The Ghost of Frankenstein

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Runtime: 67 minutes

Directed by: Erle  C. Kenton

Starring: Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi

From: Universal 

The Monster was Ygor’s Ride or Die…

For the first time since this past fall, I viewed a movie on the streaming channel Universal Monsters, which can be found on platforms like Pluto TV. In the past, I’ve viewed the third movie in Universal’s Frankenstein franchise (Son of Frankenstein) and the fifth (Frankenstein vs. The Wolf Man) so it was overdue for me to close the loop by checking out this, the fourth.

The people of the village are still miffed about the impact of Frankenstein and his son & all the trouble they’ve caused. His castle is destroyed but because circumstances, Ygor has been obsessed w/ the corpse of The Monster and it is suddenly revived. Conveniently, there is ANOTHER son of Henry Frankenstein that is a scientist; it does not take much cajoling to convince Ludwig Frankenstein-including a ghostly apparition from his late father-that The Monster needed a new brain; at least that’s a logical step to take in this universe.

Ghost is flawed and not as good as the first three in the franchise; nitpicks could be made, including the obvious inclusion of a little girl in an attempt to humanize The Monster. That said, the movie was still a good time between the cast, the sets, the mood, the atmosphere, the interesting musical score, and the love that Ygor has for The Monster, which isn’t necessarily reciprocated.

Lon Chaney, Jr. replaced Boris Karloff as The Monster; he was fine, but naturally wasn’t iconic in the role like the man whose shoes he attempted to fill. With the right expectations going in, you may also feel that The Ghost of Frankenstein is fine.