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| Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi |
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943). Director: Roy William Neill.
Colorized.
Awakened in his tomb, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) seeks the help of the gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) to finally rid himself of the curse of werewolf-ism. The pair initially wind up in the town of Frankenstein, where Talbot attempts to find the doctor's diary, inexplicably believing that he can learn the secret of ending his immortality in there. Instead he finds the monster (Bela Lugosi). A doctor, Mannering (Patric Knowles), follows Talbot's trail, and discovers he has reached out to Frankenstein's granddaughter, Elsa (Ilona Massey) to ask her aid in finding the diary. As Elsa and Mannering bond, eventually the two monsters engage in a brief battle that seems to finish both of them off.
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| Dennis Hoey and Patric Knowles |
Right away you can see the slapdash quality of the picture when according to the opening credits the main stars of the picture are not Chaney and Lugosi, but Knowles and Massey! Everything in the movie seems thrown together in great haste to bring the thing quickly into theaters. Chaney repeats his
Wolfman role and is adequate, the great Lugosi is better, Knowles is professional, and Massey is vaguely attractive. Dennis Hoey as Inspector Owen, Lionel Atwill as the Mayor, Rex Evans as bar owner Vazec, and the wonderful Ouspenskaya are more on the mark. But even back in the day the meeting of these two great monsters must have been a big disappointment to the fans.
Verdict: Not one of the better Franky movies. **1/2.
Loved this one as a kid. Totally forgot Lugosi played the monster in one of these. Ouspenskaya is a favorite - what a character - as are Atwill and Chaney as the Wolfman.
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A favorite rumor I used to hear was that Ouspenkaya had an affair with John Garfield! However, the source of this was her alleged grandson, who turned out to be a phony, lol!
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