Review of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) by The View . — 02 Oct 2004

As far as Universal's monster movie sequels go, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" isn't half bad. Universal had a huge hit in 1941 with "The Wolf Man", and teaming him up with the Monster from their biggest horror franchise was too good - and profitable, I'm sure - an idea to turn down.

It doesn't have the charm or fun of the previous werewolf movie, or the first three "Frankenstein" films (including "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Son of Frankenstein" - I need another viewing of "The Ghost of Frankenstein" before I can comment on that one), but it's entertaining all the same.

It was this movie that showed Universal they could successfully team up their monsters, and the sequels started going downhill from here. The movie opens with a shot of the full moon, and minutes into the film we hear the familiar poem: "Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers at night/May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms" - and with a slight variation - "and the moon is full and bright.

" I wonder now if the full moon part of the legend was thought up between movies, or was it around all along and the filmmakers just forgot about it when making "The Wolf Man"? A pair of grave robbers break into the Talbot crypt and attempt to steal some jewelry from poor Lawrence (Lon Chaney, Jr.

), now dead for four years. He looks pretty healthy, though, and somehow - the movie never explains how - he wakes up and goes on the prowl. He doesn't want to be alive, though. He doesn't like being a werewolf, so he gets in touch with the old gypsy woman from the earlier film (Maria Ouspenskaya), and she takes him to Frankenstein's castle, where she's sure he can find a cure.

Up until this point, it really is a worthy sequel. Unfortunately, the "Frankenstein" half of the movie is really unnecessary. Frankenstein is dead, of course, but Larry does discover the Monster, frozen in a cave under the castle.

The biggest mistake was casting Bela Lugosi as the Monster. Lugosi was a fine Dracula, but he was a worse actor than Chaney. And Chaney wasn't great. Lugosi seemed to think all he had to do to emulate Boris Karloff's Monster was walk stiffly with arms outstretched.

Karloff, on the other hand, was a great actor, and his performance in "Frankenstein" is one of the silver screen's finest. Lugosi does it no justice. My research tells me it was supposed to be explained that the Monster is blind - explaining his even more awkward lumbering - but his dialogue got cut.

I'm not surprised they chose to keep Lugosi mute, and he sure looked like he could see what was going on around him to me. The Monster is pretty much kept in the background, though, until the third act.

That's when the movie really falls apart. Larry convinces a doctor (Patric Knowles) to destroy not only the Monster but Larry himself. The doctor agrees, and studies Frankenstein's books to figure out how.

(This scene contains the film's single most ludicrous line of dialogue: "This monster was created artificially. It must be destroyed by the same means." I'm still trying to figure out how to artificially destroy something.

) But at the last minute - and with absolutely no logic or motivation - he decides he can't destroy Dr. Frankenstein's greatest creation. This leads to the not-so-climatic final battle between the two monsters - two less than talented actors in a lot of makeup, shoving each other around before the dam above the castle goes, and the rushing river sweeps the characters away to their next sequel together, "The House of Frankenstein".

The movie is a kick to watch; the Universal monster movies always bring out the kid in me. It left me wishing the Wolf Man had gotten his own legitimate sequel, though. Lon Chaney may not have been able to carry the movie completely on his own, but Lawrence Talbot sure could.

Well, the Wolf Man could, anyway.