Son of Frankenstein (Rowland V. Lee, 1939)

Son of Frankenstein, the third Universal Studios Frankenstein movie, was the first without the magic touch of James Whale. Whale, one of the best filmmakers of the first Hollywood golden age, directed four of the greatest horror movies of the 1930s (Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and Bride of Frankenstein) but, deciding that he couldn't top what he'd already done, left horror behind for the remainder of his career, turning his focus to musicals, war movies, romantic comedies, and adventure movies.

Fortunately, Frankenstein ended up in the capable hands of director Rowland V. Lee and a stacked cast, including Basil Rathbone, Lionel Atwill, Bela Lugosi, and a returning Boris Karloff in his last appearance as Frankenstein's monster. Lee and screenwriter Wyllis Cooper, instead of trying to mimic Whale's style and tone (a fool's errand), decided to ignore the one-of-a-kind Bride of Frankenstein altogether and create a direct sequel to the first film (and Mary Shelley's novel). Lee also chose to place the action on dramatically stylized German Expressionist-influenced sets that call to mind some of the silent film classics like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Waxworks, giving this version of Frankenstein a truly unique look.

Freed up from trying to imitate Whale, Lee creates a surprisingly complex, atmospheric, tragic tale with moments of silliness and camp, particularly with Atwill's and Rathbone's characters, who were memorably parodied in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, a pastiche of the first three Frankenstein movies that draws heavily from this installment. Though reputationally a footnote to Whale's two Frankenstein movies and Brooks' parody, Son of Frankenstein is a pretty damn good movie in its own right and deserves to be seen on its own terms.

The longest Universal monster movie at 99 minutes, Son of Frankenstein begins with Frankenstein's son, Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone, most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes), inheriting the castle, laboratory, and servants of his late father. Wolf, a British doctor living in the United States with his cosmopolitan American wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and their inexplicably Southern-accented son Peter (Donnie Dunagan, a tap-dancing child prodigy who was born in San Antonio and raised in Memphis, so maybe not that inexplicable; he later became the voice of Bambi in the Disney movie and spent his adult post-showbiz life as a career Marine, eventually working in counterintelligence) decide to move to the castle permanently, angering and frightening the villagers, who thought they were finally free of these damn Frankensteins and their crazy damn experiments. A series of mysterious deaths in the village has also given rise to the rumor that the monster is still alive, making the anti-Frankenstein sentiment even more pronounced.

Arriving at Castle Frankenstein in the middle of a suitably gothic thunderstorm, the Frankensteins get the cold shoulder from the villagers but a considerably warmer one from the castle servants. Wolf and Peter dig the castle, but Elsa gets bad vibes almost immediately and doesn't seem too enamored of its wacky German Expressionist architecture. Meanwhile, a creepy bearded dude named Ygor (Bela Lugosi) is skulking around the premises and spying on the family.

Also skulking around, albeit with a much friendlier presentation, is police inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill), who tells the Frankensteins that he's here to serve and protect the family while secretly harboring suspicions that Wolf is up to the same shenanigans as dear old dad. Krogh has an artificial right arm since his biological arm was ripped off by Frankenstein's monster when he was a kid. His stiff movements adjusting his arm and monocle are parodied by Kenneth Mars in Young Frankenstein, but it's almost a parody of a parody, with Atwill playing the movements straight-facedly but with deliberate physical comedy.

The next morning, after the storm has subsided, Wolf checks out his father's old laboratory, which is missing a roof, cluttered with rubble, and adjacent to a bubbling hot sulfur pit, but otherwise in surprisingly great shape. Ygor, suspicious of the stranger, attempts to smush Wolf with a heavy stone, but Wolf is too quick and too armed with a rifle for Ygor to succeed. After Ygor finds out the man is Frankenstein's son, he ushers him into a secret underground lair where the body of the monster (Boris Karloff) is still very much alive, though in a coma after being struck by lightning. Obsessed with his father's research and urged on by Ygor, Wolf decides to bring the monster out of his coma. He gives the lab a makeshift roof covering and cleans it up, experimenting on the monster with the assistance of Ygor and the assistant Wolf brought with him from the United States, Thomas Benson (Edgar Norton), whose addition to the team angers Ygor.

It will surprise no one that Frankenstein's monster returns to consciousness, setting up a complex power struggle between all our characters. The monster just wants to live in peace. Ygor, the only human the monster trusts, wants to use him for his own nefarious revenge-based purposes (he was genuinely mistreated by the villagers but his plans are also morally dubious) and to get the other people in the castle out of his way now that he has what he needs. Wolf wants to win the monster's trust, get him away from Ygor, study him further, become a legend in the scientific community, and keep all this shit a secret from Inspector Krogh (and, for the time being, his own family). Krogh knows the monster is back and wants him dead and is also becoming much less enamored of Wolf, who goes from mild-mannered friendly doctor to zero-chill obviously-hiding-the-truth obsessive ball of intensity in the blink of an eye. The villagers want the Frankensteins the hell out of their once tourist-friendly village. Elsa wants to know why her husband is acting so damn weird and also wants the hell out of the village. The sulfur pit just keeps getting hotter and bubblier. No one is on the same page here, and the conflicts, secrets, and opposing viewpoints become a tornado of drama. I grew up in a small town, so this is just like a documentary to me.

This is such a well-designed, well-written, well-made, well-performed Universal monster movie. It looks beautiful and remains compelling throughout, and, though it never reaches the heights of the James Whale films, it comes surprisingly close. Later installments may have become more soulless and profit-chasing, but this feels like a heartfelt work, made by artists and craftsmen. I love it. (Though Wolf does get off a little too easy at the end. He was part of the problem, man.)