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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man | |
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 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man movie poster |
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| Directed by | Roy William Neill |
| Produced by | George Waggner |
| Written by | Curt Siodmak |
| Starring | Lon Chaney, Jr. Ilona Massey Patric Knowles Lionel Atwill Bela Lugosi Maria Ouspenskaya |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 5, 1943 U.S. release |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) The Wolf Man (1941) |
| Followed by | House of Frankenstein (1944) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, released in 1943, is an American horror film produced by Universal Studios. It was the first of a series of "ensemble" monster films combining characters from several film series. This film, therefore is both the fifth in the series of films based upon Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and a sequel to The Wolf Man.
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The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot, also known as The Wolf Man, awakened from death by graverobbers and seeking a cure for the curse that causes him to transform into a werewolf with every full moon. Bela Lugosi co-stars as the Frankenstein Monster, who Talbot unintentionally resurrects from an icy tomb. Talbot attempts to befriend the Monster but is unable to prevent the creature from causing havoc and, after a few appearances by the Wolf Man, both Talbot and the Monster find themselves in Castle Frankenstein, where yet another member of the cursed clan, Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Ilona Massey), has supplied Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) with the Frankenstein manuscripts that may cure Talbot and finally kill the monster. Ultimately, however, the frightened townsfolk rebel, destroying the castle and, presumably, the Monster and The Wolf Man, in a magnificent deluge caused by an exploded dam.
Immediately following his success in Dracula, Lugosi had been the first choice to play the Monster in Universal's original Frankenstein film, but after director Robert Florey was replaced by James Whale, Lugosi famously turned down the non-speaking part and was replaced by the virtually unknown Boris Karloff. Florey later wrote that "the Hungarian actor didn't show himself very enthusiastic for the role and didn't want to play it." Eight years later, Lugosi joined the franchise with one of his greatest portrayals, the Monster's strange companion Ygor in Son of Frankenstein. He returned to the role in the sequel, The Ghost of Frankenstein, in which Ygor's brain is implanted into the Monster (now Chaney), causing the creature to take on Lugosi/Ygor's voice. After plans for Chaney to play both the Monster and his original Larry Talbot in the next film fell through for logistical reasons, the natural next step was for Lugosi, at 60, to take on the original part that he had earlier declined in a pivotal decision that he would regret for the rest of his life.
That next film was Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, which as originally written served as a sequel both to The Ghost of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man. The original script — and indeed the movie as originally filmed — had the Monster performing dialogue throughout the film, including references to the events of Ghost and indicating that the Monster is now blind (a side-effect of the transplant as revealed at the end of the previous film). According to screenwriter Curt Siodmak, a screening audience reacted negatively to this, finding the idea of the Monster speaking with a thick Hungarian accent unintentionally funny. Though it cannot be confirmed through any other sources, this has been generally accepted as the reason virtually all scenes in which Lugosi speaks were deleted (two brief scenes remain in the film that show Lugosi's mouth moving without sound). Consequently, Lugosi is onscreen for only a few minutes, leaving the Wolf Man as the film's focus, and Lugosi's performance is sabotaged since the audience is left to wonder why he's stumbling around that way. Because of the deletions, the explanation of the Monster's blindness is lost, making Lugosi look unnaturally clumsy in the film. Because the monster is nearly blind, the movie also firmly established the Frankenstein's Monster stereotype of walking stiff-legged with arms outstretched. However, in a plot twist the character's blindness is cured by Dr. Mannering in his experiment before the climactic fight, allowing an engaged Lugosi some of the most celebrated close-ups of the Universal horror canon.
Lugosi suffered exhaustion at some point during the filming, and his absence from the set, combined with his physical limitations at age 60, required the liberal use of stand-ins. Stuntman Gil Perkins actually portrayed the Monster in several early scenes and during much of the monsters' fight. Although a still exists of Lugosi in the ice, when viewers see the Monster's face in close-up for the first time, it is actually Perkins in the ice. (The official trailer also shows Perkins' face along with Lugosi's.) Stuntman Eddie Parker is usually credited as Lugosi's sole double, but his primary stunt role was that of the Wolf Man. However, he does appear as the Monster in at least one shot, and yet a possible third stuntman also stands in for Lugosi.
The edited result unfairly suggests that Lugosi had to be doubled even in non-strenuous scenes, and the multiple use of alternating stuntmen in both closeups and medium shots damages the continuity of Lugosi's characterization. As an example, the doubles in the fight scene stiffen their arms, even though that was a cautious habit of the previously-blind Monster; a medium shot shows Lugosi pulling down a cabinet with his arms naturally bent at the elbows, but the next shot is of a double completing the task with straightened arms.
The deleted footage with Lugosi speaking as the Monster has become legendarily elusive. As of early 2007, the footage has yet to surface.
Lugosi's performance as the Monster is comprehensively original, however, with the creature energetically hissing almost like a cat in some scenes, lending an additional eerie and otherworldly quality to the portrayal.
This would be the final Universal horror film in which the Monster played a major role; in the subsequent films House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, the Monster, now played by Glenn Strange, comes to life only in the final scenes. In the 1948 Universal comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (the second and only other film in which Lugosi plays Dracula), Strange has a larger role.
A tribute to this meeting of two horror film legends happens near the beginning of the film Alien vs. Predator when this film is seen playing on a television at the satellite receiving station.