Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943)

Much hyped flick from Universal Pictures as the “Clash of the Century”, this one is effective on some aspects while, ah, not so effective on others. From the get go things look good, what with two grave robbers slinking through a rather spooky looking cemetery to break into the Talbot family tomb. Breaking into Lawrence Talbot a.k.a. The Wolf Man’s grave, they notice the body is still fresh and mysteriously covered in wolfs bane and say, is that a full moon rising out there? Soon enough Lon Chaney Jr. is back in action and on the prowl, awakening later in a nearby hospital with no recollection of the previous night. Attempting unsuccessfully to persuade his doctor and a suspicious detective that he’s a werewolf, Talbot breaks out of the hospital on the next full moon, which in this flick seems to be just about every night of the week. Tracking down the old gypsy woman from the first “Wolf Man” flick, Talbot is told that there is a certain doctor who just might be able to cure his lycanthropic tendencies. This doctor is of course Dr. Frankenstein, whom Talbot learns from the nearby villagers was killed along with his murderous “monster” in a fire some years back. Not willing to give up, Talbot tracks down Frankenstein’s daughter (who has to be Brigitte Nielsen’s real mom) in search of her father’s diary that he is certain holds the key to a cure for his red meat habit. After a night of werewolf antics, Talbot wakes up in the ruins of Frankenstein’s castle where he discovers the Monster entombed in a block of ice. Doing what any of us would do when discovering a dead body Popsicle, he soon has big Frank chipped out of the ice and Talbot soon befriends the creature. Later on, Talbot’s doctor from the hospital shows up and upon Talbot’s insistence soon has Frankenstein’s old equipment hooked up and running again. With both the Monster and Talbot tied up to operating tables, the doctor tries to siphon off the energy of them both, allowing both the Wolf Man and the Monster to finally rest in peace. However, just as this is about to happen Talbot’s Doc flips and decides he has to see the Monster at full power(?), pumping him full of electricity while outside a full moon is rising on the horizon...can you say “Let’s Get Ready To Rumble”?

While the film is pretty schizophrenic in terms of highlights and lowlights, one thing stays the same throughout the flick, and that is atmosphere. From the opening shot of the cemetery where Talbot is buried to Frankenstein’s ruined castle, the old Gothic feel is a major plus to the picture. As for the titular creatures, while the Wolf Man is still an effective on screen monster, Bela Lugosi’s version of the Monster is pretty lame. If you notice in the movie the Monster basically stumbles around with his arms out, looking as if he’s had way to many drinks for the evening. In the original script the Monster was suppose to be blind, and some of this idea was carried over into the film, but is never explained to the viewer. Lugosi’s Monster basically just growls rather unconvincingly and really is not all that scary. The other actors in the film are so so, no one really stood out to me. Be on the lookout for an extremely bad village sing-along scene, which came out of nowhere and really was out of place in the film. The climatic battle at the end was not really anything to spectacular, far from the “clash of the century” that Universal boasted about. Still, I’ve always been a sucker for various monsters meeting each other and seeing who’s stronger, so I’ll admit I did enjoy it. Many people claim this to be one of Universal’s best “monster” films, but I found it to be a tad weaker than the original classics. By this point most of Universal’s creatures were losing their individual appeal, so the studio went for the “package” gimmick, starting with this film of giving you more monster for your buck. Overall though, I still had fun with it...just make sure to watch the original “Frankenstein” and “Wolf Man” before you see this one.