THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)
Lame writing, skimpy sets and lack of imagination pervade the third sequel to FRANKENSTEIN, the first not to feature Boris Karloff at the monster, who is instead played by Lon Chaney Jr. Bela Lugosi is back as Ygor, who survived multiple gunshot wounds at point blank range at the end of SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, a matter the screenplay disposes of in seconds ("It takes more than that to kill Ygor--he got his neck broken!"). The villagers accidentally revive the Monster by trying to blow up the ruins of the old laboratory, then Ygor takes his friend cross country somewhere to find the other son of Frankenstein, Wolf's brother Ludwig (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). Somehow the people in Ludwig's town have never heard of the monster before. Blackmail ensues and someone starts to think it would be a good idea to transplant a different brain into the monster. That could be an intriguing premise, but alas, this is a low budget production made with a low budget mentality, so they don't dig very deeply.
Lon Chaney Jr. is a block of wood compared to Boris Karloff as the monster, but even Karloff and Lugosi come off poorly when they aren't given anything to play. One saving grace is that Chaney looks terrific. Karloff was actually fairly short, less tall than the actor who played Henry Frankenstein, and wore big elevator boots to increase his size. Chaney is a genuinely tall man, and his monster is full of power and menace. Jack Pierce was still around to do the makeup, and he does not disappoint. However, the monster is dressed in an logic-defying black suit reminiscent of its attire on THE ELECTRIC COMPANY (1971-1977).
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
Lon Chaney Jr. is a block of wood compared to Boris Karloff as the monster, but even Karloff and Lugosi come off poorly when they aren't given anything to play. One saving grace is that Chaney looks terrific. Karloff was actually fairly short, less tall than the actor who played Henry Frankenstein, and wore big elevator boots to increase his size. Chaney is a genuinely tall man, and his monster is full of power and menace. Jack Pierce was still around to do the makeup, and he does not disappoint. However, the monster is dressed in an logic-defying black suit reminiscent of its attire on THE ELECTRIC COMPANY (1971-1977).
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K