The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Erle C. Kenton

Writers:

Scott Darling (screenplay)
Eric Taylor (story)

Release Date:

13 March 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Stark Terror! Added Thrills! in a Spine-Tingling Experience !

Plot:

Ygor resurrects Frankenstein's monster and brings him to the original doctor's son, Ludwig, for help...

Plot Keywords:

Brain | Villager | Frankenstein's Monster | Lightning | Score Employs Stock Cues

Cast

Cedric Hardwicke	...	Frankenstein (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Ralph Bellamy	...	Erik
Lionel Atwill	...	Doctor Bohmer
Bela Lugosi	...	Ygor
Evelyn Ankers	...	Elsa
Janet Ann Gallow	...	Cloestine
Barton Yarborough	...	Dr. Kettering
Doris Lloyd	...	Martha
Leyland Hodgson	...	Chief Constable
Olaf Hytten	...	Hussman
Holmes Herbert	...	Magistrate
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	The Monster (as Lon Chaney)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Alexander	...	Villager (uncredited)
Lionel Belmore	...	Councillor (uncredited)
Colin Clive	...	Dr. Henry Frankenstein (archive footage) (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Frone (uncredited)
George Eldredge	...	Constable (uncredited)
Dwight Frye	...	Villager (uncredited)
Lawrence Grant	...	Mayor (uncredited)
Otto Hoffman	...	Villager (uncredited)
Brandon Hurst	...	Hans (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Councillor (uncredited)
Jimmy Phillips	...	Indian (uncredited)
William Smith	...	Village Boy (uncredited)
Ernie Stanton	...	Constable (uncredited)
Julius Tannen	...	Sektal (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Villager at Hearing (uncredited)
Glen Walters	...	Village Mother of Hungry Children (uncredited)
Janet Warren	...	Goose Girl (uncredited)

Directed by
Erle C. Kenton

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Scott Darling		screenplay (as W. Scott Darling)
Eric Taylor		story

Produced by
George Waggner	....	producer

Original Music by
Hans J. Salter		(as H.J. Salter)

Cinematography by
Elwood Bredell		(director of photography) (as Woody Bredell)
Milton R. Krasner		(director of photography) (as Milton Krasner)

Film Editing by
Ted J. Kent		(as Ted Kent)

Art Direction by
Jack Otterson

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman		(as R.A. Gausman)

Costume Design by
Vera West		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Jack P. Pierce	....	makeup artist
Ellis Burman	....	makeup department technician (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles S. Gould	....	assistant director

Art Department
Harold H. MacArthur	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
Charles Carroll	....	sound technician

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Eddie Parker	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Maxwell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Charles Previn	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Video (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2004) (Sweden) (video)

Also Known As:

Duch Frankensteina (Poland) [pl]
El fantasma de Frankenstein (Spain) [es]
Fantasma de Frankenstein (Brazil) [pt]
Frankenstein kehrt wieder (Austria) [de]
Frankensteins vålnad (Sweden) [sv]
Il terrore di Frankenstein (Italy) [it]
Le spectre de Frankenstein (France) [fr]
To fantasma tou Frankenstein (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-15 (2004) | Spain:13 | USA:Approved (PCA #8125) | Sweden:15 | Sweden:7 (re-rating) | Germany:12 | Finland:(Banned) (1948)

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Ygor and the Monster weren't the only characters who came back from the dead. Michael Mark and Lionel Belmore, who play the two council members murdered in the previous film (Son of Frankenstein) are back as council members in this one, seemingly none the worse for wear.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Elsa is reading Dr. Frankenstein's notes, we see flashbacks of the monster being created, superimposed on the screen over the notes. When Elsa gets to the part of the notes that reads, "And now to find a brain", the flashbacks have shown the monster charged with electricity and brought to life. In proper history, the brain was put in first.

Quotes:

[the monster is struck by lightning]
Ygor: The lightning. It is good for you! Your father was Frankenstein, but your mother was the lightning!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) (#1.62)" (1980)

Frankenstein IV: Ygor's Brainchild

"The Ghost of Frankenstein" (Universal, 1942), directed by Erle C. Kenton, resurrects both the Frankenstein series and its monster(s) for another horror-go-round. This, the fourth in the series, begins at the town hall where villagers want to persuade the judge to grant permission for them to go and blow up Frankenstein's castle, in fear of an evil curse. For the benefit to those who haven't seen the third installment, "The Son of Frankenstein" (1939), it is briefly explained by one of the villagers that Wolf, the son of Frankenstein (played by Basil Rathbone) has brought back to life his late father's creation (Boris Karloff), only to have it terrorize the town once more, with the help of a crazed shepherd named Ygor (Bela Lugosi), who used the monster to carry out his dirty deeds and kill off those jurors who found him guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Afterwards, Frankenstein does away with both evil doers by shooting down Ygor with bullets and pushing the Monster to his doom into a boiling sulpher pit. The judge then grants permission to have the castle destroyed. As the villagers carry out their mission, they find Ygor very much alive and well, living in the castle. The castle is then dynamited, but before it is gone entirely, the pressure of the blast releases the Monster (now played by Lon Chaney Jr.) from his prison of the hardened sulpher pit to freedom. Ygor thus takes his friend, the Monster, away and to another village, where lives Ludwig (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), the second son of Frankenstein, now a surgeon who practices on the diseases of the brain, with Doctor Theodor Boumer (Lionel Atwill), as one of his assistants. Also living with Frankenstein is his daughter, Elsa (Evelyn Ankers), who is in love with her father's associate, Doctor Eric Giffrey (Ralph Bellamy). While at the village, the Monster encounters a little girl (Janet Ann Gallow) being teased by the neighborhood children who throw her ball onto a section of a building for which she cannot reach to retrieve it. The Monster helps her get her ball back, but creates much commotion from the villagers. After the Monster returns the child, Cloestine, back to her father, the villagers take the Monster by force and have him placed in jail. Ygor then comes to Frankenstein for help, but refuses. After the Monster escapes, with the help of Ygor, they then come to Frankenstein home, where the monster rests of the laboratory table. Frankenstein makes the decision to at first destroy his father's evil creation, but after his father's spirit appears to him to convince his son otherwise, Frankenstein decides to perform an operation by replacing the evil brain of the Monster with that of a sensible one, but who's? After Doctor Kettering (Barton Yarbrough) is found murdered, it is decided to transplant the deceased man's brain into the Monster's head. Ygor has other plans. He wants his brain placed into the Monster's head, while the Monster, who has just kidnapped Cloestine from her home, wants the child's brain placed into his head. Which brain will be the one Frankenstein will use? A no-brainer situation.

"The Ghost of Frankenstein," which lacks logic, is the first in the series of Universal quickies (usually running at 70 minutes, more or less), gearing more to the enjoyment of the Saturday matinee crowd than to just adults, as with the previous three installments. The first three films were class "A" productions, carefully prepared scripts, with the initial entry being quite intense for children to see, and all featuring Boris Karloff as The Monster. Ygor, who was pronounced dead in the last movie, is back, with no explanation as to how he survived the bullets. However, it is said that the Monster cannot die, which explains his resurrection once more. On the plus side to this production are the special effects, crisp black and white photography, brief clips taken from the initial "Frankenstein" featuring Colin Clive and Dwight Frye stealing a dead body from the cemetery and the creation of the Monster, and a fine musical score by Hans J. Salter. As with the previous film, "Son of Frankenstein," Bela Lugosi's Ygor steals the show, although he is somewhat less menacing this time round. Lon Chaney Jr., a recent recruit to the Universal rouster of movie monsters, makes a satisfactory replacement to Boris Karloff's Monster, but not as memorable as he is, or was, as Lawrence Talbot in "The Wolf Man" (1941), and its sequels. In many ways, Chaney's Monster is many times better than the latter Glenn Strange's performance. From this point on, the Frankenstein monster would become a second rate character in the series, which was reportedly a letdown to its originator, Karloff, who had great admiration to his character, which is the reason why he quit doing the series. One thing in this segment that would have made Karloff proud is the way how Chaney's Monster interplays with that of a little girl. It's been said Karloff was totally against his monster character in "Frankenstein" having to do a scene where he drowns an innocent little girl in one intense scene by the lake. Here, the Monster still kills those who stand in his way, but shows the human side of his nature when it comes to the innocense of a child, who, in this segment, shows no fear of this hideous creature.

Also seen in the supporting cast are Leyland Hodgeson as the Chief Constable; Holmes Herbert as Inspector Holtz; and Doris Lloyd as Martha. Fans of the initial two Frankenstein entries will take notice that Dwight Frye, who first played the hunchback Fritz in "Frankenstein" (1931) and Karl in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), is seen briefly as one of the angry villagers in the opening segment of the story, and he gets no screen billing. And yes, that is the same Lionel Atwill, here appearing as Doctor Boumer, who played the one armed police inspector in "Son of Frankenstein." He would assume different character roles in future installments in the Frankenstein series.

As with all the Frankenstein films of the 1930s and '40s, "The Ghost of Frankenstein" is available on video cassette. It did have frequent revivals on cable television's The Sci-Fi Channel, and currently plays occasionally on American Movie Classics. In spite of this being the first in the series with "B" material scripting, "The Ghost of Frankenstein" actually is a fast-paced production at 68 minutes, and seldom dull.