Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

 

First, let’s be sure we know what we’re talking about:

Werewolf–a man who imagines himself to be a wolf.

Lycanthrope–mythological human shape shifter (anyone seen HBO’s True Blood?).

This is one of the best of the oldies!  It begins with two village guys breaking into the Talbot Family Tomb:  Martin, Elizabeth, and John Lawrence who died at age 31, or so we think.  These bumbling fools pry open John’s coffin and his body is covered with wolf bane leaves.  One fool takes off his ring and finds himself being strangled by Talbot. Talbot later awakens to find himself with a skull fracture at Queen’s Hospital.  (Were there any queens in this movie?  I don’t think so, darn it). 

BTW, shadows are back in this movie and used very effectively as in some prior versions.  This one also has a great musical score that increases the level of suspense!

Inspector Owens announces that Talbot died 4 years ago…uh not really.  As Talbot leaves the hospital, the full moon rises and he becomes the Wolf Man once again (great directing here as he looks directly into the camera at us, the audience).  A huge shadow illustrates Talbot killing a police man.  When he returns to human form, he tells someone, “I’m a murderer!  Call the police.  I turn into an animal.  There’s a curse upon me and I can’t die!”  He is crying out for help and is a tormented soul.  He is put into a straight jacket but escapes by tearing it to shreds with his teeth.  The gypsy woman, Maleva, says that her son bit Talbot long ago.

A small group go to the tomb and see that the body is gone.  Soon after, the moon rises and the village people carry in a murdered girl.  They spot the Wolf Man and chase him into the woods where Talbot falls into a hole under Frankenstein’s burnt castle.  When he wakes up he finds himself in a frozen pit and sees the frozen Frankenstein monster.  He chips him out of the ice (the monster looked a little chilly lol).   They begin to look for Frankenstein’s experiment journal in the rubble.  They find a photo of Dr. Frankenstein’s daughter, Elsa, signed “To my dear father”.  Talbot realizes that she will know where the journal is. 

They end up at the Festival of Wine and there’s a lot of dancing and singing in this movie (could have done without it).  Dr. Frank Mannering (clever name) tells Talbot that he belongs in a lunatic asylum but it is decided that Elsa and the doctor will go to the castle ruins to find the journal, entitled “The Secret of Life and Death”.  And what is the secret?  Electrical charges can create super human powers but Talbot wants to END his life and they decide that his energy can be drained out in order to end his miserable life.

Dr. Mannering decides to help him so he cleans and repairs the machines (shadows again!!)

Do you think he will be able to help Talbot end his life?  What will happen to the monster?  Will Dr. Frank Mannering get caught up in the power of it all because the next scene shows the two of them strapped on gurneys  Tune in next time to find out or if you haven’t seen this one, get it, it’s a must see!

The Ghost of Frankenstein Continues–Installement #5 from 1942

I’ve been gone so long from my blog!!!  My 91 year old mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer so I was busy getting radiation set up for her and trying to grasp the whole concept which was very upsetting, but she is halfway through radiation and things are going better than expected and I am so happy about that.  Now, back to our good old black and white Frankenstein movie!!  (I had to reread the last blog and you may want to also).

So when we left off the brain operation was about to take place but whose brain would be inserted into our monster?

Dr. Bohmer, who is Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant, gave him the brain.  However, Dr. Kettering’s brain was the “good one” that Dr. Frankenstein thought he was inserting but actually, Dr. Bohmer  switched the brain (brain switching is never a good idea LOL) but this is running theme in all of the movies.

Whose brain was it you ask?  Well when the monster woke up he had Igor’s voice!!  The doctor was so upset, “I’ve created 100 times worse than what my father did!”  The new monster said he couldn’t see and apparently there was a problem concerning the wrong blood type.  He fell around the room and accidentally started a fire (the good old fire theme).  We see, or think we see, the monster burning to death…..for now anyway.  The end~

Here’s some movie trivia for you:

• In one year, Lon Chaney played the Wolfman, the Monster, the Mummy, and Dracula (that’s one busy monster actor).  Can you imagine having all these monster images in your head?
• Chaney had fun scaring the kids on set but would always get them ice cream.
• The make up used for the monster’s face was very uncomfortable.  He had a rubber forehead and  kept ripping it off.  He developed a bloody wound and couldn’t work for a week.
• The movie out-grossed Dumbo!

The shadows in this installment were huge, black and extremely effective in creating the scary atmosphere.

So take a look at this one, it’s an oldie but a goodie.

Tune in next time for the next black and white horror!  Will it follow any of the same themes?  We…shall….see!