Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman on METV tonight

[Mikey]

Just heads up :2thumbsup:

[thunderbolt]

must be on Svenghoolie.

[Mikey]

yeppers :yes:

[HardyGirl]

GGRRR!!! Me-TV still isn't on cable yet! :wall: But they did make a deal w/ KOFY for standard TV viewers. Oh well. I did get to see this on the big screen 2 years ago when my boss and I went to a Creature Features Halloween celebration at my local theatre. Too bad they won't be doing it again. :muh:

[Joe90]

Classic Movie! I'm a big fan of the Universal Horror movies.

The Universal DVD Legacy Collection of Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, The Mummy, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man are going for pretty reasonable prices these days.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yep. NBCUniversal Store has had them for around $12 a piece. Can't beat that!

I know it's been said before, but the opening in the Talbot crypt is one of the best sequences in any Universal Horror film. Despite all of the behind the scenes editing on this movie to excise Lugosi's Ygor-as-monster dialog, this is still a great sequel to The Wolfman.

Chris

[MIB41]

^Yep. NBCUniversal Store has had them for around $12 a piece. Can't beat that!

I know it's been said before, but the opening in the Talbot crypt is one of the best sequences in any Universal Horror film. Despite all of the behind the scenes editing on this movie to excise Lugosi's Ygor-as-monster dialog, this is still a great sequel to The Wolfman.

Chris

I agree. While this movie has some interesting, if not downright bizarre, production elements going on, it has one of the very best and most classic openings in Universal history. I love the panning shot of the grave robbers entering Talbot's tomb. And the Wolfman's eventual collapse into the frozen catacombs of the Frankenstein ruins is almost magical, it's so cool. What is sad, is why Universal had so many issues getting the Frankenstein monster together for so very few shots. When he's pulled from the ice, that is a stuntman in makeup with a sloppy and hastily created brow and forehead for his opening shot. Then you get Legosi after the monster is unpacked from the ice. THEN you get another stuntman for the fight sequences. All of this is abundantly obvious because none of them share similar facial features, even under that makeup. But all in all it's a great classic from my childhood and one I cherish to this day. I often think how great it would have been if they had decided to add Glenn Strange at this point instead of Legosi. Oh how cool that would have been to see Strange fight the Wolfman! :drool_y:

[Mikey]

I think one of the problems was Lagosi was like 60 years old when they filmed FmtWF.

He really shouldn't have been chosen to play the monster to begin with at that age, but i'm guessing Universal only cared about having his name on the bill.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Yeah, the multiple Monsters is distracting, especially after you know some of the history of the film. It's like watching Superman 2 and not being able to ignore the Donner/Lester differences.

It would have been great to have seen Strange in this one. Especially since he is essentially wasted in his first two outings as the Monster.


I think one of the problems was Lagosi was like 60 years old when they filmed FmtWF.

He really shouldn't have been chosen to play the monster to begin with at that age, but i'm guessing Universal only cared about having his name on the bill.

Yeah, that had to be it. Odd that Universal cast him as the Monster here, even though he didn't really fit the character, but didn't cast him as Dracula the very next year in HOF.

Chris

[MIB41]

I think Universal decided to use Legosi as a cheap gimmick to publicize how he was suppose to be the original monster in '31. Now we know how close the original Frankenstein came to being a failure. :smiley1:

[Earth 2 Chris]

Reviving this old thread since me an the boy watched this again last night.

Having recently read Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror, I found it even harder to ignore the stuntmen, the mumbling lips of Bela, and the obvious cuts that resulted from the removal of all speaking scenes for the Monster. The book has a promotional shot of Chaney in front of the ice-encased monster...and it's Bela! Odd that they used that obvious stuntman in the real film. I smell a reshoot. Maybe the monster communicated to Larry through the ice?

One thing I never noticed before...what happened to Maleeva? Dr. Mannering and Elsa Frankenstein escape when the dam blows and destroys the castle, but Maleeva was still there a few moments before Mannering started his botched experiment. She never returned in a Universal film, so I'm assuming she died in the destruction of the castle? Seems kind of harsh for an old lady who took in the guy who killed her son.

Oh, and does anyone else think Madeline Kahn may have slightly riffed on Ilona Massey's Elsa Frankenstein in Blazing Saddles? That thick German accent, throaty voice, and general delivery seem somewhat similar. Given her participation in Brooks' Young Frankenstein around the same time, it may not be too much of a stretch.

Chris

[madmarva]

Kahn's character in Blazing Saddles is a riff on Marlene Dietrich's character in Destry Rides Again, co-starring Jimmy Stewart. It's pretty good. Stewart plays a sheriff who doesn't wear a gun.

For all its flaws Frankenstein meets the Wolfman has it's strengths. It's really good until the monster shows up.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Oh yeah! Marlene Dietrich. So Massey was a poor man's version of her.

Chris