{ "id": "epjsd4vrrv", "slug": "son-of-frankenstein", "title": "Son of Frankenstein", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.horror-slasher-entries", "label": "Horror and slasher series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.horror-slasher-entries" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.horror-slasher-entries.1970s-and-1980s-releases", "label": "1970s and 1980s releases", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.horror-slasher-entries.1970s-and-1980s-releases" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Son of Frankenstein (1939) is Universal's third Frankenstein film, directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff in his last Monster role, and Bela Lugosi as Ygor; it revived the horror genre and inspired Young Frankenstein.", "snippet": "Son of Frankenstein (1939) is Universal's third Frankenstein film, directed by Rowland V. Lee, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff in his last Monster role, and Bela Lugosi as Ygor; it revived the horror genre and inspired Young Frankenstein.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.horror-slasher-entries.1970s-and-1980s-releases", "markdown": "# Son of Frankenstein\n\n**Son of Frankenstein** is a 1939 American horror film produced by [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures), directed by Rowland V. Lee, and the third entry in the studio's original [Frankenstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/frankenstein) series, following *Frankenstein* (1931) and *The Bride of Frankenstein* (1935).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) It stars [Basil Rathbone](https://www.edgepedia.org/basil-rathbone) as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, Boris Karloff in his final appearance as the Monster, and Bela Lugosi as Ygor, the broken-necked shepherd who becomes the creature's keeper.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | January 13, 1939 (United States), Universal Pictures; production completed January 4, 1939[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) |\n| Director and producer | Rowland V. Lee; screenplay by Willis Cooper[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) |\n| Principal cast | Basil Rathbone (Baron Wolf von Frankenstein), Boris Karloff (the Monster), Bela Lugosi (Ygor), Lionel Atwill (Krogh), Josephine Hutchinson (Elsa), Donnie Dunagan (Peter)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) |\n| Running time | 99 minutes[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0031951/) |\n| Production cost | Final cost $420,000, up from an initial budget of $250,000[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) |\n| Karloff's farewell | The last film in which Boris Karloff played the Monster[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) |\n| Critical standing | 95% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 38 reviews[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_frankenstein) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nBaron Wolf von Frankenstein returns from America with his wife Elsa and young son Peter to claim his late father's estate in a European mountain village whose residents still fear the man-made monster.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) • [5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/son-of-frankenstein) In his father's records Wolf finds Henry Frankenstein's notes on the source of life, and in the abandoned laboratory he discovers the Monster, comatose but alive, having survived the explosion at the end of *The Bride of Frankenstein* and a lightning strike.[6](https://www.classicfilmtvcafe.com/2015/01/is-son-of-frankenstein-best-of.html)\n\nHoping to clear the family name, Wolf revives the creature and attempts to rehabilitate him.[5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/son-of-frankenstein) His efforts are circumvented by Ygor, a mad shepherd who had robbed graves for the elder Frankenstein and was hanged for it, and who now sends the reanimated Monster on a spree of murders against the jurors who condemned him.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) • [5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/son-of-frankenstein) Wolf is investigated by Inspector Krogh, a one-armed police official who had been mauled by the creature as a boy, and the two men maintain a wary, sympathetic connection despite their opposing roles in the plot.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) • [7](https://kar.kent.ac.uk/95341/1/201CKING_finalFINALthesis.pdf)\n\n## Production background\n\nUniversal's horror cycle had lapsed after the studio's founder [Carl Laemmle](https://www.edgepedia.org/carl-laemmle) was ousted in a 1936 takeover, and the new management initially distanced itself from the gothic films that had been so profitable.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) In 1938 a Los Angeles theater ran a triple bill of *Dracula*, *Frankenstein*, and *Son of Kong* and drew crowds that stretched around the block, prompting a successful national reissue of *Dracula* and *Frankenstein* and the green-lighting of a follow-up to *The Bride of Frankenstein*.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) A scholarly account of the horror cycle records that when the genre revived after its two-year hiatus, *Son of Frankenstein* took in the \"biggest take in weeks\" across the United States, according to *Variety* in 1939.[8](https://www.mobt3ath.com/uplode/book/book-37574.pdf?ver=accessable)\n\n**Casting changes.** Universal originally planned to team [Boris Karloff](https://www.edgepedia.org/boris-karloff), Bela Lugosi, and [Peter Lorre](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-lorre); the deal collapsed when Lorre rejected the role, saying he had left the \"menace\" field to star in the Mr. Moto series.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) Director Rowland V. Lee, who had arrived at Universal after costume dramas for Fox and RKO, steered the studio away from Lorre and lobbied successfully for Basil Rathbone, whom he had directed in *Love from a Stranger* (1937).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein)\n\n**Ygor's expanded role.** Once Karloff was locked in as the Monster and Lionel Atwill cast as Inspector Krogh, Lee still had to find a part for Lugosi, who was already under contract, so together with Willis Cooper, the film's screenwriter, he built up the character of Ygor, a shepherd with a broken neck who had robbed graves for the elder Frankenstein and grown into the Monster's only companion.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) Universal sought to humble the horror-typed, struggling Lugosi by halving his salary and requiring his scenes to be shot within a week; Lee responded by keeping Lugosi on set for the duration of the shoot.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) The role is widely regarded as one of Lugosi's finest performances, shading menace with mordant wit.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) • [9](https://www.history.com/articles/frankenstein-movie-tv-history-monster)\n\n## Production and style\n\nFilming at Universal Studios ran from November 9, 1938 into December, and Lee finished the final scenes in the early hours of January 5, 1939.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031951/locations/) • [11](https://www.basilrathbone.net/films/sonoffrankenstein/) Universal rushed the editing to meet the January 13 release date.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN)\n\nThe budget grew as Lee pushed to upgrade the production, from testing for [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor) to abandoning the original script on the eve of shooting; the final cost reached $420,000 against an initial allotment of $250,000.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) The money shows on screen in the imposing sets designed by art director Jack Otterson, which evoke German expressionist filmmaking, and in George Robinson's high-contrast cinematography, with angular shadows of columns and stairways cast against the walls.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) The HISTORY timeline describes the film's jagged, high-contrast visuals as reminiscent of the German expressionist masterpieces of the 1920s.[9](https://www.history.com/articles/frankenstein-movie-tv-history-monster)\n\nMakeup artist Jack Pierce, who created the Monster, estimated in a *New York Times* interview that transforming Karloff took four hours.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) Karloff gives a sympathetic characterization of the menacing, lumbering brute, though the Monster here functions largely as an instrument of Ygor's revenge rather than a tragic figure in his own right.[11](https://www.basilrathbone.net/films/sonoffrankenstein/)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe film opened on January 13, 1939.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN) Contemporary notices were mixed to favorable: *The Times* of London called it \"a workmanlike essay in synthetic horror\" and noted that Rathbone entered \"with relish into the spirit of it,\" while Basil Wright in *The Spectator* judged it \"a missed opportunity for all save the most unsophisticated.\"[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_frankenstein) Modern aggregate scores are strong, with a 95% Tomatometer from 38 reviews and a critics consensus describing Karloff's final appearance as the Monster as \"a fitting farewell before the series descended into self-parody.\"[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_frankenstein) The Turner Classic Movies profile credits the film with giving \"a reviving jolt to a genre that had reached a cyclical nadir by the late '30s,\" and one modern critic has called it \"Universal's last great horror film.\"[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_frankenstein)\n\nThe film's 99-minute running time is the longest of any entry in the Universal Monster series.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0031951/) • [12](https://www.horrorreview.com/son-of-frankenstein/) It was followed by *The Ghost of Frankenstein* (1942), in which [Lon Chaney](https://www.edgepedia.org/lon-chaney), Jr. took over the Monster, and the series continued through the 1940s crossover films.[13](https://revues.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/leaves/fr/article/download/337/1021) • [14](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/best-frankenstein-movies/)\n\n## Legacy\n\n**Influence on parody.** The film's plot was an obvious influence on [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks)'s *Young Frankenstein* (1974), and many of its elements are parodied there, including the return of the heir to the ancestral castle, the hunchbacked assistant, and the mannered one-armed inspector later lampooned by [Kenneth Mars](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenneth-mars).[9](https://www.history.com/articles/frankenstein-movie-tv-history-monster) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein)\n\n**Karloff's departure.** The film is remembered above all as the last in which Karloff portrayed the Monster, the role that made him a household name.[9](https://www.history.com/articles/frankenstein-movie-tv-history-monster) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein) It also stands as the third and final installment of the Karloff Frankenstein trilogy, and it remains in circulation in a 4K restoration within the *Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection*.[5](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/son-of-frankenstein)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Son of Frankenstein (1939), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/5071-SON-OF-FRANKENSTEIN)\n2. [Son Of Frankenstein, Jay S. Steinberg, Turner Classic Movies (2003)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18670/son-of-frankenstein)\n3. [Son of Frankenstein (1939), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0031951/)\n4. [Son of Frankenstein, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_frankenstein)\n5. [Son of Frankenstein, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/son-of-frankenstein)\n6. [Is \"Son of Frankenstein\" the Best of Universal's Series?, Classic Film and TV Café (2015)](https://www.classicfilmtvcafe.com/2015/01/is-son-of-frankenstein-best-of.html)\n7. [Doctor's best forgotten performances (Rathbone), University of Kent thesis](https://kar.kent.ac.uk/95341/1/201CKING_finalFINALthesis.pdf)\n8. [Horror film cycle scholarship citing Variety (1939)](https://www.mobt3ath.com/uplode/book/book-37574.pdf?ver=accessable)\n9. [Frankenstein on Screen: A Timeline, HISTORY](https://www.history.com/articles/frankenstein-movie-tv-history-monster)\n10. [Son of Frankenstein (1939) Filming & production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031951/locations/)\n11. [Basil Rathbone: Master of Stage and Screen – Son of Frankenstein](https://www.basilrathbone.net/films/sonoffrankenstein/)\n12. [Son of Frankenstein review, The Horror Review](https://www.horrorreview.com/son-of-frankenstein/)\n13. [Frankenstein in the generic system of comic books, Leaves (Bordeaux Montaigne)](https://revues.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/leaves/fr/article/download/337/1021)\n14. [Best Frankenstein Movies, Rotten Tomatoes editorial](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/best-frankenstein-movies/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Horror and slasher series film entries › 1970s and 1980s releases*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Son of Frankenstein\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Son of Frankenstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Son of Frankenstein\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/son-of-frankenstein. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Son of Frankenstein is Universal's third Frankenstein film, directed by Rowland V." }