Movie Review: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
This was the first Universal Monster movie I saw as a kid, and it got me pumped to see more. It’s still very entertaining, and works as a true sequel to 1941’s The Wolf Man. You might be disappointed with how little of Frankenstein’s Monster there is in there, and you might be upset with how the character acts.
The filmmakers initially intended for the Monster to pick up where he had left off with Ghost of Frankenstein, being blind with Ygor’s voice. And of course this time the Monster is played by Bela Lugosi, who had played Ygor. But, for one reason or another, all the dialogue was removed, and the result is an awkward performance by Lugosi without any explanation for his staggering around.
I heard one of the reasons the studio decided to scrap this idea was because they couldn’t take Lugosi’s heavily accented voice seriously coming from the Monster. I’d also read that the Monster’s dialogue was — in the fitting Ygor tradition — all about wanting to take over the world, and might have sounded a bit too much like Hitler. Whatever the reason, this is what we got.
The movie begins with a few grave robbers breaking into the Talbot crypt to rob Lawrence Talbot’s (Lon Chaney, Jr.) body of some ring or something. They do it on a full moon, and that brings him back to life. He grabs the arm of one of the grave robbers and the other one escapes.
Talbot is found on the street with some injuries and he’s taken to a hospital where no one believes that he’s Lawrence Talbot, or that he’s a werewolf. He eventually transforms and ends up killing a policeman.
A doctor and detective go and investigate Talbot after they strap him down, and find a body not belonging to Lawrence Talbot in his grave, with his throat lacerated. Meanwhile, the Wolfman escapes.
Talbot eventually tracks down the gypsy Maleva, who tells him that Dr. Frankenstein may be able to help him. He goes to Vasaria, hoping that Frankenstein can end his life through scientific means, since he now knows that his curse has survived even his natural death.
He ends up finding the Monster in a block of ice, and helps him get out. The Monster shows Talbot the doctor’s records, and stumbles around like an idiot. He’s ultimately no help.
Talbot seeks out Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Ilona Massey), who declines to help him. They both attend the Festival of the New Wine, though, in a scene that has a musical number.
Talbot has an episode where he yells at the townsfolk, and Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) makes his presence known, having followed Talbot, to try and bring Talbot back to Wales.
The Monster then crashes the festival. After Talbot calms him down, he, Elsa, Maleva, and Dr. Mannering decide to take the Monster back to the castle. Dr. Mannering studies some notes that allow him to drain the life from both the Monster and Talbot.
In the meantime, the villagers, afraid that the Monster has started a new reign of terror, plan to flood the castle by destroying a dam.
Dr. Mannering’s scientific curiosity gets the better of him and he ends up reviving the Monster and bringing him to full strength, thus giving him his eyesight. He breaks from his restraints, but so does Talbot, now transformed into the Wolfman.
They fight. It’s a lot of fun and definitely the highlight of the movie. You have to wait a little over an hour to get there, but the movie is only about an hour and 15 minutes, so the climax is outstanding.
There’s no real winner, as the flood from the destroyed dam engulfs the entire castle, presumably killing both creatures.
It’s a lot of fun. It’s not a great movie, but it stays true to the Lawrence Talbot character, with Lon Chaney, Jr. again giving a great performance. And the fight at the end is wonderful and worth the wait.
Rating: 6/10
