The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) Review

Director: Erle C. Kenton

Writers: Scott Darling, Eric Taylor

Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr., Ralph Bellamy

1 Hour, 7 Minutes

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The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

There’s a town meeting where the mayor recaps what happened in Son of Frankenstein. Ygor has been seen in the woods, playing his horn, trying to lure the monster back to him. The people want the castle destroyed; they think it’s cursed. “We’ll blow it up!” Someone yells.

Ygor watches them come to the base of the tower. They see Ygor up there, and he starts throwing rocks at them. They blow open the doors and storm in, while Ygor goes down in the dungeon to make his escape. Ygor finally finds his friend; the monster has been unearthed in the explosion.He had been buried in the sulfur pits at the end of “Son of Frankenstein.”

The two make their way out through the cemetery as the rest of the castle comes down. The evil pair decide to leave the country for a better place. Frankenstein is struck by lightning, and it rejuvenates him. They decide to go see Ludwig, Dr.Frankenstein’s other son.

Meanwhile, Ludwig is working on brain transplants in the hospital. Can you imagine what the Frankenstein family reunion must be like? Ygor and Frank arrive in town and head straight for the hospital. Frankenstein’s monster grabs the nearest little girl and climbs up a building. The little girl is fine, but the police grab the monster.

Ygor goes to see Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein. He wants the doctor to “fix” the creature. Ygor blackmails the doctor into helping him. After Ygor leaves, the doctor opens a secret compartment where his father’s and brother’s journals are stored. He’s way more interested in helping than he let on.

The monster goes on trial in the town, but he doesn’t speak. The judge and lawyers think he’s insane, and the local psychiatrist, Dr. Frankenstein, might be able to help. Frankenstein says he’s never seen the monster before in his life, and the monster goes berserk… until he hears Ygor playing his horn. Ygor puts him in the back of a wagon and speeds away.

Elsa, Frankenstein’s daughter, snoops in her father’s study and reads the Frankenstein journals. As she reads, we get a quick flashback to the first movie. She looks up and sees Ygor and the monster looking in the window. They break in and kill Doctor Kettering, and Frankenstein floods the room with gas, knocking Ygor out, and finally, the monster as well.

Frankenstein straps the monster down to the table and gets Dr. Bohmer to help. He want to dissect him piece by piece. He talks to the ghost of the original doctor, and learns that the problem originally was the defective brain that was used. Ludwig can transplant brains– that’s mighty convenient!

Ygor says his own body is pretty much ruined, so he volunteers to have his brain put in the monster’s body. No, Ludwig wants to use the brain from Dr Kettering. They hook up the electrodes and “recharge’ the monster; he needs strengthening up before his big operation. The monster also consents to the operation. Ygor talks to Dr. Bohmer, and tempts him with power. He still wants to be put into the monster’s head.

The police smell a rat, and they search the hospital. They find the secret lab. They go downstairs, but no one is down there. The monster is visiting the little girl downtown; he’s getting to be more of a creeper than a monster. Ygor calls him away with his horn, but he takes the girl with him. Of course, he accidentally sets her house on fire as well.

He and Ygor argue, and the monster squashes him behind a door. They’re finally ready for the operation. Ygor is convinced that this is what he wants to do, so Bohmer switches the brains without telling Ludwig.

Two weeks pass, and the villagers are still looking for the missing little girl. They decide Frankenstein must be involved, so they storm the hospital. The police get there first and Frankenstein explains what happened with the brain transplant. The monster speaks with Ygor’s voice and accent– He tells them all that he’s Ygor.

The rabble outside find a battering ram somewhere and break in. Bohmer turns on the gas, and many villagers pass out. Suddenly, the Ygor monster goes blind. Frankenstein explains that Dr. Kettering and the Monster had the same blood type, but Ygor’s was different. The operation isn’t going to last.

Ygor kills Bohmer in a rage, but the lab starts to burn, killing everyone inside.

Commentary

This is the first in the series without Boris Karloff. He looks quite a bit different in the role, younger and stronger, but also less menacing. Bela Lugosi as Ygor is as good as in the previous movie, and Dr. Frankenstein tries repeatedly to do the right thing, and he ends up being the only doctor to be killed in his own movie.

Lon Chaney Jr. was great in “The Wolf Man,” but he was wasted here, essentially making the monster into a caricature of his former self. The Monster may have made a star out of Karloff, but in this case, lightning didn’t strike twice.