Film Review
It must have seemed like a no-brainer at the time. Universal was
doing good business with its Gothic horror monsters in their solo outings, so
why not bring them together in one film and do even better
business? By this stage, Universal was no longer committed
(as they had been previously) to making quality pictures that might
stand the test of time. The studio's Gothic horror series had now
well and truly been relegated to B movie status and
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
marked the sad point at which art was well and truly sacrificed in favour of a quick
buck. This would be the beginning of the end for Dracula,
Frankenstein, et al.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
begins promisingly enough as a direct sequel to
The
Wolf Man (1941). Lon Chaney Jr's transformation into a
ravenous hirsute monstrosity is as effective as ever and there are some
genuine thrills as the werewolf goes on the rampage in, of all places,
Cardiff city centre. But even in this first half of the film, the
plot failings are painfully noticeable. There is no satisfactory
explanation as to why Talbot survived his apparent killing at the end
of the last Wolf Man film, nor is it explained why Inspector Lestrade
(from Universal's
Sherlock Holmes series) is
working under an assumed name in the Welsh capital.
Things only really go wrong in the second half of the film, and the
blame for this must surely be placed at the feet of screenwriter Curt
Siodmak. Allow me to summarise. Larry Talbot wants to
die. It never occurred to him that all he had to do was to ask
someone to fire a silver bullet into him. No, instead, he pins
all his hopes on Dr Frankenstein.
Which Dr Frankenstein? you may
ask. By this stage, everyone, myself included, has lost
count. Never mind. Dr Frankenstein is dead, but Larry, the
eternal optimist, is sure that the
scientist kept notes in which he recorded his research,
on the off-chance that a suicidal werewolf would one day come along and make use of them.
This naturally provides Larry with the perfect pretext for breaking into Frankenstein's
castle. Of course, we all know what will happen next. Larry will fall
through a hole in the ground and find Frankenstein's monster frozen in
a block of ice. Now how do you suppose the creature got there,
given that, when we last saw him, he was burned alive at Frankenstein's
other residence (or should that be the residence of the other
Frankenstein?)?
Larry, not being particularly well-endowed in the cerebral department
then decides to free the monster. He probably belongs to one of
those fringe militant conservationist societies. Luckily, the monster is
running at half power, so his anti-social tendencies, which involve
ripping off people's arms and things, have yet to show themselves.
Larry and his new monster friend (who by the way is blind and so can't
do much other than look scary and knock over all the furniture) begin
to look for Frankenstein's research notes. Larry, for all his
other failings, can read remarkably quickly, judging by the rate at
which he is able to assimilate and discard the mass of papers he finds
in Frankenstein's safe. Luckily, Frankenstein (i.e. the dead
doctor, not his pet monster) has a picture of his daughter
Elsa on his desk,. As sure as night follows day, Larry will now
go after Elsa, confident that she will know where the scientist kept
his most intimate journal. But first, he must pay a visit to his
tailor and get a new suit.
Whilst Larry is busy having his inside leg measured, the good Dr
Mannering (known to his friends as Frank, appropriately enough) has
been busy hobnobbing with the local population. Just why he has
been following Larry across Europe like a bloodhound is anyone's guess,
although the alternative (i.e. being stuck in Cardiff for the rest of
his life) may have had something to do with it.
Alternatively, he might just have been one of those pesky
autograph hunters.
Once Elsa has uncovered the missing diary, Larry enlists Frank's help
in rebuilding the apparatus by which Frankenstein first brought the
monster to life. In his diary, the helpful Dr Frankenstein has
revealed that the monster can be destroyed only by draining off its
energy. This is achieved, and I quote (using the precise
scientific terminology of a serious scientific practitioner): "Change
the poles from plus to minus". In other words, swap the
electrodes round and bob's your uncle. Obvious when you think
about it. Larry naturally thinks this bit of pole switching will
do for him and persuades Frank to wire him up for a bit of harmless
euthanasia.
Unfortunately, Frank is not the rational, sensible and frankly boring
Welsh-based medical practitioner we have been led to believe he is. He
is in fact an inquisitive little blighter. So, rather than switch
the electrodes round and drain the monster as any sane person would do,
he keeps them the right way round and gives the monster a full
recharge. It's not quite clear what happens to Larry at this
point, but he is clearly hoping mad when the moon comes out and turns
him into a werewolf. So, we now have an angry Larry-angry monster
situation, which cannot end well. Luckily, one enterprising
villager has had the good sense to flood the whole town by blowing up
the dam. I do like a happy ending.
Despite some generally impressive production values,
Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf Man marked a low point in the series, thanks to
its abysmal screenplay, and things
would not improve much with the
subsequent Dracula - Frankenstein - Wolf Man run-ins. Universal was
determined to run their horror franchise into the ground, and it
certainly succeeded.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
commits one notable faux pas, and that is its title. This is the
first of Universal's Frankenstein films in which Dr Frankenstein does not
appear, and so the Frankenstein of the title presumably now refers to
the monster, something which any true horror aficionado will cringe
at. (The pedants may argue that Frankenstein does actually appear
in the film, in the guise of the doctor's granddaughter Elsa. Hence
the title can be considered accurate, albeit highly misleading.)
I'm much less concerned by this syntactic blooper than by Inspector
Lestrade's presence in this film, however. Just what was he doing
hanging about in Cardiff when he should be propping up Scotland
Yard? Maybe someone had dropped a hint that Sherlock Holmes had
been seen recently posing as the son of Frankenstein?
Another thing that worries me is why Frankenstein's monster keeps
changing his appearance in the course of this film. One minute he's Bela
Lugosi, overacting horrifically but mercifully silent (apparently
because a preview audience objected to his accent); the next he is some
other unknown actor, looking strangely subdued and actually rather
cute with a Kirk Douglas-like dimple. Maybe there are in fact two Frankenstein monsters!
Universal missed a trick here. The next Frankenstein film could
have been:
Frankenstein Meets
Frankenstein (in which Elsa Frankenstein meets her uncle, the
third son of the original Dr Frankenstein, played by Nigel
Bruce). Could that have been any more implausible than what
really came next:
The House of
Frankenstein...?
© James Travers 2010
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Next Roy William Neill film:
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)