Son of Frankenstein is the third in Universal's series of Frankenstein movies. This is a truly worthy film filled with atmosphere and four outstanding performances. Basil Rathbone stars as the Baron Wolf von Frankenstein who grew up in America, but returns to the village of Frankenstein to claim his father's estate which includes, unbeknownst to the Baron, the Frankenstein monster created by his father. Rathbone is terrific in this film; he is witty, sarcastic, combative dashing, heroic, and at times pressured and frightened nearly to the point of collapse. Lionel Atwill is also terrific as Inspector Krogh, whose right arm was torn off by the monster when Krogh was a child. Krogh wears a fantastic artificial arm which Atwill skillfully uses to add depth to his character. Mel Brooks had a field day with the Inspector's artificial arm in Young Frankenstein, a hilarious but loving parody of Universal's Frankenstein movies. Atwill and Rathbone play off each other brilliantly in one confrontational scene after another as Krogh comes to suspect what Rathbone is up to in his laboratory. Boris Karloff plays the Frankenstein Monster for the last time mixing pathos and brutality with equal skill. It is Bela Lugosi, however, who steals the film as Ygor, the evil shepherd who was hung for grave robbing, but survives the hanging to seek revenge on those who judged him guilty and sent him to the gallows. Lugosi is funny, sly, and extraordinarily menacing as Ygor. Lugosi would recreate the role of Ygor in The Ghost of Frankenstein, the next entry in the series released in 1942. Son of Frankenstein is expertly directed by Rowland V. Lee who gets extraordinary performances out of the entire cast not just the four leading actors. This is probably the most expensive Frankenstein movie in the series, It is an A movie in every way. Lee keeps things moving for the film's 99 minutes expertly handling dialogue and action scenes with equal skill. The film has a terrific score by Frank Skinner which Universal used thereafter in many of its horror films. The sequel, The Ghost of Frankenstein, is a fairly decent film, but it is not in the class of this feature. This is Universal's last great Frankenstein movie, and it should not be missed,

There is nothing better then classic horror and Universal Pictures has the best. I will rehash this review because I own all of the classic monster movies such as Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man The streaming ones in HD are top quality. You see every detail including when the Monster throws the lil girl into the lake. I own these movies on DVD, Blu-Ray and now streaming which I enjoy more because I can setup my own monsterthon and do as lil work as possible setting it up.

Karloff's third and last appearance as the monster. Such an iconic face. Lugosi brilliant as Igor. And Basil Rathbone suave and sophisticated as usual. Frankenstein, The Bride of and The Son of, a classic trilogy. I highly recommend these three films. Even the kids can watch.

I remember watching this movie a few times back in the 70's when I was a kid. It was a cool movie for what it was at the time and it had its effects. So I just recently purchased this to keep as part of my collection after so many years. *NOTE - this was a former BLOCKBUSTER (RIP) VIDEO because the label is still attached to it. After so many years, watching the video in 2010 felt a bit different as compared to watching it on TV back in the 70's.

After Bela gets shot and Boris gets kicked into the sulfer pit by Basil Rathbone, it was amazing how the two characters still made a reprising comeback in the sequal GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN so you ask yourself "WTF"? Any angle for Universal producers to throw into the story line so they can make an extra buck for those who craved horror at the time.

After watching and loving the original Frankenstein(1931) and Bride of Frankenstein(1935), I had high expectations for Son of Frankenstein. Those expectations were not only met but exceeded. Rathbone was perfect as the Baron Frankenstein, and Legosi was a nice addition as Ygor. This film turned out quite unexpectedly to be my favorite of the 3 Universal Studios Frankenstein movies.

Bella does a great job as Igor (he out did Karloff) Last big screen outing for Karloff as the monster (he did a fine job too) Rathbone was excellent. as the well meaning son . :)

A great movie with great stars which would have scared the pants off me back when I was a youngster. Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff were great as usual and Igor (Dracula fame) was also great! In fact, all the cast did a really fine job of it.

One of the better follow-ups to the original Frankenstein, IMHO. Basil Rathbone excels in showing the (temporary) schizophrenia of Wolf Von Frankenstein. He gives the most believable performance as the paranoid Frankenstein. It was also Boris Karloff's last performance as the monster. Karloff had a promising career on Broadway as well.