Frankenstein meets The Wolf Man (1943) (Movie Review)

    In general, I’ve always been a sucker for crossovers between iconic characters. I think it all started with my childhood, paring different toy characters together, and wishing they could share some kind of movie, TV show or comic-book together. In a sense, my childhood wish has come true, as we’re living in a golden age of theatrical crossover films. While some are better than others, there’s still a great deal of novelty to living in a time where multiple characters from different sources can meat under one roof. The very first cinematic crossover franchise came in the form of Universals Monster movies from the 1940’s. This was a time when the studio’s most famous Black and White movie monsters came together in one shared franchise. Sense I’ve reviewed all the classics on my Blog-site during past Octobers, I thought it was finally time to review their first crossover movie from 1943 titled "Frankenstein meets The Wolf Man". 

    Picking up four years after the events of the original 1941 classic “The Wolf-Man”, a pair of grave-robbers break into the crypt of Larry Talbot, unaware that the full-moon is out, and just a little moon-light on his corps reverts him back into a Werewolf. 

Just a quick side note, I think a blooper was left in the film, as one of the robbers randomly trips in this one wide-shot while he's running away. The next morning, Larry awakens in a hospital, where his Doctor named Frank is watching over him, and believes him to be mentally ill. After several cases of transforming back into the feared Wolf-Man, and committing murder, Larry goes on a quest to find someone that might be able to end his curse of immortality. Upon the advice of the same Gypsy from the first movie, Larry seeks out Dr. Frankenstein, as he holds multiple records regarding life and death. Unfortunately, the good doctor has been dead for some time, with a single daughter named Elsa being the last in his bloodline. Although, he soon discovers that there is one other Frankenstein … the feared monster Frankenstein, who had been frozen under the rubble of his castle for years. Once the creature thaws, the local villagers find themselves facing two terrors of the night, and aim to do anything to be rid of them both. Larry’s doctor Frank soon catches up with him, and proposes an experiment that could possibly end both his life and the life of the monster … or dose this Frank character have his own interests in the creature.  

   All around, the movie feels like a direct sequel to the Wolf-Man, and Frankenstein was thrown-in at last second. It takes a while for the monster to appear on screen, and even after he thaws from the ice, Frankenstein is still kept off-screen for a long time, and whenever he does show-up it’s like … “Oh-Yeah, Frankenstein is in this movie”. The good news is that we get far more scenes with the Wolf-Man, even more then the first movie, so you definitely get your fill of Werewolf action, as well as some impressive transformations for the time. Still, I can’t help but feel like a good script for a Wolf-Man sequel was spoiled in favor of a crossover, because the story feels kind of directionless with these two monsters. 

As a result, the film can honestly feel kind of boring at times, like there’s not much momentum or excitement. Each character is just going through the motions, and most scenes begin to feel either repetitive or aimless. When I watch either the original “Frankenstein” movie, or “The Wolf Man”, I never once feel board, as the characters are consistently changing and evolving. Also, even though I wouldn’t refer to either of them as scary movies, they at least sustain a chilling atmosphere, which gives both films personality. “Frankenstein Meets The Wolf-Man” certainly has the look of a classic chiller, with terrific looking cemeteries, crumbling castles, full moons, fogy roads, and these gorgeous silhouettes of peoples shadows against long white walls. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t have that same absorbing atmosphere of the others. Also, this film features one of the most serial things I’ve ever seen in a Universal Monster movie … a full-on musical number. Yeah, when our main leads go out for dinner, the camera lingers on this singing entertainer for several minuets, and it goes through the whole number before finally cutting back to our main leads. While it’s admittedly kind of an amusing scene, it’s still pointless and feels like more padding.     

    The cast is one big hodgepodge of returning actors from other Universal monster movies. The most notable being horror icon Bela Lugosi in the role of the monster Frankenstein. Of course, he’ll always be remembered for playing Dracula in the 1931 classic, but he also played the Werewolf that originally transferred the curse to Larry in the first Wolf-Man movie. In other words, he’s probably the only horror icon who can say he’s been a Vampire, Werewolf, and Zombie all in one career, and two of which are the most iconic of the bunch. As if that weren’t enough, he was also the hunchbacked fiend Igor in several of the Frankenstein sequels. Many supporting actors from “The Wolf-Man” return to this film in different roles, with the small exception of Maria Ouspenskaya who naturally slips back into her respected role as the gypsy woman Maleva. She’s a welcome presence, and it’s nice that she views Larry as a figurative son, but the movie has no-idea what to do with her. Once she sets Larry on the path the find Frankenstein, she just hangs around in the corner, doesn’t have much to say, and at one point just disappears from the film all together without any proper sendoff. At last, Lon Chaney Jr. delivers another satisfying performance as both Larry Talbot and the Wolf Man, with more stunt work on display this time.

    As things build to the climax, Larry’s Doctor betrays him, and aims to see Frankenstein at full power. Naturally, the monster gets angry, knocks out the doc, and carries off Elsa … which the Wolf-Man is none too happy about. In a rare turn of events, we have a monster rescuing the girl from another monster, and the two engage in their climactic fight to the death. The Wolf-Man is more agile, while the monster is stronger, which is an interesting dynamic, but the excitement of the battle unfortunately isn’t very consistent. Some of the staging is a little awkward, and their methods of attacking get reputative. For example, The Wolf-Man’s only signature move is climbing up on things and jumping on top of Frankenstein, which he repeats all throughout the fight. The conclusion is also a little abrupt, as a local bar keeper takes it upon himself to blow-up the dam, and flood the castle, which collapses on top of both monsters ... and then the movie just stops ... um … fun, I suppose.    

   In the end, the novelty of two classic monsters battling to the death unfortunately doesn’t reach its full potential, as both are stuck with a meandering script, and the film noticeably lacks the same atmosphere and dread of their sources. It’s one of those movies I like more for what it started, and that we now have theatrical crossovers as a result of its success. Still, there’s a number of monster sequels that I prefer over this, as it’s just not one that I regularly return to. With that said, this is still the kind of monster-mash that’s fun to watch around October. Besides, if you’re into crossovers in general, then it’s definitely worth seeing where it all started.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1943 Horror crossover “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf-Man” … and be sure to treat yourself to a good scare this October.