I didn't think I'd be seeing any more old Frankenstein entries from Universal Pictures. Even The Bride of Frankenstein was more cheesy than scary or funny. But this one was on a list of horror recommendations, and I did want something older and more allegedly classic than I've been seeing this month.
Shortly after the natural death of Heinrich von Frankenstein (why he wasn't Victor is beyond me), his son Wolf (Basil Rathbone) moves into the castle, hoping to make use of the adjoining lab and restore honor to the family name. There he finds squatter Ygor (Bela Lugosi), who had assisted Heinrich; and Heinrich's infamous creation (Boris Karloff), who has been secretly alive but comatose for some time. Wolf performs a project to re-energize the monster, if only for scientific study. The monster does as Ygor bids, apparently out of sheer fondness for a fellow misshaped outcast. Alas, Ygor is vengeful....
This movie shares a disc with its immediate sequel, The Ghost of Frankenstein, which I skipped for being much less popular. I had gotten the impression that TGoF came first, partly because Netflix describes them out of chronological order and partly because it seemed like a lot had happened between the end of BoF and the start of SoF. In truth, there was retconning. Heinrich (or Henry, as he was called then) did use to have assistants that we saw, unlike in the book, but Ygor wasn't one of them. The town of Goldstadt has been renamed Frankenstein, despite Heinrich's condemnation by almost all residents. The monster doesn't even speak anymore, let alone show as much character as he'd developed. Brain damage?
You can bet that these retcons connect with a change of director. Rowland V. Lee may have made two or three classics, but he lacks the name recognition of James Whale. Still, what if you ignore the predecessors and view this entry on its own merits? Well, it certainly cultivates a haunting atmosphere. I actually found it creepiest in the first act, when things are still getting established and Ygor is mostly lurking undiscovered. I'm undecided on whether the music enhances the mood or reaches too far.
No discussion of SoF would be complete without a fair focus on Ygor. While this is the first Frankenstein story to include a character with a name anything like Igor, he's not a whole lot like the archetype. For one thing, he has thick facial hair. His accent is thick, his English broken. His deformity comes from an abortive hanging attempt, not a hunched back. (Even other characters point out the absurdity of letting him live just because he survived the first time.) More importantly, he's no toady; he tends to boss around even the doctor. At any rate, he pretty much dominates the screen, overshadowing his giant "friend." Funny to think that Lugosi's star power had already faded enough for a piddling wage; Lee had more than one good reason for giving him plenty of lines.
I soon came to realize that Young Frankenstein owes more to SoF than to any other entry, and not just for the titular premise. There's even a major part for a benevolent inspector (Lionel Atwill) with a monocle and a stiff prosthetic right arm that he needs his left arm to move. Atwill has, in fact, one of the three most praised performances, the others being Lugosi and Rathbone. Sorry, Karloff.
Of course, they're all over the top, probably on purpose. Rathbone reportedly didn't respect his own horrors. It doesn't help that Wolf is hard to like or relate to. He has to know he's inviting hostility to himself and his wife (Josephine Hutchinson) and son (Donnie Dunagan) just by showing up at the castle with their surname. When he determines that the creature is as inhuman and threatening as the rumors say, he still goes ahead with the project. He keeps hiding key information from his wife, even when she can plainly tell he's lying about their safety. His growing anxiety tends to manifest as undue anger.
A fair amount of the plot is telegraphed. For example, there's a pit of super-hot sulfur right in the lab. Not exactly Chekhov's gun, but you should have a good idea what'll happen with it.
If nothing else, SoF serves as a worthy cinematic history lesson. As a picture unto itself, it could never be taken more than slightly seriously. But to my mind, it is kind of thrilling for most of the way through.
No comments:
Post a Comment