The Ghost of Frankenstein

The Ghost of Frankenstein
The Ghost of Frankenstein movie poster
Directed by	Erle C. Kenton
Written by	Scott Darling Eric Taylor
Produced by	George Waggner
Starring	Cedric Hardwicke Lon Chaney Jr. Ralph Bellamy Lionel Atwill Bela Lugosi
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	March 13, 1942
Running time	67 min
Language	English

The Ghost of Frankenstein (often referred to without the article "The" in the title), was an American horror film released in 1942. It was the fourth of in a series of films produced by Universal Studios based upon characters in Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. It starred Lon Chaney Jr. as The Monster, taking over from Boris Karloff who played the role in the first three films of the series, and Bela Lugosi as the demented Ygor.

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Title card from Ghost of Frankenstein

Picking up some years after the events of Son of Frankenstein, Ghost sees The Monster brought back to life by the insane Ygor (again played by Lugosi). Ygor is forced to turn to another of Dr. Henry Frankenstein's sons, Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke) in order to keep the Monster alive. The only way to do this is to replace the Monster's original criminal brain with a new one. Ygor arranges it so that it is his brain that is implanted into the Monster, but although the Monster is resurrected with Ygor's mind and can even speak with his voice, a complication in the procedure renders the creature blind and he (attempts to) commit suicide.

Ghost of Frankenstein marked the final appearance of The Monster in a solo capacity. Beginning with the next film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (in which Lugosi plays The Monster), and continuing for the rest of the Universal Monsters series, Frankenstein's Monster would be part of an ensemble.

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Lon Chaney, Jr., in Ghost of Frankenstein

The blinding of The Monster at the end of this film resulted in a lasting stereotype involving the creature walking with arms outstretched, even though this is the only film in which it is explicitly indicated that he is blind (such references being omitted from the next film), and when Glenn Strange took over the role a few years later, the Monster's sight was restored without explanation. The Monster's ability to speak would be dropped after this film except for a couple of lines of dialogue in the later Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Also clouded over in later films is the removal of the original brain from the Monster results in the death of the Creature as originated by Karloff.

Critics noted that in many scenes, such as in the court room, Chaney's face remains absolutely immobile, as though he were wearing a mask instead of makeup and was incapable of facial expression.

Frequent Chaney co-star Evelyn Ankers played the leading lady.

The title of the film refers to the fact that Dr. Henry Frankenstein, creator of The Monster in the first Universal Frankenstein film, appears as a ghostly apparition to advise Ludwig.

External links

• The Ghost of Frankenstein at IMDb