8mm Forum: son of frankenstein/b/w1x400ftsound.

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Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on March 27, 2006, 11:19 PM:

i thought i would give my views on this old universal release.after the title sequnce with see the evil blacksmith igor(bela lugosi)tell the monster(boris karloff)to kill one of the town members who tired igor;this the monster does.wolf von frankenstein(basil rathbone)tries to bring the monster under his control but fails.when igor and the baron come to a head the baron shoots igor and leaves him for dead.as krogh the local police chief and the baron play darts,the monster arrives at the lab and seeing his beloved igor goes into a furious rage;he then decides to get his back by kidnapping the barons son and killing him.everything is then set up for the final climax.the editing is fair,defination and sound are good,print excellent.recommended.by the way if anyone has the castle one reeler then you can edit in the scences that are not in this two reeler.good fun all round.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on July 21, 2006, 09:42 AM:

My son of frankenstein is the 21 minute version;that includes
scences from the Castle one reeler,as well as Universal8's
two reeler.its much better too.Andy.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on December 17, 2006, 06:30 AM:

Very interesting Andy,i have the U-8 400ft edition on the way in the post,looks like i need to get the castle 200ft edition aswell [Cool]

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on December 17, 2006, 06:33 AM:

Yes Peter.You should because it has about four minutes of footage,not on the 400ftr.Andy.
Well Peter,did you get your 400footer of the above?.

[ December 18, 2006, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: Andrew Wilson ]

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on December 22, 2006, 10:18 AM:

Andy, Mine arrived today and have to say what stunning picture quality and sound is excellent.
A very nice edit and highly recommended if you like these Monster Classics [Big Grin]

Although mine does not start with Igor telling the Monster to go kill one of the town members.
The Dr and Igor meet and then is presented with the monster before he makes him well again.

This is one choka 400fter,i have to be careful starting the film off as it only just fits on the reel

Christmas came early as i also had - Castle films 200fters Frankensteins New Brain, House Of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman [Cool]

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on December 22, 2006, 11:03 AM:

Peter,that sounds to me as if you have also got the extra 4minutes.
Anyway merry xmas,and enjoy your monster mash reel.Andy.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on December 22, 2006, 06:51 PM:

Hi Andy,i can now confirm that the run time of this version is 21 mins [Big Grin]

That was a spot of luck [Cool]

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on January 11, 2007, 10:33 AM:

Peter,you have pm.Andy.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on January 11, 2007, 05:45 PM:

Not recieved [Confused]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on October 12, 2008, 08:27 PM:

Does the 400' still not have the police chief explaining about the loss of his arm? That seemed like one of the oddest edits in the 200'.

Posted by Brian Paul Cook (Member # 1946) on 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.

Posted by John Capazzo (Member # 157) on July 31, 2010, 10:50 PM:

Andrew, I had the 21 minute version of Son of Franky, and hard to believe I got $95.00 for it in the end on ebay. I almost fell off my chair when I think I began the listing at $35.00. I then sold another out of ebay for $75.00 to the second bidder. I miss having them; identically edited the same, but who would pass up oin selling both at those prices?

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on August 01, 2010, 07:37 PM:

My print is really sharp and nice sound. I don't do any editing being that I hate to splice up a print, but I do have both 200' and 400' versions and I agree they would make a nice featurette.

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