11/17/2007

The “Son” rises tonight! Huh?! You know what I mean- it’s “Son of Frankenstein”- the last time that Boris Karloff was the monster in a Universal film. In spite of what you saw in “Bride of Frankenstein”-he once again has lost the power of speech (getting blowed up good could have that effect on you.) Anyway, in this film, the son of Henry Frankenstein- Wolf (played by the perennial Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone) is bringing his wife and young son back to the family town of Frankenstein-to take over the family estate. They are met by some unfriendly villagers who don’t want another Frankenstein living in the area…and then, by the squatter in their old place- the demented hunchback Ygor (Bela Lugosi, in his second-greatest role!) He’s a criminal who was hanged for his crimes- but survived, as a malformed hunchback. Ygor also has a friend he’s nursing who helps him with – “things”- the Frankenstein Monster! Wolf is amazed to finds the creature- but then his old family genes kick in- and he decides he could help Ygor restore his “friend”- and also clear the family name by “fixing” his problems! Meanwhile, the townsfolk get suspicious about what Wolf is up to- led by the one-armed police inspector who was so brilliantly parodied in “Young Frankenstein!” Wolf works at recharging the Monster-only to find that Ygor has been having him make visits to his family- AND been sending him out on missions of personal revenge! Will Wolf live to regret following in his father’s footsteps? Will we finally get a Frankenstein flick that doesn’t end with some joint burning or blowing up? You’ll find out- tonight at 9 !

I need to explain, as I will on air- this is a VERY long movie- the longest of the Universal monster flicks. Its total run time is longer than the amount of time I normally have for both the movie and my Sven segments in the show. In order to edit out as little as possible, we’ve minimized the time of our Sven segments, and I have personally tried to cut the movie down so that it still makes sense, and we don’t just hack out full scenes like other local stations do to movies they show. I regret having to take ANY time out of a movie like this at all, but- well, you see the predicament. I think we’ve trimmed it carefully and wisely, so that it’s a great viewing experience. Please spare us your complaints that we cut scenes- you know that we respect the films- and, you must know that any longer film on ANY station will be edited to fit time- and, of course, get in the commercials. (Yeah, unfortunately, we can’t cut those…)