October's "Monster Mash Month", let’s continue talk Classic Monster Movies of Universal Studios! Today we will conclude our Frankenstein week with Son of Frankenstein (1939), the third and final movie in which Boris Karloff portrayed the Frankenstein monster. In Son of Frankenstein, Karloff’s monster no longer speaks and is somewhat upstaged by the wonderful performance of Bela Lugosi as the amusingly sinister, broken-necked Ygor. In the first two films, Karloff’s creature is portrayed with some poignancy and we can sympathize with his plight, but in the third film, the monster is much more violent and destructive.
Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), son of Henry Frankenstein, returns with his wife (Josephine Hutchinson), to his fathers estate to claim his inheritance. When he arrives with his family he recieves a hostile reception from locals. While exploring his fathers laboratory he comes across crooked blacksmith - Ygor (Lugosi), who asks him to revive his father's creation - the MONSTER who is lying in a coma. The Baron tries to revive the monster and believes he fails but then some
of the locals are found murdered soon after who just happened to be part of the jury that sent Ygor to the gallows. The villagers immediately connect the killings to Frankenstein and send the inspector to investigate. He discovers the monster is alive and is being used as tool by Ygor. The Baron then in a fit of madness shoots Ygor. The enraged monster, losing his only friend, kidnaps Peter (Donnie Dunagan), the Baron's son. In the end the Baron tracks the monster to the lab where he swings down on a chain knocking the monster into a sulpher pit and thus his demise.We’ve heard that the increased violence of the monster in Son of
Frankenstein is one of the reasons Boris Karloff decided to give up the role in the sequels that followed and which include Ghost of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, House of Frankenstein (Karloff appeared in this film, but not as the monster), and House of Dracula. We like these sequels well enough, but they just aren’t of the same caliber as those with Karloff as the Frankenstein monster. 
So for a scary "Monster Mash Month", we recommend watching Son of Frankenstein. Join "Let's Talk Classic Movies" next week to read about our next featured Universal Studios Monster -Dracula.
**Trivia Question for Today: Donnie Dunagan, who portrayed Peter von Frankenstein in Son of Frankenstein, was used for a famous voice in a Walt Disney cartoon movie. What was the movie and what character did Donnie Dunagan voice?
Trivia Answer for Previous Post: In Bride of Frankenstein, Elsa Lanchester's shock hairdo was held in place by a wired horsehair cage.
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