FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943)
In this one the Wolfman Larry Talbot (played by Lon Chaney Jr.) wakes up after two grave-robbers invade his families resting place. He’s been dead 4 years and only has a head wound inflicted by his father in the first movie to show for it. Don’t try and figure it out. None of it matters. The Wolfman is pretty desperate to kill himself to prevent killing others in his wolf form, so he seeks out the gypsy (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) whose son he killed in THE WOLFMAN. I guess she either realized her son was in pain as a werewolf, or she just forgives really easily. The movie also never explains how her son hadn’t come back to life after being killed by the same exact walking stick that Larry Talbot was? Anyway, the gypsy tells Larry he is best off going to find Dr. Frankenstein, who knows a lot about death and life. Only Dr. Frankenstein was burned the freak alive and all that is left when they get there is ruins. You can tell by the title however what happened to Frankenstein’s monster. That thing for some reason is just frozen, and it takes Larry about 2 seconds to break him out of the ice, where he isn’t really even frozen. It’s pretty damn bizarre.
Overall, this is another solidly acted movie from everyone involved and the sets are all pretty great. One of the better performances in this thing is Ilona Massey as Baroness Elsa Frankenstein who is actually from Budapest so her accent is authentic and perfect for the role. Bela Lugosi plays Frankenstein in this but doesn’t have a speaking role, so the look they give him isn’t bad at all. There are a few weird scenes where Larry and the gypsy are traveling and they are sitting on a stage with a background just playing like in sitcoms. Only a few seconds later they show both actor and actress and a real horse pulling a real wagon. Not sure why they just didn’t shoot that from the angle they wanted?
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN oddly fixes an issue with THE WOLFMAN in explaining that he can escape a straight-jacket by chewing through it. This covers for the lack of explanation given in THE WOLFMAN of how the heck Larry escaped the chair he was tied to as a human in the final act. Speaking of final acts, the final act in this movie is pretty freakin great and the” title fight” so to speak is well done, but maybe just a couple minutes too short. I would have also like to see them put a better bow on the ending for this movie.
Overall I give FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN a 6 out of 7, but it is really that final sequence that saved this thing from a 5 rating.
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