Author
|
Topic: son of frankenstein/b/w1x400ftsound.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brian Paul Cook
Film Handler
Posts: 54
From: Champaign, IL 61820
Registered: Feb 2010
|
posted July 30, 2010 11:16 PM
FOUR OUT OF FOUR STARS. If it were up to this reviewer and we lived in a perfect 8mm world, the editors of this condensation could have included a little more Ygor and excised any and all scenes containing Donnie Dunagan, the child actor who portrays 'the son of the son'. But that having been said, this version of the Universal 1939 feature is really excellent, and though not 'quite' as well-done, is in the same league as Universal 8's 400 foot versions of DRACULA and THE INVISIBLE MAN. The technical fades and cuts are expertly done and the continuity is very effective, making for a smooth-running seventeen minutes of fun. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN'S juiciest dialogue was given to Bela Lugosi as Ygor, but unfortunately these bits did little to further the storyline and only a couple of lines made it past the editor's scissors. The original film was cram-packed and fast paced, no doubt making it a difficult film to reduce to under twenty minutes. Atwill's heartfelt trip down memory lane to when he first encountered the monster as a boy is unfortunately missing along with Lugosi's "Bone stuck in throat" and "Ygor die live!" Many great scenes are intact though and I, at least, felt pretty satisfied after it was over. It's easy to be critical of these edited down versions of classic films, but imagine how challenging it must have been to actually make the decisions to cut scenes and to get the whole thing to 'hang' together properly. In seeing this film again after so many years, I couldn't help but notice Karloff's guest appearance as the monster. While he is effective, it's easy to see why, during the making of this film, that he vowed to never play the monster again. And one more thing in passing...in this age of CGI, and the multitude of digital effects at a filmmaker's disposal, I would love to see (I know I'm just dreaming here) someone digitally remove Donnie Dunagan (Wolf's son Peter) from under the monster's foot at the climax of the film, and place him back in Karloff's grasp as Rathbone swings into action, kicking them both into the sulfur pit. Now that would have been a fitting climax.
-------------------- Brian Paul Cook
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|