WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957)

In the 1950s, Sci-Fi was all the rage and Ray Harryhausen was the king of special effects, thanks to his work in stop-motion. One such film is 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, a very mixed film.

The plot isn't too different from several others of it's period. Rocket crashes off the coast of Rome before drifting egg from Venus makes it way to the shore, is found by a kid, and soon hatches. Only problem is, the beast inside, tends to grow fast. Quite fast actually. So fast that by the end of the movie, Rome is under attack.

One thing that annoys me about this movie is how dull the humans are. You actually care about and sympathize with the Venusian creature more than any person present. People say and do things that are unlikely and some of the dialogue is just atrocious. After a man dies, his friend, who we can assume had a close relationship with the deceased, is told by his romantic interest: "Better get some sleep", only seconds removed from the actual moment of death. By the end, you'll be rooting for the monster to kill off every cliche cardboard character on the screen, and he almost succeeds.

Stop-Motion always has fascinated me, but I find Harryhausen's work here to be particularly impressive for the B&W films he worked on. He did a fine job in THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, but I think he's even better here. Only in a few instances toward the end does the Stop-Motion lose it's illusion.

This film, is really nothing special. It's a Stop-motion entertainer, with cardboard characters we've seen many times before save for the slightly sympathetic monster from Venus who destroys half of Rome. But I can't hate on it. Given the accepted conventions of 50s Sci-fi, I can tolerate this one and it's just entertaining enough to rise above some of it's drive-in counterparts. THREE STARS OUT OF FIVE.

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)

Where BRIDE leaves off, SON begins..... Sort of.

Son of Frankenstein is the third film in the popular early horror series. It is also by far the longest, with a runtime of nearly 100 minutes. Gone are the Bride, the Good Doctor, his wife Elizabeth and the annoying Una O'Connor. Replacing them are Wolf, the titular relative of Henry Frankenstein, his wife and son but most importantly, the new characters of Igor and inspector Krogh are introduced.

As Wolf Fankenstein returns home to claim his heritage, he is hated by the locals for the events of the first two films. The only citizen who gets acquanited with him is Krogh, who classically tells Wolf of how the monster tore off one of his arms as a child (an an off screen event, as that did not happen in the first two films).

While prowling around his father's old laboratory, he meets Ygor (Bela Lugosi in his most acclaimed role), a sinister hunchback type who has been concealing the original monster for some time, and is now using it to get revenge on those who sent him to a botched hanging. Wolf wants to right the wrongs of the past, and Ygor wants to exploit the situation.........

Son Of Frankenstein is in a way, like the first two films, simply because it doesn't feel like those films at all. Frankenstein and the sequel Bride were both such unique movies and vastly different in tone from one another. This one falls somewhere in between yet remains unique all it's own. There are some lines with attempt to deliver humour, reminiscent of BRIDE, while the murder scenes are treated rather grimly, much like the original. While the first films shared a certain set style, it is treated differently here. Everything seems like an overstatement, more chaotic, although this does help the general feeling of the fairy tale world in which it takes place. Visually, it is a treat for those who appreciate the classic horror set design. Artwork of the highest rate.

Should I bother praising Lugosi? It's the one thing everyone mentions about this film, just how good he was. Krogh is a supporting fan favourite, while Basil Rathbone has just enough insanity to pull off the part, almost as good as Colin Clive was. Boris Karloff's role, is reduced though. So much so that it's pointless to compare his presence to that of the first two installments. He simply isn't in it enough. The angry villagers are as appropriately prejudiced and as easy to provoke as ever.

SON wasn't always my favourite in the series, in fact, in never was, and still isn't. But it might be the one that I have seen the least, and certainly is the one I remember the least. Having said that, it has literally got better with each viewing and the most recent watch was no exception. It is a first rate Universal Chiller, at least compared with most of what Universal would release in the 40s. On a really good day, this movie might ALMOST contend for a spot in my top 200, and I can guarantee I'll be watching this one again next October. FOUR STARS OUT OF FIVE

GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)

Boris Karloff had decided he would not play the Monster a fourth time. Correctly, he predicted that the Monster would become the butt of bad jokes and would be parodied over and over. It was time for a new man to step in the giant's shoes. Who more perfect than Lon Chaney Jr at the time, hot off from filming the Wolfman?

Ghost begins in the village of Frankenstein, who's residents beleive the village cursed by the evil and murders of its past. They demand that the remains of castle Frankenstein be razed to the ground. Local weirdo Igor (Lugosi), still inhabits the castle, and as it is being destroyed, discovers the monster, alive, and, well enough. He takes the Monster to Visaria to blackmail the younger of Frankenstein's sons into fully reviving the Monster, and mayhem ensues.

One of the problems with this movie, is the attempt to treat much of the material as comedy and it doesn't pay off. Lon Chaney Jr doesnèt bring much to the role of the Monster however, and this is noticable throughout the picture.  The classic universal trappings are all here though, foggy graveyard, fantastic sets and angry villagers. As far as the classic films go, its a lesser effort, but still worth it. Bela Lugosi is again, fantastic as Igor while some of Universals stock cast are here: Evelyn Ankers, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Belamy and Lionel Atwill even. Good for a cold and wet night, see this one. THREE STARS OUT OF FIVE