Development Following the release of ''
Dracula's Daughter in May 1936, all horror film productions were dropped from Universal Pictures production schedules. The studio resumed horror film production after a two-year break with the announcement of Son of Frankenstein
in August 1938. Initially, Universal considered remaking their earlier films The Old Dark House (1932) and The Raven (1935) but instead decided to make a new Frankenstein
film after the success of the triple bill of Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and Son of Kong'' (1933) at Los Angeles' Regina Theatre on
Wilshire Boulevard. The screenings at the 659-seat theater packed houses for five weeks, leading Universal to reissue
Frankenstein and
Dracula on one program in theaters across the United States.
Pre-production Son of Frankenstein was first mentioned in trade papers on August 29, 1938, when an article in
The Hollywood Reporter said Universal was negotiating a two-horror-picture deal with
Boris Karloff, the first one being a sequel to
Frankenstein. By September 2, the magazine reported Universal had announced the film as
After Frankenstein.
Bela Lugosi and
Basil Rathbone were announced as cast members on October 20, and on October 24, Universal announced in
The Hollywood Reporter plans to hire Karloff, Lugosi and
Peter Lorre, but the latter had fallen through because the company could not borrow Lorre from
20th Century Fox. According to the press release, Lorre had turned down the offer as he had stopped working in horror films to become
Mr. Moto and "did not want to risk being 'on another meanie'".
Claude Rains was also briefly considered for the role of Wolf von Frankenstein, which eventually went to Rathbone. Lugosi spoke about the role with
Ed Sullivan shortly before the film's release, stating he had to stretch eight weeks of pay over one-hundred and four weeks due the lack of work. Lugosi received a call from Eric Umann to appear at the Regina Theatre for the screenings of
Dracula,
Frankenstein and
Son of Kong, and shortly after was cast in
Son of Frankenstein. Lugosi said: "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre. I was dead and he brought me to life". Director Rowland V. Lee said his crew let Lugosi "work on the characterization; the interpretation he gave us was imaginative and totally unexpected ... when we finished shooting, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he stole the show. Karloff's monster was weak by comparison". Among the cast was
Josephine Hutchinson, who had signed on for a two-picture deal with Universal, first appearing in
The Crime of Doctor Hallet (1938). Hutchinson later stated, "doing a Frankenstein film is kind of a phony bit – you don't have to delve too deeply". The role of Peter was played by
Donnie Dunagan, who had worked with Lee on ''
Mother Carey's Chickens'' (1938). Dunagan later called his performance "corny" and said: "They had this little kid in there with this loud voice. They kept saying 'Speak up!' because I didn't speak that loud then ... And as you speak up, your accent is always accentuated. So here's this little curly-headed jerk runnin' around there with this very deep Memphis-Texas accent! They had the courage to do that". The director and producer for the film was
Rowland V. Lee, who was 45 years old and had been working in the film industry since he was 19. It was Lee's second film for Universal.
Wyllis Cooper, the creator of the radio show
Lights Out, submitted an original screenplay for
Son of Frankenstein that was initially rejected. This screenplay, which was dated October 20, 1938, involved Wolf, his wife Else and their young son Erwin arriving at Castle Frankenstein to claim their inheritance. Wolf's father's will stipulates the monster remain out of commission for at least 25 years following the watchtower explosion before any inheritance can be claimed. Cooper's original script had several other references to
Bride of Frankenstein, including the finding of the skeletal remains of
Doctor Septimus Pretorius and the
Bride of Frankenstein. The script continues with the monster surviving the explosion at the end of the 1935 film and confronting Wolf to make a friend for him, and threatening to kill Elsa and Erwin if Wolf disobeys. Wolf's antagonist in this script is Inspector Neumüllerr, who vows vengeance against the monster for killing his father. After Wolf fails to make a friend for the monster using corpses, the monster steals Erwin, intending to take him to the lab and carry out brain surgery on him. He is stopped as Wolf enters, and Neumüller and his forces shoot the monster, who falls into a pit. The script was changed to keep most of the characters intact; Neumuller becoming Krogh, who has lost an arm instead of a father, and changed the child's name to Peter. The new version also eliminated the monster's ability to speak and added the character Ygor. The film was originally set at a budget of $250,000 but this sum was increased to $300,000 and received a planned 27-day shooting schedule. Lee briefly considered shooting the film in color but this idea was abandoned after Karloff's makeup looked poor in
George Robinson's color tests.
Filming and post-production Production of
Son of Frankenstein began on October 17, 1938, but filming was delayed until November 9 due to Lee's dissatisfaction with Cooper's screenplay. The cast was already on salary so the studio gave orders for Lee to go ahead, which led to the budget growing to $500,000. The lack of a completed script led to actors receiving freshly written pages minutes before scenes were set up to be filmed. The finishing date of the production was postponed from December 10 to 17. According to actor Josephine Hutchinson, director Lee did some rewriting on set. Filming was further delayed by problems including rain and cold weather, which forced Lee to halt some filming. In the November 30 issue of
The Hollywood Reporter, Universal announced the staff working on the cutting and scoring of
Son of Frankenstein had been doubled to meet its scheduled release date. The head of the editorial, sound and music departments –
Maurice Pivar,
Bernard B. Brown and
Charles Previn respectively – alerted their staff about the possibility of working until the New Year holiday to meet the shipping date of the first 20 prints of the film. By December 24, filming had not been completed, and the cast and crew worked until 6:15 pm rather than the usual noon finish. Production on the film was completed on January 5, 1939. Dunagan said the film took a toll on Karloff, that the monster make-up "was punishing him" due to its weight, and that "when we got through with that movie, my sense was that he did not like that role. And I can promise you he didn't like the costume, which had to hurt him physically".
Son of Frankenstein was Karloff's final appearance as the monster in the series; he only portrayed him again for unique appearances on the television show
Route 66 and at an all-star baseball game. In 1948, Karloff said: "After
Son, I decided the character no longer had any potentialities – the makeup did all the work. Anybody who can take that makeup every morning deserves respect". Post-production units only had a few days before the set January 7 preview dates. The first cut of the film ran over 100 minutes and was reduced. The final cost of the production was $420,000. ==Release==