58 Days to Halloween - The Ghost of Frankenstein

While it lives, no one is safe.

This is probably the first year since maybe 2005 that The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) will not make the October cut. Which is fine. Because I often would squeeze all these films in marathons, and while I always enjoy them for various reasons (none of the lower budget Universal monster films quite measure up to their A-class pictures) plugging them in multi-movie viewings was kind of becoming laborious. Different route this year, as September will be offered as an alternative for them. I think my main problem this year is really coming up with fresh perspective not already previously mentioned in write-ups of time’s past. There’s only so much ground one can cover after writing about the same movies year after year. I continue to enjoy Ghost for Lugosi and Atwill’s performances, and the “Mother is Lightning” sequence at the beginning—along with some great pieces of dialogue provided for Hardwicke’s crestfallen son of the Baron and brother of Wolf in regards to his family’s curse, Ygor’s obnoxious intrusion on his happiness, and the Monster’s continued presence that dominates his family Frankenstein—but I must admit that I’ve been on record for my ambivalence towards Chaney as the Monster. What made Karloff’s Monster special is lost in Chaney. I continue to feel that way every year. I’m always going to be a Chaney / Talbot mark, but his Mummy and Monster never fail to disappoint me. He does have an imposing presence, I’ll give him that. The castle dynamited by the village, as Ygor and the Monster watch it collapse into rubble, never ceases to serve as an incredible sight to me: one of my favorites of the Frankenstein movies. Lugosi’s “sly and sinister” Ygor working his devious schemes while Hardwicke tries to circumvent him, and Atwill’s assistant (once great surgeon who “made one slight miscalculation”) to Frankenstein eyeing his own return to the top of his profession; these are enough, I think, to remind me that Ghost has its merits for sure. Bellamy and Ankers as the lovebirds (sheriff and doctor’s daughter respectfully) come over from The Wolf Man to join the cast. There are plenty of the Universal faces sprinkled throughout as well. And the fiery estate of Frankenstein burning from the inside as the structure falls apart with the Monster underneath as the survivors flee and sun comes up in the distance is a dazzling aesthetic close. The forced nonsense with the little girl leaves much to be desired, though.

I’ve restored the good name of Frankenstein.