As a kid this was one of my favorite Universal horror movies.\u00a0 In a way it was the last of the legitimate Frankenstein movies from the series.\u00a0 Boris Karloff played the Monster for the third and final time.\u00a0 And they even brought back a couple of the actors from the original Frankenstein movie although as different characters. So, there was a certain amount of continuity with the first two movies.\u00a0 Basil Rathbone adds his considerable talents to the production as the titular son of the original Dr. Frankenstein.\u00a0 Lionel Atwill makes his turn as the memorable Inspector Krogh; he of the prosthetic right arm (which the Monster had torn off when Krogh was a child).\u00a0 And even poor Bela Lugosi is there as Ygor to lend his legitimacy as a part of one of the earlier Universal films (Dracula) that had a lot of \u201cprestige.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, this movie has everything.\u00a0 Not only does the younger Dr Frankenstein have a very pretty wife but he also has a curly-haired young son whom the Monster befriends.\u00a0 After this film the later Frankenstein films became kind of campy to my mind.\u00a0 So, this is the climax of the original films.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t worry about spoilers because we know that the Monster will come back for endless sequels so let\u2019s just talk about the story.\u00a0 Dr. Frankenstein and his family have arrived from the United States where he had met his wife.\u00a0 They find the villagers surly and suspicious because mysterious deaths have continued to occur in the village and the Monster is still blamed for these.<\/p>\n
We find out that Ygor has been hiding the Monster below the ruins of the destroyed laboratory but recently the Monster was struck by lightning (!) and hasn\u2019t regained consciousness since.\u00a0 Ygor wants the doctor to restore the creature.\u00a0 Ygor was a grave robber who was hanged for his crimes but somehow the hanging didn\u2019t kill him so he went free.\u00a0 And now he\u2019s befriended the Monster and it does his bidding.\u00a0 Doctor Frankenstein is intrigued by his father\u2019s creation and we are shown him using \u201cmodern\u201d medical equipment like a fluoroscope to examine the Monster.\u00a0 There\u2019s some gibberish about his rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, cellular structure and we even find out that he has two bullets lodged in his heart which don\u2019t seem to bother him at all.<\/p>\n
So, the doctor sets up the generator and zaps the Monster but other than a short bout of consciousness he seems to have failed to rouse the Monster.\u00a0 But later on, we hear that the doctor\u2019s little boy met a \u201cgiant.\u201d\u00a0 And so, when the murders begin happening again both the doctor and Inspector Krogh are sure the Monster is on the loose again.\u00a0 After a dart game between Doctor Frankenstein and the Inspector (which was thoroughly lampooned in Mel Brook\u2019s movie; \u201cYoung Frankenstein) we have the climax of the movie.\u00a0 Doctor Frankenstein kills Ygor in self-defense and the Monster kidnaps the little boy and brings him back to the lab.\u00a0 At this point both the Inspector and the doctor attack the Monster.\u00a0 Even after the creature tears off Krogh\u2019s prosthetic arm, he manages to fire a number of bullets into the Monster.\u00a0 And Doctor Frankenstein outdoes him by a swashbuckling rope swing that propels the Monster over the lip of a ledge and into a very convenient, bubbling pool of 800-degree F sulfur-bearing magma.<\/p>\n
Alright.\u00a0 It\u2019s a silly movie.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a lot fun.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a warm spot for this one.\u00a0 All the hand waving to make the Monster\u2019s existence \u201cscientific\u201d appeals to the ten-year-old kid in me.\u00a0 They even go so far as to clarify that the \u201cray\u201d that the original movie said was \u201cbeyond the ultraviolet\u201d was actually cosmic rays.\u00a0 Well, cosmic rays!\u00a0 What more could you ask?\u00a0 Highly recommended for ten-year-old boys and other folks who like a good monster movie in black and white.<\/p>\n