Claim: Bela Lugosi played a character.

Son of Frankenstein is a 1939 horror monster film , the third film in Universal Studios ' Frankenstein series and the last to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster . It is also the first to feature Bela Lugosi as Ygor . The picture is a sequel to James Whale 's Bride of Frankenstein . It is directed by Rowland V. Lee and stars Basil Rathbone , Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi .   The film was a reaction to the very popular re-releases of Dracula with Lugosi and Frankenstein with Karloff as a double-feature in 1938 . Universal 's declining horror output was revitalized with the enormously successful Son of Frankenstein , in which the studio cast both Karloff and Lugosi .