;Frankensteinu0026#39; series that began in the early 1930u0026#39;s was no exception and showed some wear by the end of the decade when u0026#39;Son of Frankensteinu0026#39; was released. Under the sensitive direction of James Whale, the original u0026#39;Frankensteinu0026#39; was a classic, and, in the first sequel, u0026#39;Bride of Frankenstein,u0026#39; Whale even managed to better it. However, while Whale was not involved with u0026#39;Son,u0026#39; the third installment turned out to be a surprisingly good movie even if it failed to match the two preceding films. Perhaps the major reason for the success of u0026#39;Sonu0026#39; was the casting of Basil Rathbone as Wolf Frankenstein, the original Baronu0026#39;s son. Rathbone is a fine strong actor, and his characterization certainly exceeds Colin Cliveu0026#39;s somewhat colorless portrayal of his father in the preceding films. Rathbone holds the vieweru0026#39;s attention throughout as he becomes immersed in the legacy of his father and fails to comprehend the consequences of what he is doing. Boris Karloff returns for a third time as the monster. Although he does a fine job, there is less opportunity for the actor to show the range of emotion in this film that he displayed in u0026#39;Bride.u0026#39; Another aspect of u0026#39;Sonu0026#39; that raises it above the ordinary is the set and lighting design, which owes a debt to German expressionism. The sets have bold diagonals in their construction, and the cameraman has lit them to cast equally bold shadows against bare walls and create abstract patterns that often recall u0026#39;The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.u0026#39; The lighting and design of one particular section of a cave under the Frankenstein laboratory could have been blown up and framed as an expressionist photograph. Although it does not reach the heights of the Whale films, u0026#39;Son of Frankensteinu0026#39; is a worthy successor and an engrossing film in its own right.”