I watched the 1943 sequel to The Wolf Man, Universal Studios Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man on Svengoolie. When grave robbers, looking for buried money in the Talbot mausoleum, open Larry Talbot’s crypt they find his body and the coffin stuffed with Wolf’s-bane. Lon Chaney Jr. (played the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein monster, and the Wolf-Man), Larry Talbot, is free and starts seeking an end to his suffering. He locates the gypsy woman Maleva played by Maria Ouspenskaya
who helps him. This leads them to the Frankenstein monster, Bela Lugosi, and Baroness Frankenstein, Ilona Massey. Lugosi’s performance as the Monster with his eyes half-closed and his arms reaching forward in the film led to the way the monster was portrayed in future media.
Cast
- Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Stewart Talbot, the Wolf Man – He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies, including High Noon (1952), and The Defiant Ones (1958).
- Ilona Massey as Baroness Elsa Frankenstein – Hungarian film, stage, and radio performer
- Patric Knowles as Dr. Frank Mannering – The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Wolf Man, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx, Tarzan’s Savage Fury, From the Earth to the Moon, Terror in the Wax Museum
- Lionel Atwill as Mayor- Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum, Murders in the Zoo, Secret of the Blue Room, Secret of the Blue Room, Son of Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Gorilla, Man Made Monster, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx, Night Monster, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula
- Bela Lugosi as The Frankenstein Monster – Dracula, Murders at the Rue Morgue, White Zombie, Island of Lost Souls, The Death Kiss, Night of Terror, The Black Cat, Mark of the Vampire, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, Son of Frankenstein, The Phantom Creeps, The Dark Eyes of London, Black Friday, Invisible Ghost, The Black Cat, The Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Corpse Vanishes, Night Monster, The Ape Man, Ghosts on the Loose, The Return of the Vampire, Voodoo Man, Return of the Ape Man, Zombies on Broadway, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Bride of the Monster, The Black Sheep, Plan 9 from Outer Space
- Maria Ouspenskaya as Maleva – Russian actress and acting teacher
- Dennis Hoey as Police Inspector Owen – The Tunnel, The Spider Woman, She-Wolf of London
- Don Barclay as Franzec – Disney films like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- Rex Evans as Vazec – The Invisible Man Returns, TV episodes of Topper, The Red Skelton Hour, The Jack Benny Program, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
- Dwight Frye as Rudi – Dracula, The Maltese Falcon, Frankenstein, The Vampire Bat, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, The Crime of Dr. Crespi, Son of Frankenstein, Ghost of Frankenstein
- Harry Stubbs as Guno – The Invisible Man, The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy’s Hand, The Wolf Man
- Doris Lloyd as Nurse – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Night Monster, The Invisible Man’s Revenge, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music
- Jeff Corey as Grave Digger – Miracle on 34th Street, Superman and the Mole Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Wild Geese, The Sword and the Sorcerer, Conan the Destroyer, Bird on a Wire,
Lon Chaney Jr. was supposed to play both the Wolf Man and the monster but due to the time and effort of make-up changes, the idea was canned. The film was directed by Roy William Neill (11 Sherlock Holmes movies)
and produced by George Waggner (Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera). I especially liked the scene in the restaurant where the man is singing and Larry Talbot loses it when the lyrics are about “living forever”. I like this movie so I’ll give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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