Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

I was delightfully surprised with “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man”. I had low expectations coming from “Ghost of Frankenstein”, which is not a good movie, but is so senseless it becomes enjoyable. I’d call this one legitimately good and a major reason for this being that the film utilizes the Wolf Man character to its full potential.

Set after “The Wolf Man” and “Ghost of Frankenstein”, the story begins with grave robbers accidentally bringing Wolf Man Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) back to life. Turns out the werewolf curse makes him immortal and after his crypt is disturbed, he goes right back to turning into a lycanthrope during the full moon. Desperate to die, Larry seeks Dr. Frankenstein’s notes, believing that if Henry Frankenstein discovered the mysteries of life, he must have also discovered the key to death. On his quest, he encounters the Monster (Bela Lugosi) and yet another descendant of the doctor, Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Ilona Massey)

This movie is much more than the 40’s equivalent of “Alien vs. Predator”. There’s an actual story here and while the idea that the Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster inhabit the same universe is somewhat ridiculous, they already established that ghosts exist in the previous film, so why not? I’ve always liked the way that Universal approaches the Wolf Man curse here. It’s an actual curse for Larry because not only does he have to live with the guilt of all the people he’s killed, he can’t even dream of the peace of the grave. He’s doomed to roam the earth forever and nobody is going to help him. Everyone thinks he’s just a crazy man. Chaney conveys this tortured character very well and I can’t think of a better example than during a scene in which a festival is happening in the street (the best scene in the movie in my opinion) I didn’t think of anything at the time, but if you listen to the lyrics you’ll see that they perfectly hit a nerve in our tortured protagonist until he simply can’t take it anymore. He goes ballistic and it’s even sadder because the festival meant to be a joyous occasion but it becomes warped because of his isolation.

Everything you would want in a “Wolf Man” sequel is here. The actor from the first movie is back, as is the gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), the great “Wolf Man” poem and several special effects intensive transformation sequences. What about the Frankenstein aspect? In my opinion it leaves a lot to be desired. The continuity in this department is loose. Frankenstein’s castle is back up again and the asylum/hospital we last saw the monster in lies underneath it or something. The makeup on Lugosi is lousy, with a notable letdown being the makeup previously used to create the illusion of sunken cheeks being reduced to black dots. It’s very peculiar that Lugosi took the role at all to me, as the monster has no lines despite having Ygor’s brain in its skull. The creature is blind, but you wouldn’t know that unless you remembered the conclusion of the previous movie and even then, it seems like the director wasn’t too much of a stickler for this aspect of the character. Other classic “Frankenstein” elements fair reasonably well. Another heir to the Frankenstein family comes out of nowhere. The mad scientist lab is ok (it’s the same as the one in the previous movie) Good scenes with village mobs though.

The film is evenly split between the two monsters so with the Frankenstein portion being ok and the Wolf Man portion being great, what pushes it over the edge are the supporting characters. There’s a terrific villain in the form of a villager played by Don Clay and you’ll recognize multiple veteran Universal actors throughout, such as Dwight Frye from “Dracula” and the original “Frankenstein”. I enjoyed all of the supporting characters actually: Maleva the gypsy, Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) and Elsa Frankenstein in particular.

Is this the first crossovers ever committed to film? I think so. If only they could all be this much fun. If you’re a fan of these Universal Monster movies and you decide to celebrate Frankenstein’s creature’s birthday (May 20th according to the diary found in “Ghost of Frankenstein”) this is one you should take the time to see. It’s an enjoyable sequel to the “Wolf Man” that happens to have the monster in it, but the good parts are so good. (On DVD, December 6, 2015)