Product Description

GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN: Lugosi is great as Ygor, in this fourth of the Universal Studios Frankenstein flicks. This time, Dr. Frankenstein thinks his monster could be cured if he only had a normal brain, so with the help of Ygor, they try it again, from the top. But Ygor has his own plans. This was based on a story by Eric Taylor. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN: The son of Dr. Frankenstein returns to his ancestral castle 25 years after his father's death. There he meets Ygor who urges the young doctor to do it again.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47171 in DVD
• Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
• Released on: 2007-07-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 168 minutes

Amazon.com
Son of Frankenstein Basil Rathbone comes to Transylvania to inherit his father's estate in this second sequel to Frankenstein. The townspeople are suspicious, but young Frankenstein has no interest in reviving his father's work--until he discovers the monster hidden away in the castle, inert but very much intact and watched over by Ygor (Bela Lugosi), a sinister, snaggletoothed peasant with a broken neck. Convinced to revive the creature and vindicate his father's name, Frankenstein toils away in the lab not realizing that Ygor plans to use the monster to revenge himself on the jury that sentenced him to hang. Boris Karloff makes his final appearance as the Monster, now little more than a mute, lumbering robot under the hypnotic control of Ygor. Rathbone is a dignified, suave scientist and a marvelous match to Lugosi's mad Ygor, a richly malevolent performance that dominates the film. Lionel Atwill makes a marvelous addition to the Frankenstein gallery as the wooden-armed constable, a legacy of the monster's rampage 25 years before. (Mel Brooks's loving lampoon Young Frankenstein, a veritable remake of this film, features the constable and his lumber limb in a major role.) Universal abandoned horror films in 1936, but the success of this sequel single-handedly revived the genre. Though lacking the gothic splendor and macabre humor of James Whale's originals, Rowland V. Lee's handsome production remains an intelligent, well-made classic of the genre and Universal's last great horror film. Lugosi returns as Ygor in The Ghost of Frankenstein.

The Ghost of Frankenstein The monster lives! Again! Picking up where Son of Frankenstein left off, Bela Lugosi's gnarled Ygor survives yet another rampage by angry, torch-carrying villagers and frees the monster (The Wolf Man himself, Lon Chaney Jr., taking over from Boris Karloff) from his sulfur grave. The latest cinematic Frankenstein scion, brain surgeon Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), wants to dissect the creature, but the ghost of his father convinces him to save it by giving it a new, "good" brain. Ygor has his own devious plan and enlists Ludwig's shady assistant (Lionel Atwill) in a brain-switching scheme.

Ably directed by the pedestrian Erle C. Kenton, The Ghost of Frankenstein gives up the gothic mood and moral quandaries of the original films for the busy, action-packed plots that defined Universal horror films of the 1940s. The human characters are all rather dull (except for Lugosi's animated, eye-rolling performance), and Chaney has none of Karloff's pathos or subtlety under the make-up, but the film opens with a spectacular bang as the villagers dynamite the castle, and skips from one inspired scene to another. The monster rejuvenates himself during an electrical storm with a jolt of lightning, mutely undergoes a courtroom cross-examination (by a ridiculously intent Ralph Bellamy), and finally goes on a blind rampage in the fiery climax. Frankenstein's monster returns (this time with Lugosi as the creature) in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. --Sean Axmaker

From the Back Cover
The Ghost of Frankenstein: Perhaps the last creation of the classic horror film era, The Ghost of Frankenstein delights fans with its sly humor and deliciously mischievous portrayals-Lon Chaney, Jr. as the monster, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the twisted son of Dr. Frankenstein, and Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's dutiful assistant, Ygor. Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer (Lionel Atwill), plots to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when the monster turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.

Son of Frankenstein: Praised by critics as one of the best of the Frankenstein series, Son of Frankenstein stars Boris Karloff in the role that made him a screen legend. Returning to the ancestral castle 25 years after the death of the monster, the son of Dr. Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) meets Ygor (Bela Lugosi), a mad shepherd who is hiding the comatose creature. Hoping to clear the family name, he reviews the creature and tries to rehabilitate him. His noble goals are dashed when Ygor sends the creature on a killing spree that spreads new panic in the village.

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Customer Reviews

Great films, great prints, annoying authoring
Little need be said here to convince you to buy this disc if you grew up watching these on TV horror shows like I did (and assembling the model kits, buying the mags, they were called mags then, etc.) If you're new to the Universal classics all I can say is what are you waiting for? Universal is thankfully giving us the lesser titles as two-fors, so it really makes buying them just about irresistable. OK, so Son and Ghost are on the downhill slide after the peak of Bride, but still far more entertaining and well-made (particularly Son) than what typically passes for a movie now. And if you're a fan of Young Frankenstein, Son is an absolute must-see. You can find out all about the movies a million other places so I'm talking about the DVD.
First, the good news. The prints look spectacular, even better than those used on the previous VHS editions. I don't know if it's just the increased resolution of DVD or if they did some additional work on the prints, but they are so much richer and detailed than the pre-records it's just stunning. Not to mention that my VHS copy of Son in particular is riddled with dropouts.
The extras are minimal, including chapter stops, talent bios, and a trailer for Ghost (Son's trailer is mysteriously missing). What annoys me about this DVD though, and keeps it from a five star review, is the irritating and self-serving way Universal has structured the disc. What I mean is that, besides the obligatory WARNING screen that we're now all forced to sit through when we pop in a DVD, on this disc when you press the onscreen "Play the Movie" button, you're also forced to sit through over a minute of Universal's marketing twaddle before the actual movie starts. OK, you can click through it to the opening titles or you can go straight into the movie from the chapter stops screen (an easy enough workaround once you figure it out) but it's still mildly annoying how they constantly try to shove this marketing crap in your face. Don't let this minor gripe stop you from buying, it's just a drag 'cause this disc would be near-perfect otherwise. I am waiting expectantly for all the rest of them. Monolith Monsters on DVD! I can dream can't I?

Great Universal Classics
I have been a fan of the Universal monsters for as long as I can remember. These movies give us a chance to see some of the greatest actors of the Universal horror era (e.g., Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Lionel Atwill, Sir Cedwick Harwicke to mention a few.)

In the Son of Frankenstein (sequel to Bride of Frankenstein), we see Karloff's last performance as the Frankenstein monster but as in Frankenstein and Bride of, he gives a great performance. I wonder how the series may have been if Karloff had continued in the monster's role. Basil Rathbone is the son trying to vindicate his father's name, but Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi, has other plans.

In the Ghost of Frankenstein (sequel to Son of Frankenstein), Lon Chaney Jr. plays the Frankenstein monster and Bela Lugosi again plays Ygor and both are superb in their roles. It picks up where the Frankenstein monster is discovered in the sulphur pits. Sir Cedric Harwicke wants to dissect the monster but is convince by his father's ghost to continue with his work. The sequel is Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.

It is fanatic to have these movies on DVD.

Try watching these movies on a late stormy night.

Obsessed!
I have owned these films on video for years and occasionally pop them in the VCR to revisit my childhood. I grew up watching these movies and consider them a staple of my childhood. It is nice to own them on DVD because, as we all know, videos can get worn over the years. The picture clarity on the double-feature DVD is a giant step above the video renditions. A lot of the junk on the screen in the video version of Son is cleaned up, but the picture is darker. Overall, the transitions are very good, with the exception of a slight cut in Son. In the part when Basil Rathbone learns from his young son that he was visited by a "giant," the good doctor runs to his laboratory looking for evidence of the monster or Ygor. He goes to the tomb where his father and grandfather are buried during his search and finds nothing. The slight cut occurs when Rathbone climbs up a ladder from the tomb back into the lab. There's not much missing, we just don't see him crawlng through the floor. In the video version, we do see Rathbone climbing onto the floor. I know this is a minor concern, but it doesn't make sense why this is missing when it exists on the video version. Asfor Ghost, it has never looked better.There's something special about the Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s that I believe will endure throughout the 21st century. Regarding these two gems, Bela Lugosi's role as Ygor is unquestionably his finest performance, even more so than Dracula. He dominates both films. I'm certain that if Universal would have kept his dialogue in Frankensten Meets the Wolfman, his performance would have dominated that film, as well. I plan on getting that film on DVD - which is coupled with House of Frankenstein - but I understand it doesn't contain any new scenes where the monster speaks. For those who don't understand what I'm talking about, at the end of The Ghost of Frankenstein, Ygor's brain is placed inside the skull of the monster, played by Lon Chaney Jr., where it continues to function - dangerously. In fact, the monster speaks with Ygor's voice. In the sequel to that film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, Lugosi plays the monster, but comes off as a moronic goon. The reason for this is because Universal heads found the monster's lines unacceptable and had them removed from the film before it was released. During a sneak preview of the film, it is said audience members laughed so much when the monster began relating his story to Lon Chaney it forced the studio's upper brass to cut the dialogue all together. The deleted dialogue and some scenes were never restored to the film. I wonder if the scenes still exist? If they do, it's curious why Universal has never presented a restored version of the film. I bet it would be spectacular. Universal has restored the original Frankenstein film with some deleted dialogue and the controversial scene where the monster throws the little girl into the lake, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibilities to restore Lugosi's lost footage to Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.