After the dissolve of the Laemmles with Universal and the British embargo on American horror films in 1936, Karloff and Lugosi found themselves in a career slump. For two years, horror films were out of the New Universal Studios line up. On April 5, 1938, a nearly bankrupt theatre in Los Angeles staged a desperate stunt by booking Frankenstein, Dracula and King Kong on a triple bill. The result became a phenomenon, and soon Universal decided to make a big budget Frankenstein sequel. As director James Whale was similarly in a slump and did not wish to make any more horror films, Universal selected Rowland V. Lee to direct Son of Frankenstein. Lees film explores dramatic themes of family, security, isolation, responsibility and father-son relationships. Son of Frankenstein marks changes in the Monsters character from Bride of Frankenstein. The Monster is duller and no longer speaks. The monster also wore a giant fur vest, not seen in the first two Frankenstein films. He is fond of Ygor and obeys his orders. Unlike the previous two films, the Monster only shows humanity in two scenes. First when he discovers Ygors body, letting out a powerful scream and later when he contemplates killing Peter but changes his mind. Peter Lorre was originally cast as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, but he had to leave the production when he became ill. Replacing Lorre was Basil Rathbone, who had scored a major triumph as Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood. According to the documentary Universal Horror (1998), the film was intended to be shot in color. Test shooting took place but the monsters make-up did not look good enough and the idea was abandoned. Color clips of Boris Karloff in monster make-up clowning around are included in the documentary.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 20:54:18 +0000
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