Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

A phrase often associated with the Golden Age of Hollywood is, “They don’t make them like they used to." In this age of remakes, reboots, and sequels, it is common to be overly nostalgic about the good ol' days of cinema; when Hollywood seemingly could no wrong and was consistently pumping out quality, and original, movies. Of course, this is one big lie - reboots, remakes, and sequels are nothing new to cinema; they go back to the very beginning of film itself. The 1940s, in particular, may have been of the most sequel heavy decades in movie history – and the studio that was pumping them out on a regular basis was Universal. Modern audiences groan on the endless string of Saw and Paranormal Activity movies, but Universal was basically doing the same thing with their classic Monsters line up - in 1940, they released The Mummy's Hand and The Invisible Man Returns (with Vincent Price); the former being a reboot of  the Boris Karloff classic, and the latter being a belated sequel to the 1933 film starring Claude Rains. In 1941, Universal added The Wolf Man to their monster line up and it proved to be a tremendous success; the character would pop up in four more movies throughout the course of the decade.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was the first movie to pair up Universal’s classic monsters, as well as being a sequel to both The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein.  It is also marked the only time that Bela Lugosi would play the Frankenstein Monster. It is by no means a classic, and is heavily flawed, but it is a lot of fun. It may not up to par with Bride of Frankenstein, or The Wolf Man (which is arguable), but it is certainly not the worst monster movie to come out that decade. It benefits greatly from a first rate cast, beautiful cinematography (by George Robinson), and fast paced direction by Roy William Neill; its short run time, 74 minutes, doesn't hurt either.

Bela Lugosi's performance as the Monster has often been the source of criticism - it consists of stumbling through the scenery with his arms outstretched and letting out an occasional grunt. Though, in all fairness to Lugosi, it's not entirely his fault; the Monster stumbles about as a result of being blinded in the previous film, Ghost of Frankenstein, and, originally, Lugosi was given dialogue to perform. However, when the movie was finally released to the cinemas in 1943, all references to the Monster's blindness was deleted, as was all of Lugosi dialogue - though there are a few times in the movie where you can actually see the Monster moving his lips. There is also a moment in the finale, during an elaborate operation, where the audience is given an extreme close up of the Monster opening his eyes, indicating that his sight has been restored. It has often been reported that the reason for deleting Lugosi's dialogue was that a test audience found the idea of the Monster speaking with a Hungarian accent funny. I'm not sure if I believe this story, considering that the previous movie, Ghost of Frankenstein, ends with the Monster talking in the same Hungarian accent (Bela Lugosi dubbed Lon Chaney, Jr. in these scenes), so the studio must have known in advance whether or not audiences would balk at this plot point. I personally believe the Monster's dialogue was removed to tighten up the movie and, more importantly, because it was superfluous to the actual story line. 

To add further insult to injury, the Monster is often played by a stuntman; this  is especially obvious in the Monster's first scene. As a result, the characterization and the look of the Monster is pretty inconsistent throughout. The Monster is essentially reduced to a walking prop and, unfortunately, this would be the standard that the later movies in the series would adopt. Lugosi, despite his prominent billing, has less than ten minutes of actual screen time.

The story line itself is pretty dour; Larry Talbot is accidentally released from his crypt by a pair of bumbling grave robbers and, rather than having to endure an existence of living as the Wolf Man, seeks out Dr. Frankenstein (on the advice of the gypsy Melava), hoping that he can put him out of his misery.  That's right, Larry Talbot, merely wants to die. On his journey, he stumbles upon the Frankenstein Monster, preserved in a block of ice, underneath the catacombs of the Frankenstein castle. Odd, considering that in The Ghost of Frankenstein, the Monster met a fiery demise.  Talbot's learns that Dr. Frankenstein is dead, so he contacts Elsa, the doctor's daughter, hoping that she can lead him to her father's notes about life and death. Also thrown into the mix is Dr. Mannering, who has been searching all of Europe for Talbot; he thinks Talbot is in desperate need of medical help. Dr. Mannering agrees to help Talbot, and learns from Frankenstein's notes that he can drain the life out of Talbot and transfer into the Monster.  Then all hell breaks loose!

The character of Elsa Frankenstein is also a carry over from The Ghost of Frankenstein, except in that movie the role was played by Evelyn Ankers. Why Universal recast Ilona Massey in the role is a mystery? Perhaps, given that Ankers also played Lon Chaney, Jr.'s love interest in The Wolf Man, the studio was afraid that audiences might confuse the two characters. Massey, at best, has a superficial resemblance to Ankers, but otherwise they might as well be two different characters. What happened to Erik, Elsa's suitor in The Ghost of Frankenstein? 

Ankers

Massey

The leading ladies in the Universal Monster movies usually had the thankless task of screaming and looking pretty- which Miss Massey does rather admirably. Elsa doesn't appear until the movie's halfway point  and most of her screen time is reaction shots; Larry Talbot freaks out, cut to a close up of Elsa looking confused. Dr. Mannering becomes fascinated by the Monster, cut to a close up of Elsa looking worried. She solely exists to show Dr. Mannering and Larry Talbot where her father hid his journal, then she is promptly shoved into the background.

Dr. Mannering is a bland character as well - I never bought his transition from concerned physician to mad scientist. He is initially going to drain the monster of all its power, but then decides, seemingly just for the hell of it, that he must see it at full strength. Patric Knowles is a serviceable actor, but he lacks the panache that Colin Clive, Basil Rathbone, and Cedric Hardwicke brought to the previous films. The best thing you can say about Knowles is that he doesn't get in the way of the proceedings. Thankfully, the movie only hints at a potential romance between Dr. Mannering and Elsa as opposed to turning it into a major subplot. It also should be noted that Knowles also appeared in The Wolf Man as Frank Andrews, Gwen's fiance and Larry's romantic rival. That might explain why Larry is so apprehensive towards Dr. Mannering - he reminds him of that dullard Frank.

 Lon Chaney, Jr. gives an effective performance as the gloomy Larry Talbot. The audience actually sympathizes with Talbot, because he doesn't want to harm anyone and is willing to take his own life rather than live a cursed existence. Chaney is actually at his best when silent - his sad eyes effectively convey the eternal guilt that haunts Larry Talbot. The Wolf Man was Chaney's best role, because, essentially he was playing himself - a seemingly decent man who was haunted by his own inner demons; in Chaney's case it was alcohol. By all accounts, when Chaney was sober he was one of the nicest men you could meet, but when drunk, he was extremely unpleasant and volatile to be around.

The movies gets a lot of mileage out of its great supporting cast:  Dennis Hoey is great fun as the dimwitted Inspector Owen. Comedy relief in old horror movies is usually painful, but in this case it is welcomed. Maria Ouspenskaya reprises her role from The Wolf Man, as Meleva, the sympathetic gypsy woman. She takes on a maternal role to Larry Talbot and hopes to end his torment. Lionel Atwill is amusing as the jovial mayor of Vasaria. It is interesting to see Atwill in such an inconsequential role as he was usually cast as either a stern lawmen or a shifty eyed villain. In the previous movie, Ghost of Frankenstein, he played the treacherous Dr. Bohmer - the man responsible for putting Ygor's brain in the Monster's body. Here, his main concern is keeping the anxious villagers under control. Rex Evans is easy to hate as Vazec, the belligerent innkeeper. Oddly, enough it is this character that resolves the plot and not Dr. Mannering. Finally, it's great to see Dwight Frye, co-star of Dracula and Frankenstein, in a small role as a paranoid citizen. Often, the difference between a bad movie and a watchable one is the cast, and, fortunately, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man has a lot of aces up its sleeve.

The direction by, the underrated, Roy William Neill is first rate. Neill's greatest feat is keeping the movie going at a swift pace. He accomplishes this by constantly having characters on the move; the movie begins in the Talbot family crypt, in Wales, and ends in an a dilapidated castle in Eastern Europe. Larry Talbot searches the countryside to find Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Mannering follows him. Neill also does a great job in handling exposition - while at a village festival, Talbot tells Dr. Mannering about Frankenstein's journal. Instead of doing this in a typical two shot, Neill places the two characters at the back of the frame, while in the foreground Vazec can be seen listening in on their conversation. This helps add tension to the scene and fuels Vazec's growing suspicions about Dr. Mannering,

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is definitely a step down from the previous movies in the franchise, and it is certainly no classic, but there are far worse ways to spend 74 minutes. It is definitely worth a look for its interesting cast and atmospheric direction by Roy William Neill. Hell, it even has a catchy musical number at the midway point. "For life is short, but death is long. Faro - La Faro - Li."

Cast:  Lon Chaney, Jr. (Larry Talbot/The Wolfman), Patric Knowles (Dr. Mannering),  Ilona Massey (Baroness Elsa Frankenstein), Bela Lugosi (The Monster), Lionel Atwill (Mayor), Maria Ouspenskaya (Melava), Dennis Hoey (Inspector Owen), Don Barclay (Franzec), Rex Evans (Vazec),  Dwight Frye (Rudi), Harry Stubbs (Guno).

Director:  Roy William Neill
Screenplay: Curt Siodmak
Running Time: 74 min.