"Son Of Frankenstein" Was Disappointing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            I was right, darlings, when I said Svengoolie should have shown 'Bride.'  As the final entry in the "Frankenstein" series,  justice was not  even done.  I have not  seen this film since I was a child, and it obviously made little  impression on me, then, because I barely remembered it.

                                             Karloff and Lugosi were the best.  Lugosi, as Ygor, was especially moving.   I actually wanted to know his back story.  Together, both acted like they had studied the Method, with Lee Strasberg, but, this, I think, was when Lee was just getting on  his feet.

                                               As for Basil Rathbone and Lionel Atwill, well, the latter must have been annoyed during the entire shoot with that artificial arm  he had to work  with.  I would have been.  During their scenes together,  he and Rathbone went at each other, like they were doing Shakespeare, which only ramped up the camp factor.

                                                   The only redeeming  feature was the  stylized set design, obviously influenced by German Expressionist Cinema, notably 1919's "The Cabinet Of Dr.  Caligari."

                                                      Oh, and the fiery pit, near the end, not only seemed to borrow from RKO's 1933 "The Mystery Of The Wax  Museum"--also  with Atwill--but  foreshadowed  ts remake, twenty years later, Warner Bros. 1953 "House Of Wax."

                                                          I was surprised when it was explained to me that much of the parody elements of Mel Brooks' 1974 "Young Frankenstein," were specifically taken from this particular film.  Now,  I am curious to watch that film again,  myself.

                                                            All in all, a disappointment.  Not only did the film not hold up, but the station was having problems again.  The picture would occasionally fragment, and more often than that, sound would vanish, omitting chunks of dialogue.  Not that this was Noel Coward, dears, but it did  interfere with narrative continuity.

                                                               I want Svengoolie to go back to being FUN!  It is time he  showed "Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"