ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Hey, I think you're onto something there. Dr. Jekyll Cures the Wolf Man!

Dr. Jekyll develops a formula that cures himself, removing the evil Mr. Hyde and making him into a downright saintly guy. He persuades Talbot to let him try the formula as a cure for the evil of lycanthropy.

And it works! Sort of . . .

It turns Larry into a downright saintly werewolf who wouldn't hamr a fly!

I love the idea of the kindly Larry Talbot as a permanent werewolf who desperately wants to convince people that he's no longer dangerous. Perhaps he'd seek out the elder gypsy woman, Maleva, and shows her that he's a "changed man" — so to speak. She convinces the gypsy that Talbot deserves their help, and they agree to hide him.

But every story needs a conflict, so maybe one of gypsy men kills his cheating wife and tries to frame Larry by mutilating her body to make it look like an animal attack.

But unbeknownst to him, Maleva witnessed the murder and tries to convince her band of gypsies that Talbot was not the killer.

She's aided by the kindly old doctor in the village, who says that the wounds on the victim are too widely spaced to be caused by the claws of a wolf . . . or even a werewolf.

Maleva asks him if a three-pronged gardening towel would fit the wounds, and he tells her that they would!

Maleva tells the gypsy murderer than she knows what he did, and that the police are going to find where he hide the murder weapon. The gypsy attacks Maleva and knocks her conscienceless, then he flees into the dark woods. She revives in time to tell Talbot who attacked her, and he quietly follows the killer.

The gypsy goes to the place where he buried the tool, and he digs it up. Talbot attacks him and tries to take the tool, but the gypsy fights back, using the tool to injure Talbot. Just as he's about to kill him, the police arrive.

Just prior to this, Maleva told the leader of the gypsies what had happened, and he summoned the police. The police and the gypsies tracked the killer to the place where the fight was taking place. They capture the murderer with the tool still in his hand, and they see that the cuts on Talbot matched those of the murdered woman.

Badly injured, Talbot is taken back to the village, under guard by the police, who are understandably skeptical of Maleva's claims that he's no longer a dangerous monster.

Talbot is placed in a jail cell next to the murder, but the doctor treats his wounds . . . and quietly tells him not to worry because he has a plan.

The next morning the police find that the policeman who had been on duty all night is sound asleep, and when awakened he act's like he's been drugged.

When the doctor and Maleva come to check on Talbot's condition, the police discover that he's gone from his cell. The Burgomaster orders all policemen to search for Talbot — while the doctor and the old gypsy woman glance over at each, faintly smiling.

The End . . . until the sequel!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Universal Studios MONSTERS: A Legacy of Horror by Michael Mallory.

Frankenstein may get top billing, but Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is really the Wolf Man's film.

It is never explained how the Monster, who was last seen being burnt to death in 1942's The Ghost of Frankenstein, ended up encased in a wall of ice.

The film opens in one of the most atmospheric graveyard sets in any Universal film.

Since the Wolf Man was Chaney's "baby," another actor had to be found to play the Monster. It had to be an actor, too, not just an anonymous stunt guy, since the script called for dialogue from the Monster, who was given speech but robbed of sight as the results of the brain transplant from The Ghost of Frankenstein.

The solution to the problem was half-obvious, half-ridiculous: Bela Lugosi.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. What no one stopped to consider was that Lugosi was 60 years old and not physically up to the demands of the role.

Stuntmen Gil Perkins and Eddie parker were hastily enlisted to fill in for Lugosi in any scene that required heavy lifting, plus a few that didn't.

The Monster's introduction scene, in which he is pulled from the ice block by Talbot, featured Gil Perkins in full-face close-up, not Lugosi.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the movie theater: all of the Monster's dialogue was edited out, in addition to any reference to his blindness, leaving only Lugosi's groping gestures to insufficiently communicate the lack of sight.

Why was the role so drastically altered in post-production?

Years later, screenwriter Curt Siodmak put the blame solely on Lugosi, describing his performance as "Hungarian funny," and claiming that preview audiences laughed at the Monster's dialogue.

Yet no one reported hilarity ensuing from the end of Ghost of Frankenstein where Lugosi spoke for Chaney's Monster.

It is more likely that the dialogue itself was the problem; hearing the Monster rant about immortal life and world domination might have made him too much of a Hitler surrogate for comfort for wartime audiences.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man has also become renowned for the Festival of New Wine sequence, which is highlighted by the song "Faro-La, Faro-Li" belted out by Russian bass Adia Kuzentzoff, a kind of gypsy calypso written by Curt Siodmak and Hans J. Salter. While Universal Horror is not known for its musical numbers, this one is an absolute gem.

[Bud Brewster]

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Joe Dante has interesting things to say about this movie, based on his fond memories of it from his childhood. The YouTube video is short and entertaining.
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Joe Dante on FRANKENSTEIN meets the WOLFMAN


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Just watched this fav film of mine again.

The finale' clearly does show that Baroness Frankenstein & Dr. Mannering have escaped from the waters from the blown up dam as they pour down in a deluge upon the Frankenstein castle. We see them standing in silent witness to the destruction.

However, we do not see Maleva (Maria Ouspenskya) standing next to them, or anywhere else at the end of the movie. Did she escape in time? We'll never know if the kind hearted gypsy woman perished in the end or not?

[Bud Brewster]

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Wikipedia has this to say in the "Production" section.
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Maria Ouspenskaya suffered an ankle injury, and Lugosi collapsed on set and was ordered home by a physician.
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Perhaps the elderly Maria was unable to shoot any more scenes before the production wrapped up.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Good idea, scotpens. I guess the idea was more "doable" than I thought.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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I downloaded a 5.3 GB version of Frankensiein Meets the Wolfman from Archive.org. It looks great, but it took several hours to download. I put it on my WeTransfer account. Here's the link.

https://we.tl/t-t6lV0X7d2I

Then I did a test to see how long it would take to download it again, this time from my WeTransfer account. It only took about 5 minutes at my connection speed of 100 Mb per second.

Enjoy it, Guys.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)