The inevitable downward slide of the Frankenstein franchise began with this, the second sequel to the 1931 film. The first sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, is one of the greatest movies ever made. This one is pretty good. It isn't as silly as some of the sequels that followed it; it still retains some of the subtle blend of atmospheric spookiness and goofy semi-comedy that made Bride so great.

By the time this film was released, most people thought "Frankenstein" was the monster, not the doctor. I liked how Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), the titular son of Frankenstein, is upset about this very fact, a little bit of an ironic wink at the audience. Wolf has inherited his father's castle, and when we meet him, he's on a train bound for his homeland, accompanied by his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and his young son Peter (Donnie Dunagan). Why he was never mentioned in either of the earlier films is beyond me; perhaps he was away at finishing school while all the mayhem was going on.

The townspeople are not happy to hear that yet another Frankenstein is going to move into the castle. Can you blame them? The local constable, Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill), is sent as a sort of unwelcoming party: he tells Wolf that the townspeople hate and fear him, but he promises to protect the good doctor—yes, of course he's a doctor—from any unwelcome lynch mobs that might spring up. Meanwhile, Ygor (Bela Lugosi, hiding behind thick facial hair and a hump), a graverobber whom the townspeople attempted to hang, has his eye on the good doctor, who doesn't show even a glint of madness... at first.

I really loved Lugosi as Ygor. I don't know if he had worked on his comedy skills, but the way he delivers his lines made me really happy. When asked why he was hanged, he says, twice, "I stole bodies... they said." The "they said" part comes out pretty half-heartedly. We learn that in the years since he was hanged, all of the men on the jury that convicted him, save two, died mysteriously of a blow to the neck. As soon as he realizes that Wolf is looking to take up the family business of mad doctoring, he reveals his surprise: Frankenstein's monster is not dead. He's sick, but it doesn't take Wolf long to fix him, and the monster is back to doing Ygor's dirty work.

This was Boris Karloff's last turn under the monster's makeup, and he seems a tad half-hearted about it. The monster, which spoke in Bride, is mute now, and that much less expressive. There's a bit of dread in his first meeting with Wolf: it looks like he's torn between wanting to hug the man and wanting to dash his brains out on the stairs. He also has some touching scenes with young Peter, but that's all because of Donnie Dunagan, the wonderful child actor.

I don't think he's a good actor; I wouldn't say that he gives a good performance here. But he was the life of the film. His fractured syntax, weirdly metered delivery, and matter-of-fact pronunciation are a hoot. You just want to pick him up and shake him or something, but in a good way. Three years after this film, he provided the voice of the young Bambi in the Disney film. The Internet Movie Database tells us that he grew up to be a career Marine counter-intelligence agent. How strange.

Rathbone is acceptable as the son, but he's a bit too cultured, not unhinged enough, to really work as a mad doctor. The guy with all the mad doctor experience, Lionel Atwill, didn't get to play one here, but I liked his dignified policeman, especially the way he manipulated his "prosthetic" arm, in a way that reminded me strongly of Peter Sellers struggling against his impulse to do a Nazi salute in Dr. Strangelove. The film features the series' usual amazing castle interiors, angry mobs of villagers, and cackling. It's enjoyable, not really memorable, but certainly a cut above what would soon follow.