Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13572 in VHS
• Released on: 1992-03-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 74 minutes

Amazon.com
Over 10 years after first turning down the role, Bela Lugosi donned the neck bolts and platform boots to play Frankenstein's monster for the first and only time in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr., reprising his most famous role), killed at the end of The Wolf Man, is inexplicably alive and searching for the brilliant Dr. Frankenstein but instead finds the Monster, frozen in ice beneath the castle, and an ambitious scientist (Patric Knowles) who revives the creature and promises to cure Larry. Lugosi is lurching and clumsy as the Monster, while Chaney is appropriately tortured as Larry but stiff and snarly as the Wolf Man, more man than wolf. Last-minute cuts by the studio renders much of the film incomprehensible: the monster was left blind and vocal at the end of Ghost of Frankenstein, but all references to either were deleted (which partly accounts for Lugosi's performance) and he's now sighted but mute. Roy William Neill, a talented B-movie director best known for his Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone, can't do much with the perfunctory script, but he does deliver a highly entertaining conclusion: the Wolf Man battles the Monster while a spectacular disaster (accomplished with obvious but charming models) wipes the castle off the face of the earth... at least until House of Frankenstein the next year. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Universal's First Monster Mash
Slickly produced, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" was the first of Universal's monster pairings. This 1943 sequel remains a memorable showcase for Lon Chaney Jr.'s tragic werewolf - highlighted by excellent transformation sequences. Due to post-production tampering, Bela Lugosi's portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster proved less effective (the studio eliminated all references to his blindness). Nevertheless, Bela has a priceless moment when the Monster displays a wicked smile after regaining his full power. The long-awaited "rumble in the castle" is a horror-movie classic. "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" may not represent great art, but it's nostalgic fun.

It wasn't Lugosi's fault!
For years, Bela Lugosi's performance as the Frankenstein monster has been mercilessly criticized, and the final released version of the film would seem to justify the critics. As a long-time Lugosi fan, I would like to offer a defense. It should be noted that the script for this film called for a blind (but speaking) monster (following up on its predecessor, "Ghost of Frankenstein", at the end of which the brain of Ygor (Lugosi) was placed in the body of the monster). Lugosi, therefore, portrayed the monster according to the script. In the final cut, unfortunately, all of Lugosi's dialogue was edited out, which is why the remaining sequences involving the monster don't always quite make sense. The real villain of this film is the person responsible for the dreadful editing. Hopefully, a fully restored version will be available someday, so that Lugosi's performance as the monster may be judged fairly. Outside of that, the rest of the film is fairly good, with an eerie and suspenseful beginning. The second half of the film is fairly weak. Although Chaney and Ouspenskaya are both quite good, the whole thing is a bit too talky, and terribly contrived (though not as much as the two films which followed). This one is hardly a classic, but nonetheless fairly entertaining. Grab some popcorn and enjoy it for what it is, but please don't blame Bela.

A horror classic!
From the opening scenes in the windy, moon-lit graveyard, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, stuns the viewer with its powerful atmosphere of menace. The beautifully photographed and lit film has an outstanding array of character actors. There's Doris Lloyd in a brief role as a hospital nurse, there's the marvelous old Maria Ouspenskya (who was burned alive at her home soon after making this film). Lionel Atwill and the wonderful Illona Massey are also terrific. Big question: Massey was famous for her beautiful singing voice. Why wasn't she allowed to sing during the scene of the village's festivities? Also, why didn't Universal use her to better advantage? Like the stunning Evelyn Ankers, who was so memorable in "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror", "The Pearl of Death" and of course, "The Wolf Man," her talents were utterly wasted by an indifferent studio. Anyway, this movie has it all: knock-out production values, eerie lighting and expressionistic sets, outstanding acting by all involved. One of the last of Universal's great shockers.