WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.519 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.760 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.119 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.640 In this October episode of Weird House Cinema, we return 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.919 once more to the classic universal horror pictures of yesteryear. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.960 And I picked this one in large part because it 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.320 played here in Atlanta the Plaza Theater as part of 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.879 the Silver Screams spook Show. And I'm a sucker for 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:37.000 the chance to see a gorgeous looking black and white 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.479 horror film in a historic theater that likely showed this 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.479 movie back in nineteen forty three. It's hard to get exact, 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:44.559 you know. I think you'd have to go in and 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:47.120 look at newspaper clippings and so forth to figure out 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.479 what exactly played there. But given that this was, you know, 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.000 a major release and a popular film, there's a very 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.880 good chance that played at that particular theater back in 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:57.240 the day. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.760 If I had a time machine, Yeah, to see the 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.200 either excitement or disappointment on the children's faces when we 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.319 get to the closing credits. 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:10.480 That's true. I mean the children who are wanting the 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.520 monster mash that this movie offers up. Yeah, they're they're 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.920 gonna have to wait a little bit. There's not a 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:18.480 lot of mashing at first. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.000 So do we say what the movie is yet? It's 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.480 nineteen forty three's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, one of the 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.760 great later universal horror sequels. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.440 Yes, yes, and note it is Frankenstein meets the wolf Man. 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.120 You know, it's not versus the Wolfman battles the Wolfman. 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.679 They meet. They're setting them up with each other. It's 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.120 kind of like my Dinner with Andre sort of situation, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:44.880 or at least that's what he could seem to imply. 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.080 So Yet to be clear, this is not generally considered 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:52.480 among the best Universal Studios monster pictures, but it is, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.480 I believe, the first major film in which a monster 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.400 from one movie meets, fights, or teams up with the 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:03.880 monster from another film. This sort of monster mash has 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.000 become just a staple of monster films, and this is 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.200 where the tradition seems to kick off, Like Frankenstein Meets 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.040 the Wolfman shambles so that mathra versus Godzilla can run 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:14.520 later on. 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.520 Yeah, yeah, or Freddy versus Jason for that matter. I 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.880 mean it started a long tradition, and this does seem 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.440 to be the first big one. So yeah, my opinion 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.080 is that while this movie is not the best of 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.440 the best for Universal, it does not rise to the 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.840 level of like the really exquisite Frank sequels like Bride 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.960 and Sun, which are both great. If you think about 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.359 it as something like a late Universal B movie, it's 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.200 a pretty excellent example. And I love the atmosphere and 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.120 the use of eerie sets, particularly there's one at the 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.880 beginning that's like this wind swept cemetery and the opening 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.440 grave robbing scene. I also really love the model and 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.959 miniature work with the castle at the end, and the 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:57.920 you know, the blowing up of the dam and the 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:03.120 flood and all that. I love lun Cheney Junior's tortured performance. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:07.800 It's big and emotional and sometimes funny and often you know, 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.920 quite empathic. And the monster mash stuff. The fight at 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.200 the end, while quite brief, is a treat. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.600 Yeah, yeah, I agree. I look forward to discussing that sequence. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.320 So yeah, it is a lot of fun. Like we 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.560 were talking about this off, Mike, I rewatch were actually 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:25.359 for me, I watched for the first time in full 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.160 The Wolfman in preparation for this because I don't think 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.520 I'd ever watched the entire picture. And while The Wolfman 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.760 the immediate predecessor, one of the two immediate predecessors to 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.160 this film, while it is definitely the better movie, I 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:40.920 don't think it would have been as fun a picture 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.800 to talk about here on Weird House Cinema. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.480 I agree. I mean this confirms a trend we have 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:49.520 observed many times in the past, which is the quality 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.120 of a Weird House episode doesn't necessarily relate to the 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.400 quality of the film. Yeah, some are just great to 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.560 talk about whether or not they're actually all that good. 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:02.240 But this movie is not bad. Just the ways in 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:03.880 which it's good are more limited. 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:08.480 Yeah, the critical reception was luke warm. I meant, I'm 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.280 to understand that it was a successful movie though from 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.440 a business standpoint, and it certainly inspired people. You know, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:18.919 just the idea alone of Wolfman meeting Frankenstein. You know, 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.960 it unleashes the gate for all of these these monster 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.279 mashes to come. And I've read I've actually mentioned this 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.560 on the show before, but Spanish horror movie icon Paul 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:33.920 Nashy was was particularly inspired by this motion picture. Saw 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.400 it at a young age, and it inspired him to 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:40.200 eventually become all of the Universal monsters himself, because yes, 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.000 he did, at some point or another play a version 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.880 of all of the main universal monsters with the with 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.159 the exception of the gill Man. I don't I don't 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.520 think Paul Nashi ever played a gil Man, but everybody 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.920 else he definitely got in there and played all the 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:54.480 big Gothic characters for sure. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.720 Yeah, we saw, of course, he created a full universal 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.720 monster mash of his own in Assignment Terror. I think 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:04.960 that was maybe not the only time he even did 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.000 that in the era. And then there's another later career 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.680 one in a sleazy or nashy movie called Howl of 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.120 the Devil, which is essentially a slasher film, but it 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:21.839 involves a child imagining encounters with his deceased father who 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.719 was a movie star and played all of the Universal monsters, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.520 so he gets to appear in ghostly form in the 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:29.480 monster makeup of every one of them. 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.760 So, even at a point where Spanish cinema especially was 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.080 turning away from Gothic horror and embracing slashers, he still 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:41.960 managed to shoehorn Gothic universal inspired horror into the picture anyway, Yes, yes, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.640 all right, So this is generally considered part of the 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:51.599 Universal Monsters timeline, the Universal Frankenstein timeline. So I figured 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.560 it might make sense to just break down where we 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:58.159 are with this picture in the sequence of films. Okay, okay, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.679 So first of all, there came nineteen thirty one Frankenstein 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:05.239 James Whale Classic Picture, yep, and then came nineteen thirty 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.239 five's Bride of Frankenstein. Arguably the best of the whole series, 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.480 and this is one that we covered on Weird House 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.279 Cinema several years back. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.039 I would say beyond arguably for me, it's not just 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:18.599 the best of the series, it's the best Universal monster 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.680 movie ever made. It's like, you can't top it. But 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.000 one of the closest runners up, I think is actually 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.640 the next one in the series, Son of Frankenstein from 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.520 thirty nine, which is I saw for the first time 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:32.680 when we were getting ready to cover it on the show, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.479 and I thought was way better than I would have expected, 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.320 so much better than really it had any right to be. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.240 That's right. We talked about this film last year and 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:47.160 I think it just reran this Monday of this week. 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.200 But yeah, this is the film that introduced Bella Lugosi's 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:55.120 Igor character wonderful, Yeah, which is a wonderful plotting character 0:06:55.200 --> 0:07:00.560 that becomes increasingly important before he's forgotten. Run him in 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.560 just a minute. Okay, So that was thirty nine. Then 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.839 came nineteen forty one's The wolf Man, which which we 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.200 just alluded to that of course starred Lon Chaney Junior. 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.840 He's going to reprise that role in this picture. This 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.440 movie was a big hit and again is a solid 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:23.520 moody where a wolf story that is set in Cardiff. 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:24.160 Yeah. 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.840 Now at this point there's no interaction whatsoever between the 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.239 Frankenstein universe and the Wolfman universe. The first Wolfman movie 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.200 is a standalone film. We're just mentioning it as one 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.800 of the multiple streams that feeds into Frankenstein meets the 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:38.240 wolf Man. 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:39.040 Yeah. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.360 And I mean, nowadays we kind of know the trope 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.680 right that you start doing the crossovers once you run 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.720 out of things to do. And they had not quite 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.080 run out of things to do, certainly with Frankenstein just yet, 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.760 because in forty two they put out The Ghost of Frankenstein. 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:54.840 This is not one I have seen in full, but 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.280 I went ahead and pulled up the ending and watched 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.400 it prior to coming in here, and I read about 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:04.000 the plot. Basically, this film continues the son of Frankenstein 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.840 plot line, where we get we get a we get 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.679 another doctor Frankenstein in the mix. We have the monster, yeah, 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.440 something like that. We have the Monster again. Confusingly, this 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.600 time the monster is played by Lon Cheney Junior, who 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.760 is just coming off of playing the wolf Man. And 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.920 we had Bella Lagosi once more is Egor. And in 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.040 this picture there's like a plot to put a new 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.960 brain in the monster, and Igor, who of course has 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:35.640 you know, is suffering from various you know, health problems 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.439 at this point, manages plots to get his own brain 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.680 put in the monster. So in the final moments of 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:47.280 the film, the monster speaks in Bela Lugosi's voice and 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.040 and and is talking about how he's you know, you know, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.880 seek vengeance on all his enemies and so forth. But 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.880 there's been some sort of a mishap some the blood 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.600 he didn't factor in the blood of the of the 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.920 host and so forth, and so the man is blind, 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.640 and the heroes were able to overcome the monster, and 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.160 the monster burns up in the castle, or so we thought. Okay, 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.800 because then comes today's film, nineteen forty three's Frankenstein Meets 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.960 the wolf Man. This is a movie that comes in 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:19.000 and serves as a sequel of sorts to the previous 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.480 two films, though it's a lot easier, I would argue, 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:25.719 to pick up the pieces of the Ghost of Frankenstein 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:27.840 than it is to pick up the pieces of the 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.920 wolf Man, because the Wolfman comes to a pretty satisfying, 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:39.000 gloomy close in a way, superstition triumphing over logic, and 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.600 we have the character of Larry Talbot, the wolf Man, 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.560 beaten to death with a silver cane by his own father. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:48.199 It's done. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.120 It's like Highlander one done at that point. But as 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.600 with Highlander one, sometimes you just got to make a 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.760 sequel and you've got to just find a way to 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.480 make it work on the page. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:03.000 This film today fits mo more comfortably as a Frankenstein 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.040 sequel than it does as a Wolfman sequel. 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:07.360 And you can. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.920 Especially tell that because of all the ways that it 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:14.280 ignores elements of the Wolfman lore and like ret CON's 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.640 things from the previous Wolfman film. And we'll talk about 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.280 that more as we go on, but but yeah, it 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.080 works more as a Frankenstein's sequel, but then, confusingly, we 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.920 don't get to the Frankenstein stuff until halfway through the movie. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:27.640 Yeah, we have to. I think we have to put 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.280 in a lot more legwork to bring the wolf back 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:34.160 to life. And then the wolfman is Larry Talbot, and 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.600 even though he's dealing with like, you know, miraculous or 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:41.480 infernal resurrection here, you know, he's still the most relatable 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.280 human character in the picture, and therefore we spend a 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.000 lot of time with him. All Right, the Frankenstein series 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.640 would go three more films after this, House of Frankenstein 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.000 in forty four, House of Dracula in forty five. Let's 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.080 get Dracula into the mix on all this, right, sure, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.640 people were paying for it. And then finally Abd and 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.360 Costello meet Frankenstein in forty eight, which kind of finishes 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:06.000 things out on an obvious, obviously comedic level. Bella's in 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.599 that as well. I believe that's his last performance as Dracula. 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.120 I've never actually watched it, but I'm to understand, like 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:13.880 you know, Bella gives it his all, and he doesn't 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.040 he doesn't give into the hamminess of it. He like 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:18.040 plays it straight. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.200 I've considered checking out House of Frankenstein for Weird House before. 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.600 I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm sure i'll watch 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:25.200 it at some point. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.280 Maybe maybe we'll get to it next October. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.400 Okay, So I was thinking about how some interesting themes 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.839 are brought to light by the overlap of the two 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.400 characters in Frankenstein Meets the wolf Man. Something Frankenstein's Monster 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.760 and the Wolfman have in common as distinct from the 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.120 other universal monsters, is that they are the two monsters 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:50.840 who both evoke pity. Both of them are dangerous. They 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:53.839 you know, they're violent, and they kill, but neither one 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.400 is consciously malicious. Larry Talbot, the character who becomes a 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:03.400 werewolf in The Wolfman, is depicted as not in control 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.360 of his actions when he transforms into the beast, so 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.640 he you know, he wolfs out and then he later 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.520 awakens in the morning to learn what he has done 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.360 and is filled with horror and remorse, but he has 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:17.560 no ability to stop it or control it. 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.840 Yeah, and Larry Talbot is portrayed in both films as 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.600 basically a likable guy, you know, really kind of an 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:29.920 everyday guy. Because ultimately, you know, we have a character 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.480 actor playing the role. You know, he doesn't have that 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.320 kind of like sharp job leading man vibe that various 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.280 other leads have. He feels very relatable and people like him, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.280 the ladies like him. He's easy going, you know, and 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.400 except for the fact that he does turn into a 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.360 murderous monster on a full note. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.640 Yeah, but it's not by his choice, right though, I 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.520 do recall in the original wolf Man is something about 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.880 he's like really really trying to date a lady who's 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:03.280 already engaged something like that. But you know, maybe that's 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:07.240 a more minor character flaw here. So that's Larry Talbot 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.720 very sympathetic, you know, pitiable character even though he's a monster. 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:15.439 It's not his fault. Meanwhile, Frankenstein's creature is it seems 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.679 very much also not his fault. He has reanimated against 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.160 his own will. As he says at the end of 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.479 Bride of Frankenstein, we be long dead, like he recognizes 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.240 that he should not be and he comes into the 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.160 world as an innocent only harming people at first by 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.800 accident and then later out of desperation and rage after 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:38.920 being persecuted. And so you could contrast this with the 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.239 other universal horror villains of the era, such as Dracula, 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:46.440 The Mummy, the Invisible Man, which are all much more 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:51.240 vicious and devilish. I think it's an interesting choice. The 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.440 first ever monster mash film decided to combine the two 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.079 monsters that don't want to be monsters and would live 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:00.280 in peace if they could. 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.400 Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, even when you listen Dracula, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.960 the Mummy and the Invisible Man, like the Invisible Man 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.280 is kind of the most evil. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.439 Yeah, like some megalomaniac. 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:11.720 Yeah. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.640 Yeah, I mean at least Dracula and the Mummy they 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.840 have undead status, like they're not completely human anymore. But 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.360 the Invisible Man is just a man who has made 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.000 himself invisible. And uh, and I mean that's I think 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.800 that's ultimately as part of why he's so fascinating. It's 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.960 the whole idea, like if if I were invisible as well, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.120 would I become if I had some sort of a 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.600 power that was brought upon me, would it change me like. 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:36.120 This as well? 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.360 Yeah, that one asks the question what would you do 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:39.880 if you could get away with anything? 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:43.120 Yeah, but again this movie is also interesting and just 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.240 how you forced the whole concept basically is because both 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:51.600 titular monsters had effectively been killed off in their previous film, 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.400 the movie has to first really put in the work 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.320 to not only bring one of them back to life, 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.600 but bring them both back to life, get them in 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:02.720 the same plot, in the same place at the same time, 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:05.640 arrange the plot so that they have to meet, they 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.440 have to essentially work together, and the plot entails the 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.600 resurrection of one monster to kill the other essentially, And 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.400 as we'll discuss, by the end of the film, you'll 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.400 be wondering what really came of any of this. 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.960 Yeah, by the end of the film, I was very 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.440 fuzzy on what exactly the mechanics were, Why are they 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.360 training the energies from one monster? What exactly is the 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.560 doctor trying to do? We know there's what he says 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.440 he's going to do, but then it's clear that his 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.200 actual intentions are different, and I think it's never made 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.760 clear really what they are. Certainly with regard to Talbot, 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:40.320 we do get an idea of what he wants to 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:41.840 do with regard to the monster. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.360 Right, Yeah, And as we'll discuss, even though it is 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.200 cinematically treated as a victory at the end, I really 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.920 have some serious questions about whether there was any victory 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.200 at all, but we'll come back to all that. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.760 Also, one thing I just have to mention at the 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.840 top here is the main character of the wolfman in 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.320 this movie. His name is Larry Talbot. I think it's 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.160 almost certain that at least once in this episode I'm 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.880 going to accidentally call him Lyle Talbot, which is the 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.480 name of a prolific mid twentieth century American actor. The 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.800 reason I would Sayle Talbot is that I'm aware of 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.080 him because he ended up repeatedly collaborating with ed Wood 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.640 by virtue of the fact that Talbot, by his own admission, 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.000 never once in his entire career, turned down a job offer. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.600 So if you've got a movie, he'll be in it. 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:29.760 All right, Joe, do you have an elevator pitch for 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:30.240 this one? 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.600 It is, can't medical science find a way to kill me? 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:34.040 Like? 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.200 What's a guy got to do to get dead? Around here? 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:39.760 All right, let's listen to some of that trailer audio. 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.960 But he doesn't understand there's a curse upon me. I 0:16:51.120 --> 0:17:01.280 changed into a wolf. Listen to the movie. I saw 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.680 my father become obsessed plankings collar he died a horrible 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.720 there's no deeps order storm after her. She would come 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.359 in to by Oscar. Why should we treat it so fancy? 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:39.840 She's a Frankenstein, all right? 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.200 If you want to go watch Frankenstein Meets the wolf Man, 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.760 well it's widely available wherever you get your Universal Studios 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.800 Monster movies. You want to watch them, uh streaming, you 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.560 want to watch them and on on Blu ray, on DVD, VHS, 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.240 laser disc, what have you. There is a way out there. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:00.280 This is This one has been released so many in 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:12.160 so many different formats. Alright, let's get into the people 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.639 behind the picture here, starting with the director. This one 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.400 was directed by Roy William Neil. He lived eighteen eighty 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.280 seven through nineteen forty six, Irish born American film director, 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.160 best remembered for this film as well as a whole 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.040 bunch of Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies. He directed I 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.560 Think most of them like eleven films from nineteen forty 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:37.840 three through nineteen forty six. His other movies include nineteen 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.320 thirty four's Black Moon starring Fey Ray, thirty four as 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.280 the ninth Guest, and nineteen thirty five's of The Black 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:45.920 Room starring Boris Karloff. 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:47.960 Black Moon and the Black Room. 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:50.760 Yeah, that's right. I don't think these films are at 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.359 all related, but he did direct both of them. I 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:57.000 think well, black Moon is like a voodoo picture, all right, 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.720 And the screenplay on this one is once more the 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.600 word of Kurtziodnik, who lived nineteen oh two through the 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.000 year two thousand. We discussed him previously on Weird House, 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.119 as he wrote the screenplay for nineteen forty six's The 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.800 Beast with Five Fingers, as well as another movie. 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.720 Oh Creature with the Adam Brain. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:23.600 That's right. So, Siodnc was a German born novelist, screenwriter, 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.840 and director who left Germany for first first for the 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.080 United Kingdom and then for the United States due to 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:33.920 concerns over rising anti Semitism under the Nazis. His German 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.720 output was already pretty successful prior to this, including a 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.840 sci fi film that I haven't seen, but it involves 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.359 a sort of an aircraft carrier base titled FP One 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.640 Doesn't Answer. And he did British war thrillers and some comedies, 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.240 and then he struck it big with his nineteen forty 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:55.199 one screenplay for The Invisible Man Returns and his original 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.520 screenplay for forty one's The Wolfman. He went on to 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.760 write tons of screenplays, let's say, including this one, also 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.320 a nineteen forty three film titled Oh. 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.000 I didn't realize what you were getting at for a second, 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.359 I walked with a zombie. So Rocky went in on 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.960 two songs for two so Odmac scripts. 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.040 That's right, that's right. I mean, this guy was prolific, 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.399 Son of Dracula in forty three, House of Frankenstein in 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.280 forty four, and many more. He also wrote the nineteen 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.719 forty two sci fi novel Donovan's Brain, which has been 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.760 adapted three different times as The Lady in The Monster 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.280 in forty four, Donovan's Brain in fifty three, and The 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:32.960 Brain in sixty two. Now, I found it notable that 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.000 multiple films based on his work or screenplays that he 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:42.400 wrote for motion pictures concern mind or brain transference, most 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.879 famously Donovan's Brain in its various adaptations, but also nineteen 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.399 forties Black Friday, which by the way, stars Karloff and 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:52.840 Lagosi and I think is otherwise like a crime thriller, 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.359 but it has brain or mind transference in it. And 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:02.480 then in nineteen seventy film titled House Memory. And the 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.200 really interesting part about Frankenstein meets the Wolfman is that 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.840 you wouldn't be able to guess this from watching the film, 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.400 but this movie was also supposed to feature a mind 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.840 or brain transference plot as. 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.400 Well, between who between Frankenstein and the Wolfman or somebody else. 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:22.280 No, no, So it's this would not be original to 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.280 this picture, but it's picking up the pieces from the 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:28.600 end of nineteen forty twos The Ghost of Frankenstein, in 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.400 which again Lugosi's Igor manages to get his own brain 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.639 transplant planted into the body of the monster again played 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.440 in that film by Lyncheney Junior, before the castle gets 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.320 burned up. So in this film, the monster, who will 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:47.520 now be played by Lugosi was originally had dialogue spoken 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.639 by Lagosi, because it's not just Frankenstein's monster, It is 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:55.520 supposed to be Igor's brain in the monster's body, and 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.080 so he would have been he was blind. That's why 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.920 in this film we'll see Frankenstein's monster walking with arms outstretched, 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:06.480 which became kind of like a cartoon stereotype or trope 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:09.920 of Frankenstein's monster, and that's where it comes from. This film, 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:12.679 but you would know this from the film because they 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:15.880 don't mention the blindness. They certainly don't mention the Egor's 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.000