House Of Frankenstein
House Of Frankenstein
In 1944 Universal Pictures brings us another monster mash, in their second of the "Monster Rally" films that would conclude in 1948 with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. In this film we see Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolf Man, Dracula, the Hunchback, and the Mad Scientist all together in one film. The film plays on classic horror tropes that made the Universal films classics, however, it does lack originality, and serves purely as a vehicle for putting the monsters together and capitalize on the popularity of the Universal Monster franchise.
House of Frankenstein was directed by Erle C. Kenton with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak. It was of course distributed by Universal Pictures. Original drafts would have saw more of the famous monsters being included, such as the Mummy, The Ape Woman, and even the Invisible Man, though I am sure that would have caused some major issues logistically and to make a script to include all of those would have been difficult. As is, this film is a bit of a mess, the over arching story line works as a generic mad scientist story, but then Dracula was added in, and his story arch plays out like its own separate mini-movie within the film, and then after Dracula's story is finished, then it moves on to the awakening of The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster, and of course there is inclusion of the beautiful gypsy girl to create jealousy between the hunchback and Larry Talbot, as the Daniel the hunchback falls for Ilonka the gypsy girl, but then she falls for the handsome and sad Larry Talbot. The story isn't terrible, it is just more of the same old thing, Talbot wants freed from the curse, the mad scientist offers to do this, but of course is powermad and has his own agenda. The hunchback wants a new body so that he can get the girl, the handsome and pitiful Larry Talbot gets the girl, but of course their love is doomed because of his curse, but can love kill the beast?!
House of Frankenstein was directed by Erle C. Kenton with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak. It was of course distributed by Universal Pictures. Original drafts would have saw more of the famous monsters being included, such as the Mummy, The Ape Woman, and even the Invisible Man, though I am sure that would have caused some major issues logistically and to make a script to include all of those would have been difficult. As is, this film is a bit of a mess, the over arching story line works as a generic mad scientist story, but then Dracula was added in, and his story arch plays out like its own separate mini-movie within the film, and then after Dracula's story is finished, then it moves on to the awakening of The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster, and of course there is inclusion of the beautiful gypsy girl to create jealousy between the hunchback and Larry Talbot, as the Daniel the hunchback falls for Ilonka the gypsy girl, but then she falls for the handsome and sad Larry Talbot. The story isn't terrible, it is just more of the same old thing, Talbot wants freed from the curse, the mad scientist offers to do this, but of course is powermad and has his own agenda. The hunchback wants a new body so that he can get the girl, the handsome and pitiful Larry Talbot gets the girl, but of course their love is doomed because of his curse, but can love kill the beast?!
The House Of Frankenstein stars an all-star classic horror film cast with Boris Karloff as Dr. Gustav Niemann (this would be Karloff's final appearance in the original Universal Monsters cycle), Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence "Larry" Talbot/ The Wolf Man, J. Carrol Naish as Daniel (the hunchback), John Carradine as Count Dracula, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster (a role he would continue to be cast as in the following films), Elena Verdugo as Ilonka (the gypsy girl), and Anne Gwynne as Rita Hussman (Gwynne was a popular WW2 era pin-up model). The film would also feature horror film legends Lionel Atwill and George Zucco among the star studded cast. Though the film had a great cast, the story was too weak for the film to be successful, and then also add to that the fact that the fans wanted to see an all out battle between the monsters, and this film fails to deliver that, matter of fact there is no big monster fights in this "monster rally" film, they were all just put in however they could fit, but they all exist mostly separate of each other, and there is very little of substance to hold them together, other than the story of Dr Niemann and Daniel, the film is really about them, and the other Monsters were really just added in as a way to capitalize on the popularity of the Universal Monsters franchise.
This film failed to win over the critics, receiving mostly negative reviews. To be fair, the story isn't bad, and the acting is pretty great, but what doesn't work is the incorporation of the other monsters, especially that of Dracula. The inclusion of Dracula really felt forced, and as I said seems to stand as its own story. The inclusion of The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster seems to add a bit more, because it works on the theme of Daniel wanting a new body, and Dr Niemann promising to do this, if only he can find Frankenstein's records, which of course is a reference to in Son of Frankenstein when Frankenstein is able to switch brains, so working on that idea he should be able to put Daniel's brain into a non broken body. This story-line actually works really well, and it would then make sense that Dr Niemann would discover the Monster and the Wolf Man frozen in glacial ice beneath the ruins of Castle Frankenstein, and then of course it makes sense that he would ignore his promise to Daniel as he lusts for the power to control life and death, as every mad scientist whose stepped foot in Frankenstein's laboratory in the past. No it isn't a great movie, but it is a fun film. It won't make any must-see lists, but it is a film that I do recommend checking out, as it might be one of the better of the "monster rally" films. It is a bit of a mediocre monster film, that relies far too heavily on the classic tropes that have served Universal in the past, but even so it is still a fun film, that teeters on being great at points, just ignore the continuity issues, and remember even the rules that Universal establishes in their films can be broken if it means that more money can be made by bringing the monsters back.
This film failed to win over the critics, receiving mostly negative reviews. To be fair, the story isn't bad, and the acting is pretty great, but what doesn't work is the incorporation of the other monsters, especially that of Dracula. The inclusion of Dracula really felt forced, and as I said seems to stand as its own story. The inclusion of The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster seems to add a bit more, because it works on the theme of Daniel wanting a new body, and Dr Niemann promising to do this, if only he can find Frankenstein's records, which of course is a reference to in Son of Frankenstein when Frankenstein is able to switch brains, so working on that idea he should be able to put Daniel's brain into a non broken body. This story-line actually works really well, and it would then make sense that Dr Niemann would discover the Monster and the Wolf Man frozen in glacial ice beneath the ruins of Castle Frankenstein, and then of course it makes sense that he would ignore his promise to Daniel as he lusts for the power to control life and death, as every mad scientist whose stepped foot in Frankenstein's laboratory in the past. No it isn't a great movie, but it is a fun film. It won't make any must-see lists, but it is a film that I do recommend checking out, as it might be one of the better of the "monster rally" films. It is a bit of a mediocre monster film, that relies far too heavily on the classic tropes that have served Universal in the past, but even so it is still a fun film, that teeters on being great at points, just ignore the continuity issues, and remember even the rules that Universal establishes in their films can be broken if it means that more money can be made by bringing the monsters back.
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