Having been pursued to the Frankenstein ruins, the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney) discovers a glacial underground ice cavern in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Universal 1943) It’s a melancholy reflection that his role was to have been bigger and more plausible in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man sadly, Universal decreed this was not to be, and Frye’s desire to get a decent role before he went “screwy playing idiots, half-wits and lunatics” was to remain unfulfilled. Poor Dwight Frye is seen for the last time as a leering, overly anxious villager the actor died from a heart attack just months after the film wrapped. Lionel Atwill, amid the sex scandal that would sadly blight the rest of his life and career, is excellent as ever as the unnamed mayor of Vasaria. Both Ilona Massey and Patric Knowles are wonderful as support leads, as are the majestic Maria Ouspenskaya and the measured Dennis Hoey. Notwithstanding this inescapable weakness in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, the film’s great strengths carry it forward as a winner.
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) goes on the rampage in Cardiff after escaping from the city’s Queen’s Hospital in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Universal 1943) Whether the removed scenes were as ludicrous as events suggest, the main objection apparently being Lugosi’s thick Hungarian accent, is open to conjecture surely it would seem perfectly natural for the Monster to now speak with Ygor’s voice. Adding to the confusion is the fact that while Lugosi played the character as virtually blind, no such instructions were given to his stunt double, Eddie Parker, whose scenes were carried out as a fully-sighted Monster.
The net effect was to make Lugosi’s lumbering, outstretched gait and silently mouthing odd lines which couldn’t be cut look rather ridiculous. There are several more scenes of dialogue, which were essential for both continuity of the story and as reference for Lugosi’s style of playing the Monster.ĭerided by a hysterical crew during original test screenings, Neill ordered that all scenes of Lugosi’s dialogue be cut, but unfortunately, with them, all context of the Monster’s impaired vision and his possessing Ygor’s brain vanished too. This articulate creature, more akin to Mary Shelley’s original than any Universal depiction before or since, explains to Larry Talbot whilst warming his hands over a fire how miserable he is at the loss of his sight and strength, and how difficult his years trapped in the ice have been. Grave robbers Cyril Delevanti and Tom Stevenson attempt to steal from the ‘corpse’ of Lawrence Talbot in the chilling opening scene of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Universal 1943) Sadder still are the contributing factors to this outcome, most importantly the fact that Siodmak’s original screenplay had a substantial amount of dialogue for the Monster, all of which was ultimately excised from final prints. That the star’s performance is awkward and stilted is lamentable as at face value, it was a dip in his usual solid, if undervalued, body of work. With an excellent cast generally, and a superlative performance by Lon Chaney, the film, directed by Roy William Neill, is at times visually stunning and beautifully scripted.Īlthough the casting of Bela Lugosi as the Monster is a sad irony given that he rejected the role in 1931, it’s a decision that would seem to make perfect sense on paper, given that Ygor’s brain is now in the Monster’s skull. The first of what would come to be known as the Universal monster rallies, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is arguably one of the stronger horror films of the genre, and certainly the best of the multi-monster mashes. Waggner took him up on his idea and announced his new writing job was indeed to be Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, on the very day payment fell due for his car.īela Lugosi’s features are clearly visible through Jack Pierce’s Monster make-up for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Universal 1943) “I was sitting down at the Universal commissary having lunch with and I said, ‘George, why don’t we make a picture Frankenstein Wolfs the Meat Man – er, Meets the Wolf Man?’” Anecdotal evidence from screenwriter Curt Siodmak suggests the idea was initially presented by him as a joke to producer George Waggner as he needed a new car. Sounding more like comic-book japes than a serious classic monster film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is surprisingly good.
0 kommentar(er)
