Larry Talbot is still pure of heart

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As a true sequel to 1941's "The Wolf Man," "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is right on the money due to the presence of sad sack Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, man by day, raging werewolf at night. As a sequel to the frequently chilling "The Ghost of Frankenstein," it doesn't work. This is one of those rare instances (perhaps the first) where you have a sequel to two different movies and yet they do not coalesce as evenly as they should.

In the eerie foggy banks of the opening scene, a couple of thieves break into the Talbot crypt, helping themselves to Larry Talbot's priceless rings. Before you can say, fellas there is a full moon out there, Talbot turns into the Wolf Man, killing one thief while the other runs away. Then Talbot ends up in a hospital with a head wound, declaring himself to be Larry Talbot though he died four years earlier. The authorities are nonplussed, especially at some raging animal that kills the local constable. Nevertheless, Larry is off to find the soothsaying gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) - for those keeping a record of the events of "The Wolf Man," Maleva's son who on occasion became a werewolf bit Talbot. Maleva is not reluctant to help Larry and suggests that Dr. Frankenstein might be able to help him with his lycanthropy and ease his suffering through, I imagine, a Dr. Kevorkian method. This method of draining the life from Talbot will also be administered to the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi) who is brought back to life by Talbot  - in one rather contrived scene, he tears away at the Monster's confined ice tomb!

The best parts of "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" involve Lon Chaney, Jr. who is in a huge chunk of this movie, still showing the sincere, troubled, desperate Larry Talbot - you can't help but hope his predicament will be resolved. He is so tremendous in the movie that the plot didn't need the reanimated Frankenstein Monster (clunkily played by Lugosi). The subplot dealing with the welcome return of Maleva, the introduction of Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Illona Massey, whom fans of Universal Monster flicks will remember from "Invisible Agent") whom Talbot takes a liking too are refreshing elements that make this sequel a slight cut above the subsequent entries in this series. Despite Lugosi's largely unremarkable Monster and a rather sloppy, hasty finale (oh, what happened to Maleva in that castle?), Lon Chaney Jr. makes us care and he is the heart and soul of this uneven Monster movie.