Frankenstein rencontre le loup-garou

Though not nearly up to the standards and fun level of "Ghost Of Frankenstein", this neat little Universal gem has it's heart in the right place! Wonderful opening sequence in the graveyard, plenty of atmosphere, typically gorgeous Universal studio sets and it's famous monsters! What more can you ask for? Chaney is superb as the tormented Larry Talbot but Bela leaves quite a bit to be desired as the monster. Universal would have been better off using Glen Strange one film earlier instead of waiting for 1944's "House Of Frankenstein". All in all, a fun film that staggers a bit after a rip-roaring start!

A year after The Wolf Man became a huge success, Lon Chaney Jr played the part of Frankenstein in the latest sequel "Ghost of Frankenstein". He was excellent in the role, and from that you can clearly see where the inspiration came from to combine the two strands and have these characters meet each other. Incidentally, Chaney also played a vampire later that year in "Son of Dracula", even though he was completely unsuited to the part, but that makes him the only actor to play all three of Universal's main monsters. Oh, and he also played the Mummy in "The Mummy's Tomb".

Anyway, I digress ... here we have Curt Siodmak, writer of The Wolf Man, returning again as screenwriter. All of the ingredients are there for a great sequel. It opens in Larry Talbot's tomb, with two graverobbers breaking in and disturbing his resting place. The moonlight comes through the window and falls on Larry's corpse, waking him from his slumber as the wolf man. He then gets taken to a hospital where he is deemed insane due to his insistence that he's a werewolf, but promptly escapes in search of the gypsy woman from the original film. She takes him to Frankenstein's town in search of his scientific expertise, and there he encounters Frankenstein's monster encased in ice ... my memory is a little hazy, but wasn't he consumed in fire at the end of the last movie? Ah, well.

It should really have been called "The Wolf Man Meets Frankenstein", because Frankenstein here is only a fairly minor character in the story. Lon Chaney Jr delivers another great performance, at least as good as that in the first film if not better. Of course, he does only have to have one mood to convey here -- desperation. Bela Lugosi, much as I love him, is a terrible Frankenstein. He's the wrong size and shape, and he clearly has no respect for the role. Thank god he doesn't appear for that long. Although having said that, it does kind of make sense that he plays the monster, as the brain of his Igor character was placed in Frankenstein's head at the end of the previous movie. Not that they have much continuity other than that.

The script certainly has it's moments, and the atmosphere of the two worlds of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein blend together fairly well, but on the whole this film just doesn't have enough interesting ideas and far too many dull moments. The set pieces are decent enough, but certainly not as striking as those in the earlier Frankenstein movies. Also, there's a fair bit of decidedly wooden acting from certain cast members, but that's to be expected from most of Universal's horror films.

This sequel is entertaining enough, but it's not half as good as it could have been. It's worth watching if you liked the original.

One must pity the Wolf Man. Marked not only with the pentagram, but marked to never have a sequel that was all his own. A real shame, considering that even the likes of the Mummy got 'four' sequels. Universal begins their monster-mash rallies of the 1940s here, as Wolfie must share his sandbox with the "undying monster" & the two get along well for the most part, but eventually, even the best of friends will have their disputes....

The film begins on a very high note, with one of the most chilling and atmospheric openings in any horror movie. The potential was certainly here for a great 'Wolf Man' sequel that could've surpassed the original. Too bad the monster has to rear his ugly, stitched up head.

Speaking of that monster, "Poor Bela" always get the blame dumped on him for why this film had to be chopped up in post-production, the story always being that the monster with his voice was simply too "Hungarian funny", yet this film was produced by the same Universal that a year earlier made "Ghost of Frankenstein" which featured the monster with Bela's voice. It didn't bother anyone then, so what was the problem now? There has to be more to the story than "it was all Lugosi's fault". Would it be considered out of the realm of possibility to speculate that perhaps the great Curt Siodmak (the screenwriter) wrote some seriously crappy dialogue for the creature to recite that would've produced titters no matter who spoke it?

Also marring the proceedings a bit is some shaky continuity in regards to the monster's portion of the story if you're familiar with the previous 'Ghost' movie. How is it, that there's suddenly a Frankenstein castle in Vasaria (or is it Vi·Saria), when in the previous film, the villagers in the town called "Frankenstein" blew it up. And there are many instances where the screenwriter doesn't seem to know the difference between Ludwig Frankenstein & his father Henry who made the monster, as Talbot, the villagers, even Baroness Frankenstein speak as if Ludwig actually created the monster.

And yet, in spite of its inconsistencies (not to mention the heavy editing done to it), the whole of 'FMTWM' still turns out very good, and the ending clash of the monsters is very entertaining. While Frankenstein fans may be disappointed, this picture definitely works as a great 'Wolf Man' sequel & one of the top Universal romps from the 1940s. After this picture, Dracula and a few other fiends would get invited to the monster party.

8/10

Not one of Universal's best horror entries (it's not as good as its predecessor The Wolf Man, which is a very good film indeed), but it holds up well as a fun and charming film with a lot of atmosphere. It does end too abruptly for my tastes and Bela Lugosi looks very ill at ease, too sharp-featured and far from imposing as the Frankenstein monster. To be fair though to Lugosi it is not entirely his fault, as the character is poorly developed and written and you can actually tell that his screen time was intended to have been longer, hence why some of the story was in want of more explanation(the blindness was important and that was literally ignored). Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is a very good-looking film, it's beautifully shot with eerie lighting and the sets give off a real Gothic horror atmosphere but look sumptuous at the same time. The music fits well, complimenting the thrills without sounding overbearing and stock. The script is very witty and cohesive with only with the monster where it felt incomplete, while the story is always compelling filled with entertainment and the scares positively thrill. Especially good is the opening sequence which is brilliant, so chilling and effectively atmospheric that you are excited to see what follows afterwards, to me it is one of the best openings to a Universal horror during this period and even after. The monster brawl is a lot of fun as well. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is skilfully directed throughout, is briskly paced, the characters are engaging without being fully dimensional and the acting is mostly solid apart from Lugosi. Illona Massey is a smouldering and unusually smart Elsa and Dwight Frye and Lionel Atwill provide entertaining support. Coming off best is Lon Chaney Jnr as Talbot aka The Wolf Man who's superb, goose bump-inducing but movingly sympathetic as well. His makeup is just as good as it was in The Wolf Man. Overall, fun, charming and atmospheric, not perfect by any stretch but well worth the watch and goes very well with The Wolf Man. 7/10 Bethany Cox

MORD39 RATING: ***(of ****)

It's the first Monster Mash teamup movie, a Universal Classic, and curiously panned nowadays.

Lon Chaney gives his most heartfelt performance this time as doomed werewolf Larry Talbot. He seeks the help of the second son of Dr. Frankenstein, but ultimately crosses paths with the Frankenstein Monster instead.

As originally scripted and shot, the monster was to be blind and sick, as the climax of the previous GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN left off. It is actually Ygor's brain that is in the monster's head, and therefore Bela Lugosi was an inspired choice to play the creature. Critics have unfairly lambasted Bela's performance, but in truth it's really brilliant when taken in its original context: the creature blindly stumbles around with out-stretched arms, appearing awkward and searching for strength. Lugosi had much dialogue as first shot, but legend claims that it sounded too funny at test screenings, so all language and references to the monster's violence were edited out! Let's remember that Bela Lugosi was playing the monster in a way that was never attempted before. As intended, this film would have been much more acceptable as Talbot and the monster would discuss their plan to find Frankenstein's diary and use the information to their own ends: Talbot to find a way to die, the monster to gain back his strength.

With great music and nostalgic atmosphere to boot, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN is good, clean fun from the innocent days of Universal Horrors.