FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN

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. 

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. 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN

Franky (Glenn Strange) goes after Lou Costello

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Director: Charles Barton. 

Wilbur (Lou Costello) and Chick (Bud Abbott) work for a shipping company and are told to bring two items to a House of Horrors without fail. One item is a coffin that contains the living Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi of The Corpse Vanishes) and the other is a crate that holds Frankenstein (Glenn Strange), whom the vampire has under his control. Meanwhile Sandra (Lenore Aubert of The Catman of Paris) romances Wilbur because she wants to put his simple-minded brain in Frankenstein's body so that the monster will be more easily manipulated. Two other people get involved in the frenzied, comical action: Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who turns into the Wolfman when the moon is full and warns the boys about what's going on with Drac and Franky; and Joan (Jane Randolph of The Mysterious Mr. M), an insurance agent for the shipping company. Will poor Wilbur become subjected to a brain transplant?

Gruesome twosome: Bela Lugosi and Lenore Aubert

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is practically a textbook case of how to do a spoof the right way. The trick is that everyone pretty much plays it straight except for the two stars, who by this point were old hands at their comical schtick. The movie is not only consistently funny, but even exciting and suspenseful at times, and is also very well-produced. Frank Skinner's excellent score makes the most of every sequence. Other cast members include Frank Ferguson as the testy owner of the House of Horrors (whose exhibits turn out to be alive), and Charles Bradstreet as the handsome Professor Stevens, who works with Sandra but has no idea what she's really up to. 

Verdict: Classic comedy with the fellows in top form and a very adept and enthusiastic supporting cast. ***1/2. 

THE BIG CHASE

THE BIG CHASE (1954). Director: Arthur Hilton. 

Peter Grayson (Glenn Langan of The Amazing Colossal Man) is a new police officer and his wife, Doris (Adele Jergens of Blonde Dynamite) is expecting their first baby and fears complications to her pregnancy. Pete's buddy, Lt. Ned Taggert (Douglas Kennedy of Rockabilly Baby), hopes that his pal will try to become a detective but he has other plans. Meanwhile Brad Bellows (Jim Davis) is planning a payroll robbery before he even gets out of prison. When the day comes for the attack on an armored car, Bellows is accompanied by his wife (uncredited), Kip (Lon Chaney Jr.), and others. Just as Doris goes on the operating table, Pete and his partner are off in pursuit of Bellows and his confederates. This results in a chase sequence that is certainly not as exciting as the film's poster would indicate (someone jumps out of a copter at one point, but no one falls to their death). 

The Big Chase looks cobbled together from TV outtakes, and the two storylines -- Peter and his wife, and the robbery -- never quite jell. The acting is fine, however, and the pace is swift enough so that the running time -- less than an hour! -- doesn't seem padded. Lon Chaney hasn't a line of dialogue and his scenes -- along with half of this movie -- were lifted from an earlier film, a color 3D short entitled Bandit Island. Joe Flynn, the exasperated commander from McHale's Navy, plays a reporter to whom Kennedy tells the story. Langan and Jergens were married for many years in real life. 

Verdict: Not much to recommend in this soggy suspenser. *1/2. 

HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE

Joi Lansing and Ferlin Husky

HILLBILLIES IN A HAUNTED HOUSE (1967). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

Singer Woody Wetherby (country star Ferlin Husky), his girl singer, Boots Malone (Joi Lansing), and his manager, Jeepers (Don Bowman), are traveling to Nashville for a concert when bad weather and automobile trouble forces them to seek shelter in a creepy old mansion. They don't realize that the new owner, Madame Wong (Linda Ho), is running an espionage outfit that employs Max (Lon Chaney Jr.), Gregor (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Himmil (John Carradine of Female Jungle), not to mention a bad-tempered gorilla named Anatole (George Barrows). Will Jim Meadows (Richard Webb of The Invisible Monster), secret agent for MOTHER, be able to save Boots from the Iron Maiden and make the world safe for democracy? 

Slumming: Rathbone and Carradine

Hillbillies is actually the second of two films starring Husky as Wetherby, following Las Vegas Hillbillies, in which Boots Malone was played by Mamie Van Doren and Jayne Mansfield also had a part. The first one couldn't possibly have been worse than this awful concoction, which wastes the talents of virtually everyone, especially Carradine and poor Basil Rathbone. The last ten minutes are a concert with songs being performed by Molly Bee, Merle Haggard  and Marcella Wright ("Strangers"). Husky himself does a nice job with "One Bridge I Have Never Crossed." In his heyday and for many years Husky was a very, very popular entertainer. As for Joi Lansing, who always seemed to play the perennial dumb blonde, it's ironic that in this picture she plays it straight! Jean Yarbrough also directed Inside Job and a great many other movies. 

Verdict: Aside from some of the songs there's little point in sitting through this. *1/2. 

COBRA WOMAN

Maria Montez and Jon Hall

COBRA WOMAN (1944). Director: Robert Siodmak. 

Ramu (Jon Hall), betrothed to Tollea (Maria Montez), learns that his beloved has been kidnapped off their island home and taken to her birthplace, Cobra Island.  Her grandmother, the queen (Mary Nash), wants Tollea to take the throne from the High Priestess, Naja, who happens to be Tollea's evil twin.  Ramu sails to Cobra Island with his adoring buddy Kado (Sabu), to bring Tollea back, but they have to contend with Naja, who likes to sacrifice her people to a volcano, as well as her nasty associate, Bartok (Edgar Barrier). Ramu does receive some assistance from the mute Hava (Lon Chaney, Jr.), but will it be enough to reunite the lovers? 

Evil High Priestess: Montez

Arabian Nights, starring the trio of Jon Hall, Sabu, and Maria Montez, was so successful that they were reteamed for two other pictures, of which Cobra Woman is the third and last. Mildly entertaining, it was a step downward for the group, being similar to say, a Jungle Jim movie, only in technicolor and with better production values. The best scene is the wild and vivid "Cobra Dance" that is performed with a live cobra! Montez delineates her two different characters in the broadest of strokes, but she is fun spitting commands at her subjects and others. Mary Nash probably makes the best impression, although she has to compete with chimp Koko, who is given her own theme music. Universal recognized the publicity value of Montez' scantily-clad persona, so she is top-billed in this film whereas it was Hall in Arabian Nights. The co-screenwriter for this was Richard Brooks, who went on to write and/or direct some better-known Hollywood films such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 

Verdict: Montez' Hollywood career was fast running out. **1/2. 

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA

Barbara Payton and Raymond Burr

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA (1951). Writer/director: Curt Siodmak. 

Dina (Barbara Payton) is married to the wealthy plantation owner Klaas Van Gelder (Paul Cavanagh), but is secretly in love with his foreman, Barney (Raymond Burr), who returns her feelings. Barney is indirectly responsible for Van Gelder's death-by-snake, but the aged maid Al-Long (Gisela Werbisek), covers up for him and plots her own revenge. Barney begins imagining that he is transforming into a gorilla, and it starts driving him crazy, driving him into the jungle at night as well. Then there are stories of sightings of a supernatural creature that can tear a man to pieces ,,, 

Tom Conway and Lon Chaney, Jr. 

Bride of the Gorilla is similar to another Curt Siodmak film, Curucu, Beast of the Amazon, in that it promises a monster that it never delivers. With photography by Charles Van Enger and a flavorful score by Raoul Kraushaar, the film looks professional, but its script -- despite some interesting elements -- is dead on arrival. I imagine the film had a short shooting schedule as in many scenes the actors seem self-conscious and under-rehearsed. In spite of that, Raymond Burr and Barbara Payton have at least one well-played love scene. Cavanagh is as smooth and adept as ever in his brief appearances, and Tom Conway and Lon Chaney Jr. do the best they can with weak material. Woody Strode, who would go on to much better things, appears very briefly as a policeman. 

Verdict: Fortunately for Raymond Burr, Perry Mason put an end to his appearances in movies like this. **.