In the early 1940s, Universal found that interest in their horror films was declining. At the time there were far worse horrors going on in the real world. In an effort to re-kindle fan interest the studio decided to feature two of their monsters in the same film.
The result was "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" which was a sequel to both "The Wolfman" (1941) and "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942). Lon Chaney Jr. repeated his role as the werewolf and Bela Lugosi played the Frankenstein monster.
The film opens with a chilling graveyard sequence where two grave robbers break into the Talbot crypt in order to rob the grave of Lawrence Talbot (Chaney). Talbot "awakens" , murders one of the grave robbers and escapes into the night. He is found unconscious in a town several miles away and is taken to the local hospital where he is treated by Dr. Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles) while Police Inspector Owen (Dennis Hoey) checks out his story.
Talbot becomes a werewolf that night and murders a policeman. Unable to convince the doctor and the police that he is a murderer he escapes from the hospital and seeks out the old gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspensskaya) whose werewolf son had put the curse on Talbot in the first film. Unable to help him herself, she takes him to the village of Vasaria in search of Dr. Frankenstein whom they hope will be able to help Talbot.
They discover that Dr. Frankenstein had perished in a fire in his laboratory. Talbot then goes to the ruins in search of Frankenstein's notes. What he finds in an icy cave below is the monster (Lugosi) frozen in the ice. Talbot frees the monster hoping that he will know where to find his creator's notes.
Talbot learns that Frankenstein had a daughter Elsa (Ilona Massey) whom he contacts to see if she knows where the notes are. At the local wine festival later on, Dr. Mannering finds Talbot and the Baroness Elsa. As they are talking, the monster wonders into the crowd but Talbot helps him escape. Mannering is curious, so he and the Baroness go to the castle. The Baroness finds the notes and Mannering decides that he must destroy the monster and help Talbot. He repairs Frankenstein's equipment but decides instead to restore the monster to his full strength and.......
Bela Lugosi had been offered the part of the monster in the original 1931 film but turned it down. After 12 years he finally got to play the monster but played him only as a grunting killer with no sympathetic qualities. It's really Chaney's film and he gives an excellent performance as the doomed Talbot. Knowles makes a clean cut mad doctor and the fetching Massey has little to do but look beautiful as the Baroness. Lionel Atwill appears as the Mayor of Vasaria and Dwight Frye as Rudi, a villager. Director Roy William Neill also directed many of Universal's Sherlock Holmes films and Dennis Hoey also appeared in that series as Inspector Lestrade.
Followed by "House of Frankenstein" (1944) and "House of Dracula" (1945) two similar films but with Dracula added to the mix.
The result was "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" which was a sequel to both "The Wolfman" (1941) and "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942). Lon Chaney Jr. repeated his role as the werewolf and Bela Lugosi played the Frankenstein monster.
The film opens with a chilling graveyard sequence where two grave robbers break into the Talbot crypt in order to rob the grave of Lawrence Talbot (Chaney). Talbot "awakens" , murders one of the grave robbers and escapes into the night. He is found unconscious in a town several miles away and is taken to the local hospital where he is treated by Dr. Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles) while Police Inspector Owen (Dennis Hoey) checks out his story.
Talbot becomes a werewolf that night and murders a policeman. Unable to convince the doctor and the police that he is a murderer he escapes from the hospital and seeks out the old gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspensskaya) whose werewolf son had put the curse on Talbot in the first film. Unable to help him herself, she takes him to the village of Vasaria in search of Dr. Frankenstein whom they hope will be able to help Talbot.
They discover that Dr. Frankenstein had perished in a fire in his laboratory. Talbot then goes to the ruins in search of Frankenstein's notes. What he finds in an icy cave below is the monster (Lugosi) frozen in the ice. Talbot frees the monster hoping that he will know where to find his creator's notes.
Talbot learns that Frankenstein had a daughter Elsa (Ilona Massey) whom he contacts to see if she knows where the notes are. At the local wine festival later on, Dr. Mannering finds Talbot and the Baroness Elsa. As they are talking, the monster wonders into the crowd but Talbot helps him escape. Mannering is curious, so he and the Baroness go to the castle. The Baroness finds the notes and Mannering decides that he must destroy the monster and help Talbot. He repairs Frankenstein's equipment but decides instead to restore the monster to his full strength and.......
Bela Lugosi had been offered the part of the monster in the original 1931 film but turned it down. After 12 years he finally got to play the monster but played him only as a grunting killer with no sympathetic qualities. It's really Chaney's film and he gives an excellent performance as the doomed Talbot. Knowles makes a clean cut mad doctor and the fetching Massey has little to do but look beautiful as the Baroness. Lionel Atwill appears as the Mayor of Vasaria and Dwight Frye as Rudi, a villager. Director Roy William Neill also directed many of Universal's Sherlock Holmes films and Dennis Hoey also appeared in that series as Inspector Lestrade.
Followed by "House of Frankenstein" (1944) and "House of Dracula" (1945) two similar films but with Dracula added to the mix.