FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943)
Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man. Deep breath. Okay. I hope you will stop what you are doing and join me in the Monster Mash!
Thanks, fingolfin897.[*] By 1943 Universal was starting to feel pressure in its horror niche from rival studios. An idea occurred that was so mind-boggling as to be irresistible--what if Frankenstein's monster (spoiler alert) met the Wolf Man? Peoples' heads would explode, right? At this point, both characters were being played by Lon Chaney Jr. But at the end of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), the brain of Ygor (Bela Lugosi) was transplanted into the Monster, and the 60-year-old Lugosi was falling on hard times, so why not have him come back and play the Monster? Done and done. Nineteen years before King Kong met Godzilla, eleven years before there was a Godzilla, Universal released FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN.
The first half of the film follows the Wolf Man, Larry Talbot. Poor Larry Talbot. He didn't ask to be afflicted by the werewolf's curse. He really didn't ask to get woken up from the dead after four years by some grave robbers and have to go through the whole thing again! What's more, it now seems that he can't die at all, which is a huge disappointment to him.
The filmmakers have added some effective new tricks to their repertoire. There's a great moving camera shot at the beginning which sets up the action in the Talbot tomb, which is full of tension. Later on comes the first instance of a jump scare in the Universal canon: a police officer investigating movement in an alley is suddenly grabbed from behind by the Wolf Man to the accompaniment of an orchestra sting. I don't know whether Universal invented this technique or borrowed the idea from a rival, but a sure method for obtaining cheap thrills was born.
The big plot contrivance is delivered by Maleva, the gypsy from THE WOLF MAN (1941), who believes she can guide Larry to the one man capable of releasing him from eternal life--Dr. Frankenstein. Because Germany would have been indecorous to mention, the pair travels to the fictional land of Vasaria, where they meet the Baroness Elsa Frankenstein, daughter of Ludwig. The Monster is soon discovered and rescued from a block of ice.
It was intended that the Monster would talk to Larry in the voice of Ygor, but such scrupulous continuity with THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN was confusing to test audiences. Bela Lugosi's lines were accordingly cut, along with all explanation of the Monster's blindness, another holdover from the previous picture. This leaves no explanation as to why the Monster seems to stagger around in stiff-armed confusion. The Monster's screen time is limited, but when it breaks its bonds at the end and begins its titanic struggle with The Wolf Man, my head did explode just a bit.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
[*] It doesn't make sense that the video is made up of clips from Disney movies, but this was the best video for the song I could find on YouTube, and I am impressed by fingolfin897's editing skillz. Besides, Fingolfin has always been my favorite son of Finwë (sorry, Finarfin).
Click to viewThanks, fingolfin897.[*] By 1943 Universal was starting to feel pressure in its horror niche from rival studios. An idea occurred that was so mind-boggling as to be irresistible--what if Frankenstein's monster (spoiler alert) met the Wolf Man? Peoples' heads would explode, right? At this point, both characters were being played by Lon Chaney Jr. But at the end of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), the brain of Ygor (Bela Lugosi) was transplanted into the Monster, and the 60-year-old Lugosi was falling on hard times, so why not have him come back and play the Monster? Done and done. Nineteen years before King Kong met Godzilla, eleven years before there was a Godzilla, Universal released FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN.
The first half of the film follows the Wolf Man, Larry Talbot. Poor Larry Talbot. He didn't ask to be afflicted by the werewolf's curse. He really didn't ask to get woken up from the dead after four years by some grave robbers and have to go through the whole thing again! What's more, it now seems that he can't die at all, which is a huge disappointment to him.
The filmmakers have added some effective new tricks to their repertoire. There's a great moving camera shot at the beginning which sets up the action in the Talbot tomb, which is full of tension. Later on comes the first instance of a jump scare in the Universal canon: a police officer investigating movement in an alley is suddenly grabbed from behind by the Wolf Man to the accompaniment of an orchestra sting. I don't know whether Universal invented this technique or borrowed the idea from a rival, but a sure method for obtaining cheap thrills was born.
The big plot contrivance is delivered by Maleva, the gypsy from THE WOLF MAN (1941), who believes she can guide Larry to the one man capable of releasing him from eternal life--Dr. Frankenstein. Because Germany would have been indecorous to mention, the pair travels to the fictional land of Vasaria, where they meet the Baroness Elsa Frankenstein, daughter of Ludwig. The Monster is soon discovered and rescued from a block of ice.
It was intended that the Monster would talk to Larry in the voice of Ygor, but such scrupulous continuity with THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN was confusing to test audiences. Bela Lugosi's lines were accordingly cut, along with all explanation of the Monster's blindness, another holdover from the previous picture. This leaves no explanation as to why the Monster seems to stagger around in stiff-armed confusion. The Monster's screen time is limited, but when it breaks its bonds at the end and begins its titanic struggle with The Wolf Man, my head did explode just a bit.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
[*] It doesn't make sense that the video is made up of clips from Disney movies, but this was the best video for the song I could find on YouTube, and I am impressed by fingolfin897's editing skillz. Besides, Fingolfin has always been my favorite son of Finwë (sorry, Finarfin).