User Reviews

This is really as cheeky a concept as you can get for a movie: a classic literary character from the work of Mary Shelley meets a 1940s-created Hollywood werewolf! And yet, as my ten-year old self discovered, and as my older and not in the least more sophisticated adult self realises, it's a film that really works.

For one thing, it's wonderfully atmospheric, thanks to Roy William Neill's moody direction, crisp cinematography and sincere performances from the actors. The opening shot is one of the best in Universal's horror cannon, the camera dollying over a gloomy cemetery while crows hop and croak as two grave robbers make their way to the Talbot tomb. They didn't choose the time particularly well, for it is a full moon, and all that's needed to bring the Wolfman (Lon Chaney) back from the dead is its silver-white touch on Talbot's dead hand.

Chaney is excellent as the tormented Talbot; unfortunately studio interference - the editing out of the monster's (played by Bela Lugosi) dialogue and blindness (until the end) make Bela's performance inexplicable to those not in the know. Happily we have compensations in the form of Lionel Atwill, Maria Ouspenskaya, Dwight Frye (back for a last Universal hurrah before his untimely death) and the ravishing Ilona Massey. We even have Inspector Lestrade turn up in the form of Denis Hoey. He might be called Inspector Owen in this movie, but he's got the same overcoat and bowler Hoey wears in his Rathbone Sherlock Holmes' movies.

Talbot escapes from an asylum and heads for Visaria, seeking the secret of Frankenstein's unholy science. He just wants to die and end the torture of his 3 times a month transformations. After various adventures he thaws out Henry's creation and the two quickly turn up Frankenstein's Secrets of Life And Death diary; the monster (with Ygor's brain inside him - see Ghost of Frankenstein) is also seeking to be restored to full power.

Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman even has a barnstorming musical song as the village celebrates the Festival of The New Wine, "For life is short and death is long" being verbal torture for Talbot. The monster comes searching for his new friend and certainly puts a dampener on things for the villagers!

The climactic fight between our titans of terror may have dated but it worked for audiences of the time and on the whole this is a film I never tire of re-watching.

To summarise, cheeky concept, excellent movie!

Part of this film takes place in Frankenstein's basement. But the problem here is that mostly this is bargain-basement Frankenstein in general. EXCEPT for some of the acting, and for the atmosphere which is first-rate.

Knowles is alright but is bargain basement Basil Rathbone/Colin Clive. He's capable but bland. Ms. Massey is a cut-rate Evelyn Ankers but again, is capable and has the added advantage of a German-tinged European accent. And poor old Lugosi is wasted in a badly conceived role (oh well I guess you can't have a Wolfman sequel at the Frankenstein castle without having Frankenstein's monster at least show up).

Chaney is first-rate and vividly recreates his immortal Lawrence Talbot. He is great and not to be missed.

Three huge pluses: Ouspenskaya, Dennis Hoey and of course Lionel Atwill were three of the best character actors who ever lived and keep this film watchable.

The early cemetery scenes are fine old horror atmosphere, and I really enjoyed the highly creative ice-bound catacomb scenes featuring the two unfortunate monsters.

Plot holes, bad editing, chopped grafted together story are the misses, so I can recommend this only with reservations, mainly for the occasional streaks of brilliance to be found here.

And yes, horror fans will love it.

This pairing of two of Universal's most celebrated creations is an enjoyable enough romp in its own right, but the end result musters far less excitement than either of the titular monsters capably generated on their own. Though Franky meets Wolfy boasts high production values and some inspired moments, the film ultimately never plays above what it is: an attempt to make a few bucks by capitalizing on the popularity of two iconic characters.

Lon Chaney, Jr. reprises his role as Larry Talbot, who finds himself very much alive despite the conclusion of the original Wolf Man thanks to the intervention of two grave robbers who make the foolish mistake of breaking into his crypt during a full moon. Determined to rid himself of his dreadful curse, Talbot once again enlists the aid of the gypsy woman Maleva, who suggests he seek out a scientist who could offer assistance: one Dr. Frankenstein.

Chaney once again handles the material very well, but he is hampered by a script that is not nearly as sharp as the one he was offered in his previous lycanthropy yarn. This sequel's version of Larry Talbot requires him to often lapse into histrionics, so there are scenes in the film which stray away from the horror genre and veer into straight-up melodrama, and some of the dialogue is ultimately pretty atrocious.

Portions of the film make very little sense, such as the crucial moment when The Wolf Man finds himself trapped in the makeshift castle of Dr. Frankenstein, the basement of which is apparently a subterranean snow cavern (?). When Talbot awakes in this frigid locale, he discovers the Monster trapped in a wall of ice, upon which he frees Frank and forms a tenuous alliance. Of course, the selling point for the film is the opportunity to see these two titans of terror do battle, so it's probably not giving anything away to inform you that they eventually do.

Jack Pierce's werewolf make-up is darker and more realistic this time out, but the transformation effects aren't any stronger than the camera elapses used in the original. Unfortunately, the fashionable Wolf Man makes a repeat appearance, and Chaney's clothing changes are no less confusing than they were before. The initial transformation occurs while Chaney is dressed in pajamas, but once again the shots of The Wolf Man on the prowl show him clad in the same matching attire he wore in the first film. When Chaney awakes following his full-moon sojourn, he is once again wearing his jammies, which suggests that when he becomes a werewolf he not only delays his hunt to change clothes, but also feels inclined to change back before going to sleep.

Though the idea of enlisting Bela Lugosi to portray the Monster must have sounded great on paper, he lacks the sheer size and physicality of Boris Karloff, and his performance is nowhere near as nuanced or effective. Here, the Monster is simply a monster, not a character, and though there is genuine historical and curiosity value inherent in this interesting bit of casting, it's impossible to watch the film without comparing Lugosi's stiff staggering to Karloff's imposing and indelible presence.

A cameo by Dwight Frye spices things up a bit, but most of the film merely goes through the motions, making no attempt to add anything substantial to the mythos of either marquee attraction. Their climactic showdown is ultimately far too brief and anti-climactic to live up to the promise implied by the title, and the film concludes with a dynamite-induced flood which buries both creatures, ostensibly preserving them for future sequels.

Fans of either monster will still enjoy this outing, but while the original Wolf Man and Frankenstein films offered plenty of subtext rife for examination, this outing never aspires to be much more than a disposable bit of mindless escapism. At that, it succeeds handily, but it's unlikely even the most forgiving Universal Monsters fan will revisit this misguided royal rumble very often.

This has got a great concept of matching up two of Universal's great monster creations in the same film . Unfortunately as is common within great concept movies the potential isn't fully realised

The major problem is that the screenwriter Curt Siodmak seems unable to find a different approach in order to tell the story . THE WOLF MAN was a rather threadbare plot and probably shows what a very limited concept werewolf movies are . The first half of the movie plays out like a werewolf movie then moves to Frankenstein's homeland and involves the monster

There's two very obvious flaws to the story . First off there's zero continuity to the previous Frankenstein movie where Ygor was the monster who became blind . Apparently he has regained his sight but lost his powers of speech . In fact the story could have taken place immediately after SON OF FRANKENSTEIN and no one would have been able to tell the difference . There is a myth according to film historians that Lugosi was given dialogue where he states that his monster is blind and that accounts for his performance with arms outstretched but it's obvious in many scenes that the monster still has his sight retained

The second flaw is the geographical location which is recognisably central Europe in the 1940s . Unfortunately it seems to be on a parallel world where there is no war even though this country has a fascist mindset where ethnic minorities like Gypsies are not welcome . It seems totally ridiculous that characters can move freely from England to this European hinterland . It's obvious by characters costumes that is very much a Germanzed country and it's strange that being a German Jewish émigré Siodmak didn't emphasis an anti-Nazi subtext to the tale

That said it is a fairly entertaining film if you overlook its silliness . It does have a very memorable opening sequence where two grave robbers break in to the vault of the Talbot family . Lugosi isn't as bad as his reputation suggests as the monster and the film moves at a fairly brisk pace . You do get the feeling that the film could have been a lot better than it finally appears on screen

For a second-tier horror film only running 74 minutes, 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man' certainly had a tortured history, most having to do with Bela Lugosi's much-maligned portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster. Lugosi, who was considered for the role in the original 'Frankenstein' but ultimately dropped in favor of Boris Karloff, finally got the opportunity here at age 60. Let's just say Karloff's reputation is safe as the definitive Monster. Lugosi stumbles around, flailing his stiff arms in what seems at times a parody. There were reasons for this though, which are not explained in the finished film, and which are not all Lugosi's fault. As originally intended, it would be explained that the creature is practically blind from the experiment which ended the previous film. Also, Lugosi's version would have quite a bit of spoken dialogue. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak claims that audiences in test screenings laughed at the Monster speaking with Lugosi's thick Hungarian accent. Lugosi had no less than THREE stand-ins; in fact, the opening close-up of the Monster trapped in the ice is clearly not Lugosi. Eventually, the part of the story involving the Monster was heavily trimmed in favor of a new first half dealing with the Wolf Man. Lon Chaney Jr. reprises his role as Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man, and we are reminded that this character must be one of the most miserably unhappy ones ever to grace the silver screen. There is a certain grim humor in hearing Talbot say, "But what can you do to end MY life?" in what seems the umpteenth variation of that line. Talbot's morbid yet sometimes cheerful insistence on being put to death (in fact, about the only time he seems cheerful in any of the films) is a trademark of the character. 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,' as finally released, is split almost exactly in half. The first concerns the Wolf Man's reappearance, Talbot's stay in an English hospital, and ultimately his meeting up with the old gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskay's signature role). From there, they head to Dr. Frankenstein's castle in Germany (hell, I guess it's in Germany) to find his notebook, "The Secrets of Life and Death." After a point, they are joined by Talbot's doctor (Patrick Knowles) and guess what? He decides that he can make Frankenstein's experiment a success, because HE won't make the same mistakes. This is a perennial feature of the Frankenstein films. 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man' is an entertaining entry in the venerable series, despite Lugosi's lumbering portrayal and a seemingly interminable musical number halfway through the film. Though both monsters are swept away by a flood after a brief, pitched battle at the end, they would return for two more sequels and, finally, to meet Abbott & Costello.