films in the universal frankenstein series. its only watchable if you ignore the first 3. i dont' expect every frankenstein movie to be a work of art such as "bride of frankenstein" but i much prefer the later frankenstein films such as "frankenstein meets the wolf man" and "abbot and costello meet frankenstein" which are more satisfying trashy fun. this one wasn't that fun.
shareThis is a lower budget production and suffers from the absence of Karloff as the monster or, in the cast, for that matter. Still a lot of fun.
shareI am totally with you on this. I've seen the first four now (watching them in order) and this is easily the worst, or put another way, the 'least' good so far. The first two were classics, and "Son" was decent enough although definitely a few pegs lower for me. This one goes down another peg. The whole bit with Henry Frankenstein appearing as an apparition (and not played by Colin Clive) trying to stop Ludwig from destroying the monster...that was just weak. Where did that come from? Now we have apparitions as part of the story? Then to change the monster so that now it has Ygor's brain....idk...that just cheapened the whole thing and made it something else. The monster is no longer the monster, it's Ygor now...and well, it's just not the same. And finally at the climax, the little girl's father states 'it's two weeks since my little daughter disappeared'....but Frankenstein and Elsa were able to get the girl away from the monster that first night she was kidnapped. So why the heck did they keep the girl for two weeks at the chateau? That just makes no sense. I'm going to watch "Meets the Wolf Man" next, I hope it was better than this.
shareYou can definitely tell that this one was a step down in some ways. It looks cheaper, the sets are simpler, and of course no Karloff as the Monster (though Chaney is no slouch, that's for sure). However, I still enjoyed it and found it to be more entertaining than Son of Frankenstein (which was gorgeous, but boring). It's got nothing on the first two films though.
shareThe first two were classics...this was so so like Son...but I still got a kick out of it...
Do you know how to get to Shell Beach???
Funny. As a kid I never saw the 2nd or 3rd but watched this one a ton. Along with the first.
shareThe first in the series is my favorite, with Ghost as my second. Most fans of the series would consider that heresy, but I have my reasons. Bride of Frankenstein is certainly entertaining, but I don’t like how Whale treated it as a send up. Son of Frankenstein is also good, but it’s too long by about 15 minutes, and Karloff’s monster doesn’t get much to do. Ghost of Frankenstein moves the series to B status, but the story is good, it moves right along, and Chaney’s monster gets plenty of screen time. Many fans complain about his monster’s stoic nature, but Chaney played him as written and directed. If the script had allowed him to imbue the character with more pathos, I think it would be better regarded by fans.
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