Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection - James Whale [DVD]

Collection of classic US horror films. In 'Frankenstein' (1931) scientist Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) has become alienated from his friends and bride-to-be through his obsessive determination to create life. Frankenstein has created a monster (Boris Karloff) out of body parts acquired by his dwarfish assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye), and succeeds in giving it life during an electrical storm. However, due to a mistake by Fritz, the creature possesses the brain of a killer, and after the dwarf torments it to breaking point, Frankenstein's creation escapes and goes on the rampage, terrorising the local community. In 'The Bride of Frankenstein' (1935) scientist Henry Frankenstein is recuperating, believing his creation to have been destroyed in a fire, when he receives a visit from his former mentor Dr Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger). Pretorius wishes Frankenstein to resume his experiments, but the latter refuses. When Pretorius then discovers the monster alive and now able to communicate, he uses it to kidnap Frankenstein's wife, thus blackmailing him into creating a mate. 'Son of Frankenstein' (1939) follows Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone), the son of scientist Henry Frankenstein, the monster's creator. When Wolf moves his family to an estate in a small village, the people in the community soon become very hostile towards him. With the help of demented blacksmith Ygor (Bela Lugosi), Wolf finds the monster's carcass and decides to bring it back to life, believing this to be the perfect way to restore his family's honour. In 'The Ghost of Frankenstein' (1942) Ygor seeks out Dr Ludwig Frankenstein (Cedric Hardwicke), son of the original Baron, in an attempt to revive the infamous monster (Lon Chaney Jr.). Ludwig initially refuses, seeing the creature as an instrument of evil, but changes his mind when he sees the opportunity to transplant the noble mind of the recently deceased Dr Kettering (Barton Yarborough) into the monster's body. Ygor, however, has other plans, and plots with Ludwig's unscrupulous colleague Dr Bohmer (Lionel Atwill) to substitute his own brain for Kettering's. In 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man' (1943) Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man (Chaney Jr.) decides to seek a cure for his lycanthropic malady after being accidentally resurrected by grave robbers. With Dr Frankenstein now dead, Talbot is forced to turn to scientist Dr Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles) for help. Mannering claims that not only can he banish the Wolf Man forever, he also intends to resurrect Frankenstein's dormant monster (Lugosi). In 'House of Frankenstein' (1944) Dr Niemann (Karloff) escapes from the mental asylum in which he is being held and awakens Count Dracula (John Carradine), the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) as he looks to gain revenge on his many enemies. Finally, in 'House of Dracula' (1945), Count Dracula arrives at the laboratory of Dr Edelmann (Onslow Stevens) claiming to seek a cure for his vampirism, but is actually looking to turn Edelmann's beautiful assistant into his vampire bride. Meanwhile, the Wolf Man asks Edelmann to bring his lycanthropy to an end. However, when the attempt to cure him fails, he throws himself off a cliff and ends up in an underground cavern where he discovers Frankenstein's monster.