[HorrorScience] The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Reading time: 6 minutes

Qualification

Ghost of Frankenstein

Year

1942

Duration

67 minutes

Director

Erle C. Kenton

Distribution

Lon Chaney Jr, Bela Lugosi, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellami, Lionel Atwill, Evelyn Ankers, Janet Ann Gallow, Barton Yarborough, Doris Lloyd, Leyland Hodgson, Olaf Hytten, Holmes Herbert, Michael Mark

Script

Scott Darling, Eric Taylor

After closing Universal Pictures' Frankenstein trilogy story with The Son of Frankenstein, the company decided to launch an unexpected sequel called Ghost of Frankenstein (Frankenstein's ghost) a couple of years later.

I don't know what motivated them to reopen the story (beyond the desire for money) but the truth is that at that time Universal had gone from avoiding making horror films to pushing their characters to the limit.

Unfortunately, that decision to expand their horror sagas did not include the necessary monetary outlay, so that almost all subsequent feature films would be low-cost and would even use images from other films to reduce costs, which made it impossible to achieve the greatness of the previous films.

In the town of Frankenstein, the townspeople harass the mayor to do something about the town's curse, related to Dr. Frankenstein and his experiments. The mayor tries to calm them down, but ends up giving in to the pressure and gives permission to the townspeople to blow up the castle.

Among the ruins, old Ygor tries to ward off the assailants, but they destroy the different parts of the castle with dynamite. After the destruction of part of the castle, the body of Frankenstein's monster will come to light, a situation that Ygor takes advantage of to take him with him while the castle falls into pieces.

[HorrorScience] Frankenstein's Ghost (1942) — The monster reappears among the castle ruins

The new destination of the two particular beings will be a remote town, where apparently one of Dr Frankenstein's children lives. As soon as Ygor and the monster appear in the surrounding area, they sow uncertainty due to their sinister appearance. Taking advantage of an oversight, the monster escapes Ygor's control and helps a girl recover her ball, which had been left on a roof. The sight of the creature with a girl in its arms causes the town to be shocked and try to arrest it, even though the creature does not harm the girl at any time.

On the other hand we find Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein and his partner Dr. Bohmer, who are dedicated to operating on human brains to cure mental illnesses. Ygor will take advantage of the situation to blackmail Dr. Frankenstein to go in search of the monster and help him regain his vitality.

Although Ludwig has no intention of helping the monster, the blackmail that Ygor subjects him to and the curious appearance of his father's ghost make him change his mind, so he asks Dr Bohmer to help him operate on the monster, with the intention of putting the brain of a recently dead companion in it, since If the monster has the brain of a good person, they will end their violent acts.

These plans do not seem to satisfy Ygor who wants the monster to take his brain, thus being able to abandon his deformed and old body. For his part, the monster seems to have his own opinion, so The operation will have a somewhat unpredictable result for Dr Ludwig.

Frankenstein's ghost It is an unnecessary sequel since it does not reach the quality of previous works and does not justify reopening the saga of the monster that Frankenstein's son had closed in an acceptable manner.

The initial part of the film has its charm, with Frankenstein's people still frightened by the stories of the monster and the presence of the sinister Ygor, who continues to play the flute near where the monster disappeared, as if that would bring him back to life.

Once we get to the part where they meet Frankenstein's other son (apparently Ygor knows Dr. Frankenstein's entire family and knows perfectly well where they live and what they do...) we find a film in which only some sets and scenes can remind us of the greatness of the first in the saga (as long as the actors don't get too close and show their falsehood).

I really like the character of Ygor, who in this movie is crazier than ever., which makes it more interesting, but at the same time prevents it from being credible that someone would sit down and make deals with him, especially when he doesn't even hide his evil and madness.

The monster (now played by Lon Chaney Jr) is a mere supporting player (similar to what was seen in Frankenstein's son) who only shows initiative in a couple of moments, such as when he is with the little girl who befriends him (scenes that, despite being a watered down version of what was seen in Frankenstein, are some of the best in the movie). The important characters (Ludwig Frankenstein or Dr Bohmer) They don't look too bright either. since although they fulfill their role as scientists, they are not especially credible as people. Other characters such as Ludwig's daughter or her boyfriend They are so unnecessary that they could be removed from the movie and nothing would happen.

Frankenstein's Ghost It had a fairly small budget (if we compare it with the previous ones) and that is noticeable in practically the entire film. However, it is also true that although the film could be improved, it still has that taste of a Universal classic, even if it is in a decaffeinated way and since it barely lasts an hour, it does not become particularly heavy.

Curiosities:

This was the first film in the saga where Boris Karloff does not play the monster.
There are several scenes where the set cannot support the movement of the actors, such as the first scene when the inhabitants of Frankenstein's town leave and a street lamp is seen shaking or when Ygor flees with the monster after the destruction of the castle, you can see that he knocks over a tombstone, grazing it as he walks.
In Frankenstein's son The monster had fallen ill because lightning had struck him, in this film however, lightning struck him and made him stronger.