The Ghost of Frankenstein

The last Universal film to feature Frankenstein's monster as the sole monster was 1942's The Ghost of Frankenstein. By now Frankie was relegated to the B-film units, with lower production values. He was also played not by Boris Karloff, but by Lon Chaney Jr., deviating from his usual shtick as the Wolfman.

Branching out further on the Frankenstein family tree, we see that Henry Frankenstein had two sons. One was Wolf, played by Basil Rathbone in Son of Frankenstein. But he has a brother, Cedric Hardwicke, as Ludwig. He is a famous doctor, seemingly not hurt by the reputation of his relatives. He has perfected the brain transplant, along with his colleague, Lionel Atwill, who was the teacher of Henry. How Ludwig is older than his father's teacher I don't know.

Meanwhile, the monster is thought dead, along with his caretaker Ygor (Bela Lugosi). But of course the monster never dies, and neither does Ygor, who even though riddled with bullets in the previous film is just fine. He digs through the hardened sulphur and finds his only friend, still ambulatory. They go for a stroll, and again showing the connection between the monster and small children, who do not fear him, he helps a little girl get her balloon. Naturally, the townspeople are horrified, and he kills a few of them.

Eventually Ygor will take the monster, who escapes imprisonment (they chain him to a chair, not understanding that the legs of the chair have to be just as strong as the chains) and he ends up with Hardwicke. The doctor wants to destroy him, but the ghost of his father suggests putting a new brain in him. Hardwicke thinks this is a fine idea, but Lugosi tricks Atwill into substituting Lugosi's brain. "With my brain in his body I could rule the world!" Of course this all ends badly for everyone involved.

It's not a bad film, but it is a significant step down from the first three films in the series. The Monster would be teamed up with Wolfie and Drac in a few other films, usually being revived at the end of the movie only to get burned up.

Notably in the cast is a young Ralph Bellamy as the local prosecutor, who is also the beloved of Frankenstein's daughter (Evelyn Ankers). I laughed when she sees the monster peering into her window and her response is to close the curtains. Sure, that'll keep 'em out.