Days O’Horror #3: Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943)

Before The MCU

While Marvel and Disney get all of the attention with their cinematic universe, the actual idea of a shared universe can be traced back to Universal’s classic monster films. Specifically, 1943’s Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man is considered by many to be the very first example of a cinematic universe film. It brings Lon Chaney, Jr.’s Wolf Man and Bela Lugosi’s version of Frankenstein’s Monster together, effectively tying the two characters and their cinematic mythology to one another. I’ll leave the history of Universal’s original cinematic universe to a brilliant article that I found on Den of Geek. Check that article out here.

Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man may be the first cinematic universe film, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a great movie. It has a number of problems that I’ll get to in just a moment. First, let’s take a look at the film’s plot.

The first half of the film picks up four years after 1941’s The Wolf Man. Lawrence Talbot’s (Lon Chaney, Jr.) corpse, covered in wolfsbane, is disturbed by two grave robbers who unknowingly revive him and his curse. He’s found in Cardiff the next evening and is placed in a hospital. As he begins to realize what has happened, Larry demands to be set free so that he can find a way to end his curse. His attending physician, Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles), doesn’t believe Larry when he tells him that he’s a werewolf. Eventually Larry escapes and seeks out Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya, reprising her role from The Wolf Man), who tells him that she would take care of him like she did her son, Bela (Bela Lugosi), whom Larry killed in The Wolf Man, but that she had no cure for him. However, Maleva knew of a Dr. Frankenstein that just might be able to help him.

The second half of the film kicks off with Larry and Maleva heading to Vasaria in order to see if Frankenstein can really help Larry with his curse. They arrive in the village and the townsfolk tell him that Frankenstein has passed and that he brought nothing but pain to their small village. Eventually Larry is chased out of town and he ends up at Castle Frankenstein. There he discovers Frankenstein’s monster encased in ice. He frees the monster in the hopes that it will be able to help him find Dr. Frankenstein’s notes but this proves to be unsuccessful.

Desperate, Talbot poses as a potential buyer of the Frankenstein estate and lures Frankenstein’s daughter, Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Ilona Massey), back to Vasaria in order to see if she can help him. She initially refuses to help him, but whenever Larry’s doctor from Cardiff, Dr. Mannering, shows up, the trio decide to work together to end Larry’s tumult.

In typical mad scientist fashion, Dr. Mannering becomes captivated by Frankenstein’s monster and decides to return the creature to its full power (you have to watch 1942’s The Ghost of Frankenstein to fully understand what’s going on with the monster). This leads to an all out battle between an angry Wolf Man and a fully powered Frankenstein’s monster……and a massive flood caused by a detonated dam. You’ll have to watch the film to learn why all of this chaos goes down.

The film was enjoyable, but it definitely could have been better. The cast was solid for the most part, especially Lon Chaney, Jr., Maria Ouspenskaya, and Patric Knowles. Ilona Massey was also very excellent in her role but didn’t have much to do in the film. Poor Bela Lugosi was tied down to a terrible version of the monster with a backstory from The Ghost of Frankenstein that’s completely ignored in this film. If you haven’t watched Ghost, Lugosi’s performance is incoherent and sad. If you have watched it, Lugosi’s scenes are edited and presented in a way that contradicts the character’s actions in the previous film.

The film also suffers from being disjointed. There are two very distinguishable stories going on in this film and they just don’t quite tie together. The first half of the movie, the Wolf Man’s story, builds the characters and remains linear throughout. The second half of the story, the Wolf Man/Frankenstein’s monster story, is muddled, poorly edited, and, at times, nonsensical. Plus, the fact that the actual battle between the two monsters is brief and interrupted by a flood leaves a sour taste in the audience’s mouth.

Despite being a little less than amazing, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man is still worth watching. As I stated before, there are some great performances in the film that lift it up and over the generally disjointed feel of the film as a whole. It’s also great to see Lon Chaney, Jr. strike terror into the hearts of the innocents once more.

As always, thank you for reading my post. I’ll have another terror-rific post tomorrow! Also be on the lookout for a post this weekend about the Lake Charles Film Festival happening this Friday and Saturday!