Frankenstein - The Legacy Collection (Frankenstein / Bride of / Son of / Ghost of / House of)

The DVD was great to view; almost like it was produced recently instead of many years ago. Very enjoyable movies.

Fans of the original Frankenstein monster are in for a real treat here as this low-priced collection of no less than 5 movies featuring the monster that everyone loves has had both the picture and sound quality restored admirably well given the undoubtedly poor condition of the old deteriorated master tapes.

To me, "Frankenstein" is the best of the lot for so many reasons including the great direction of James Whale and the excellent acting of Colin Clive and especially of Boris Karloff. Karloff's work in making an audience feel so much pity for what was supposed to be a monster has only been bettered by Merian C. Cooper making us feel sorry for essentially a mechanical puppet in King Kong. The movie with its brilliant acting and strong moral theme of the repercussions whenever man decides to play God make this a movie to transcend the years and rightfully stake its claim as one of the best movies ever made.

I know a lot of people like "Bride of Frankenstein" better but to me, "Frankenstein" is still the better movie overall. It's interesting to note that James Whale wasn't in favour of doing this sequel but faced with the prospect of someone else doing it anyway, he decided to take a stab and despite his attempts to spoof the original movie with comic relief in the form of the old housekeeper for example, the movie is still a very good one with some very touching scenes. I personally enjoy the heart wrenching scene with the poor old blind man in the wooden cabin which clearly shows that the truly blind are those that cannot look beyond the grotesque appearance of the monster to see his tender side but instead attack and seek to destroy what they don't understand. I didn't like the Dr. Praetorius character and overall, Colin Clive and the others don't quite pull off as great an acting job as they had done in the first movie. Still, "Bride of Frankenstein" makes a worthy sequel to the classic movie. Unfortunately, it all starts to go downhill from here and hence provides fodder for countless parodies over the years culminating in perhaps the best parody in Gene Wilder's "Young Frankenstein". From "Son of Frankenstein" down to "House of Frankenstein" it was clear that everything that made the first two films classics had been lost and it had become a case of milking the franchise for all that they could get.

What's also good about this Legacy Collection is the special features which includes an extremely humorous short film called "Boo!" and the insightful documentaries: "She's Alive!" and "The Frankenstein Files". In conclusion, this is indeed a great value for money dvd collection and is a must have for students of early cinema and monster lovers as well.

Highly recommended!

Recieved fast, but had to return 3 times. The DVD was loose inside the case and scratched when received. But returns were easy and didn't have to pay postage as manufacturer was responsible.

I own all of the Universal Studio's Legacy Collections. I must say, the Frankenstein collection is my favorite. Colin Clive screams "It's alive. Alive!" and Boris Karloff as the monster becomes very convincing especially considering how long ago this was filmed - 1931. Elsa Lanchester as the bride is surperb and is considered by many to be the best Frankenstein movie of all time. This is only the first of the six sets. If you are only going to own only one of the Legacy Collections, make it Frankenstein.

Boris Karloff is one of my favorite scary movie actors. Not just because he played Frankenstein's monsterand the Mummy, but because he also played a variety of other creepy guys that one might consider scary. Frankenstein is my favorite scary movie of all time and Dracula(1932) is my second.