Customer Reviews

Frankenstein/ Wolfman

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i t hink the classic universal frankenstein has been played 4 times by different actor's....karloff...is a classic, but i like
glen strange from abbot and costello better.
this movie good for a saturday afternoon..!

Before I watched this movie, I didn't think Lugosi could pull it off as Frankenstein. How wrong I was! The legendary actor who was famous for playing Dracula in Universal's classic 1931 film, did a great job as the monster in this film. Although Son of Frankenstein (1939) was a big let down after Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), this film returns a little pride in the Frankenstein monster. Even though the title is Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, don't let it fool you. This film is more of a sequal to The Wolf Man featuring Frankenstein, but that doesn't really matter, because the story is very good.

Lon Chaney Jr. plays Larry Talbot (the wolf man) and he wants to rid himself of the werewolf curse. He seeks the gypsy woman from The Wolf Man (1941), who tells him there is nothing she can do to cure him. Talbot figures the only cure he can hope for is Dr. Frankenstein, who knew the secrect of life and death. As a result of Henry and Wolf Frankenstein now being dead, Talbot seeks the diary of Henry to figure out a way to kill himself and give his soul eternal piece. He runs into Frankenstein's monster (Lugosi) and Elsa Frankenstein. He turns into the werewolf and has a pretty good battle with Frankenstein.

This movie was scary at times. You can really feel sorry for Larry in this film. The performences by Lugosi, Chaney Jr., and the rest of the cast were great. The music was great too. The story was interesting and kept you guessing as to what will wind up happening to Larry. All in all, this is a fun monster movie. If you are a fan of Universal monster movies, this is a good monster mash for you.

This is a sequel to two films. The prequels are: Ghost of Frankenstein and the Wolf Man. Fabulous horror from beginning to end. Later in the film, the resurrected wolfman digs out Frankenstein's superhuman monster, who still stands tall and strong after being burnt and blown up so many times. Coolest!! I have no favorites out of the dozens of great horror classics made way back, and this a wonderful clash. I won't ruin anything else for you, so enjoy....

I will admit at first when I heard that Bela Lugosi was going to fill the shoes of Frankenstein creature who was originally played brilliantly by Boris Karloff I was sure I wouldn't like it. But Bela Lugosi's performance as the Frankenstein creation definitely surprised me, he made the character come to life and was very believable. As for Lon Chaney he was made for the part of the wolfman, I couldn't see anyone else being this role. The eerie and haunting music was a great addition to the movie, the sets were beautiful, the makeup and costumes for the wolfman and the frankenstein monster were absolutely amazing. What more could you ask for. This movie showcased two widely talented actors who were in their prime and it is a shame they are no longer with us. This is what great horror films are all about.

This movie is great, it is a great adittion to the classic Universal Monsters collection. It's got a quicker pace, a better story, and more excitement than some other monster movies like Dracula and House of Dracula. I recommend this to anyone who likes the monster of Frankenstein or the Wolfman because this has both! This is one of my favorite Universal Monsters movies. Get the popcorn and Pepsi it's starting!

Lawrence Talbot is back! He's arose from the dead! Buried with wolfbane in the coffin! But he'll still become a werewolf. Now hairier than before! Wet dog nose and hairy face and complete with hair! Lawrence escaped Queen's Hospital and bit and tore his street jacket off...... with his teeth! He even still has the sign of the beast (or star wound) on! And now even that he murdered Meliva's son, Bela, he wants to get killed, too.... by Frakenstein's Monster!

This is a great movie with Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein and Lon Chaney, Jr. as the great wolfman. Sure Karloff was a much better Frankenstein than Lugosi but you must give him credit for playing this role and doing a good job at it. Many people just think of Bela as Dracula but lots don't know he played Frankenstein. Resurected Larry Talbot (Wolfman) has the curse of the werewolf upon him and needs to find a way to rid of the evil in him. He finds the gypsy woman and she offers him help but warns him about it. He then goes on the run and wakes up in castle frankenstein if you will and discovers Frankensteins frozen body. He de-freezes him by breaking him out of the glacier of ice he is in. They both become "friends"..... but I don't want to ruin the rest for you. I really advise you to buy the movie or rent, it is a very good movie worth paying for, (not alot!).Enjoy the movie!

Lets get something straight: This was no sequal to "Ghost of Frankenstein." This was a pure "Wolf Man" sequal. All the music was from Lon Chaney, Jr.'s first film, and the monster is very minor. Now, this was a good film, but Karloff would have been better for Frankenstein. Larry Talbot the Wolf Man (Beautifly played by Lon Chaney, Jr.) is seeking to die. In an old village, he becomes freinds with the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi, and the freindship factor is peculiar. In this film, Talbot is friends with Frankenstein's monster. In House of Dracula, he wants it dead) A scientist (Patric Knowles) offers to help both. The ending is tragic for Talbot.

Clever sequel to THE WOLF MAN and THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN has Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) revived from the dead and still in his doomed werewolf state seeking the aid of Gypsy Woman Maleva (again Maria Ouspenskaya) for a possible cure for his lycanthropy. Adjourning to Visaria to seek Dr. Frankenstein, they find only angry villagers and no Dr. F. Talbot later discovers the monster (played by now Bela Lugosi who turned down the role 12 years earlier) from the frozen ice caves and sort of befriends the monster, the two seek refuge as English Doctor Patric Knowles tracks Talbot down to help cure him once and for all, but with the lynching mob wanting to destroy the Monster not far behind. That is the plot, but it is not until the end that we are treated to the much awaited "Monster Brawl" as Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman battle inside the ruined laboratory. A worthy addition to the FRANKENSTEIN and now also WOLFMAN sequels, excellent cast, but due largely to Lugosi's stiff portrayal of the Monster - remember the Monster is supposed still possessed of Ygor's brain, therefore it probably made some sense to cast Lugosi as the Monster. The result was unfortunately a disaster for both Lugosi and Universal. Lugosi in Frankenstein Monster make-up with his eyes closed, arms out-stretched, and hissing and snarling portrayal is simply far overblown. Which is really too bad, because the film is very effective otherwise, but basically an unimaginative rehash of the earlier films, and definitively sunk by Lugosi's performance.

The sequel to "The Wolf man(1941)", "Frankenstein Meets the WolfMan" remains one of the most influncial Horror/werewolf films of it's decade, if not to the genre as well. Believe it or not, what you have here, well suceeds past the norm of "B" programmers, the film is possibly one of Universal's last Horror outings with artistict merits that could gain it's status even amoung the most popular of Universal Horrors. The film is expecitonal crafted by Director Roy William Neil, who brings his customary flair for atmosphereics, and break-neck pacing, contrasted with John B.Goodman's beautifully lit exressionistict-like sets, perfectly conveyed by camera man George Robinson's dazzaling film-noirish camerwork, (wich is possibly his best work in a long and varied career) The screenplay , derived from the Legendary Curt Siodmak, is in it's first half a remarkable,little werewolf jingle, for like it's predeccor "The Wolf Man (1941)", exploiting the Werewolf myth, and it's many interconnections which would set the standard for werewolf movies to come. Lest face it, if this film had never surfaced, the public would never see the like's of such film's as John Landis's 1981 excursion into lycanthropy, "An American Werewolf In London", which is an undeniable homage to this film, showcasing many of the key elements, and plot threads. The film in it's own right, paints a perfect picture of the ancestry, and citizen-ship of many of the pesant hokum villages of central Europe, it's tranquilty and many downdrafts of the local underbelly of society. Lon Chaney gives, (though considered by a marginal par, a very winey, irritating performance), through my humble opinion one of his very best perfomances. He beautifully builds up on his careless-now grief striken Lary Talbolt, who lives in a world longing for internal slumber. And as always presented on the backdrop of the ignorant non-believers (scientific anaylisis, and the ignorant common belief of it's officals) While the first half consists of Lary's misfortune to the return of the living, the second half deals with his long-length desires to find a cure, calling upon the "meaningful-mistreated benifactor"---Dr.Ludwig Frankenstein, (the second son of Henry(Victor) Frankenstein (who merely serves as the film's caytilist), the main purpose for the film to precede, of course) Though instead of finding Frankenstein himself, he finds his monster (or his father's monster, if you want to put it in correct terms, unlike the film ,which doesn't) The monster this time around is played by Bela Lugosi, and is sadly quit inadaquet, coming off rather silly at times, which aside from the films minor flaws hampers the film serverly. In fact the whole second act of the film, which functions as a sequel to the wonderful, often-underrated "The Ghost of Frankenstein(1942)" is a rather passable Frankenstein unit, nothing more, nothing less. And also most of the village sequences, that most notably of " the Festival of New Wine" , though beautifully staged(if not even more memorable than most of the musical pieces from the 1943 Phantom of the Opera) lacks the naturally conveyed atmosphere of the first half. The coupled with the often overly-lit sets, tends to rob the film of it's realism from the first half. And by this time the Director has lost almost all intrest in the film, though it's fair to say that it remains competent to it's rather-unstylisitc finale--when the frightened villagers, (r hypocrtical, bloody thristy villagers, which ever way you like to term them) blow up a damn, wiping out the remains of of Ludwigs Frankenstein's sanituriam (though here it seems to take shap of a medival castle. Strange.) forcing both the Wolf Man and the monster to drown, while being swept up along with the ruble. With a such a rushed ending, one wonders if Universal ran out of money by this point in time, and this theory doesn't lend it self as a fictional statement, becasue one tends to wonder)

Rating: 4 out 5

Grade: B+ 91%