FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
Does he? Does Frankenstein really meet the Wolf Man? Yes, though anyone thinking that Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man would be a clash of titans might be disappointed. Now, we find that our monster will never be a solo act. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man works well in tying two franchises together.
Graverobbers have forced their way into the Talbot family crypt. Looking for a ring, they desecrate the tomb of the late Lawrence Stuart Talbot. They remove the wolfsbane from the coffin, which was a bad choice. Now, with no wolfsbane and a full moon, the apparently dead Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) has risen to kill as the Wolf Man. Talbot has no control over this curse and carries great guilt about it.
Eventually, he finds himself in a Cardiff hospital. Dr. Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles) and Inspector Owen (Dennis Hoey) do not believe Talbot's wild stories of lycanthropy. Owen does not even believe that Talbot is who he says that he is. It takes some more investigating and another killing to slowly change their minds.
Desperate to rid himself of his curse, Talbot seeks out the Gypsy Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) for help. She cannot help him but thinks someone else can. That person would be Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein. Unfortunately, the local townsfolk do not welcome Gypsies or anyone with them. Another full moon causes Talbot to flee into the Frankenstein Castle ruins. Here, he discovers Frankenstein's Monster (Bela Lugosi) frozen in ice. The Monster might be a help to Talbot. Unfortunately, the blind and mute Monster cannot help him find Dr. Frankenstein's notes.
Also helpful might be Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Illona Massey). Talbot poses as someone willing to buy Castle Frankenstein. The mayor (Lionel Atwill) would be happy to be an intermediary, but the Baroness soon finds that the buyer wants her late grandfather and father's notes. They do, however, develop an attraction to each other. However, Talbot's delicate mental state and the reappearance of Frankenstein's Monster cause havoc for all concerned. So does the return of Dr. Mannering, who has searched for Talbot.
At last, more mad science experiments can begin. Talbot talks Mannering into transferring his life into the Monster, freeing himself from the wolf man's curse. Elsa and Mannering secretly decide that both should be destroyed. However, curiosity gets the better of Mannering. This leads to a showdown between Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man. Will everyone survive?
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man runs a brisk 72 minutes. Despite that, it technically is the third longest film in this franchise, tying it with The Bride of Frankenstein. Nevertheless, the film has a lot within that runtime in terms of plot.
As a side note, Son of Frankenstein is the longest Frankenstein film at 99 minutes. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein goes ten minutes longer than The Bride of Frankenstein and this film. The original Frankenstein and House of Frankenstein are two minutes shorter than this film. The shortest Universal Frankenstein films both run a surprising 67 minutes: The Ghost of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.
I was concerned that I might not follow some of that plot because I have not seen a Lon Chaney, Jr. Wolf Man film prior to this. However, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man does a good job of covering the basics to where I understood Lawrence's plight. I understand that some plot elements changed between The Wolf Man and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. That, I do not know. I do not think, however, that any changes in canon will alter one's enjoyment of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Lon Chaney, Jr. does a good job reprising his role as the tortured Lawrence Talbot/Wolf Man. He makes Talbot a sympathetic figure, one haunted by guilt and fear, desperate to escape his doomed life. There was one moment where Chaney did look a bit silly. That was during a Wine Festival where he angrily denounces a local singer for singing a song about eternal life. On the whole though, Lon Chaney, Jr. did a very good job as the good man turned monster.
One does not need to necessarily know The Wolf Man to follow the plot here. One, however, would benefit tremendously from knowing what came before Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. In The Ghost of Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi's Ygor had been transplanted into the Monster. However, the Monster became blind because Ygor and the Monster's blood types are not compatible. In keeping with that, Lugosi's Frankenstein Monster correctly stumbles about. However, the end result is a curious walk with his arms sticking out and him shuffling along. The cliche of the Monster with arms outstretched and moving stiffly probably came from this performance.
The decision to make the Monster mute, however, came from either Siodmack or director Roy William Neill. That also hampered Lugosi's performance. Perhaps it made sense to keep the Monster mute. Audiences might have roared with laughter hearing the Monster speak with a Hungarian accent. They might not have remembered the Ygor/Monster transference to make them understand that it was Ygor inside the Monster.
Lugosi had both his arms tied behind his back when it came to his performance, so to speak. He could not speak. He technically was playing a blind creature. He was also almost inconsequential to the plot. It is a strange irony that Bela Lugosi had been originally cast as The Monster when Frankenstein was first announced. He ultimately did not play the part, though the exact reasons are unclear. Now, when he got to play the Monster, Lugosi was given a thankless role and did what he could with it.
Much better were the other roles. Patric Knowles did well as Dr. Mannering. He made him into a sensible man of science who still accepted Talbot's truth when it was presented to him. It is to Knowles' credit that he made that last-minute shift to try to bring the Monster fully to life slightly believable. I figure that it needed to happen for the plot to happen. It did not quite work, but Knowles tried.
It is a surprise, given how dashing Knowles was, that he never became a star.
Lionel Atwill continues to be our Frankenstein utility infielder. He makes his third of five appearances in this franchise. His role as the mayor of longsuffering Vasaria is small. However, he shows a sympathetic side to the accursed House of Frankenstein. Maria Ouspenskaya reprises her The Wolf Man role as Maleva the Gypsy Queen. She makes Maleva into someone attempting to help but finding that anti-Gypsy prejudice blocks her.
Technically Maleva was not a Gypsy Queen. I just like saying that.
Probably the worst of the performances was Ilona Massey as the Baroness Frankenstein. In her defense, it was not a particularly strong part. However, she brought little to the role.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is entertaining and short. It is not a great film but one that keeps within this franchise. Despite the title, the film is more about The Wolf Man than about Frankenstein's Monster. It was not a battle royale but a nice get-together of monsters who lead such interesting lives.
UNIVERSAL FRANKENSTEIN FILMS
House of Frankenstein
House of Dracula
No comments:
Post a Comment
Views are always welcome, but I would ask that no vulgarity be used. Any posts that contain foul language or are bigoted in any way will not be posted.
Thank you.