FOR THE FUN OF IT:

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES #29: CHANEY JR, LUGOSI ... STRANGE

"Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." 

Classic Monsters of the Movies #29 is one mighty, ferocious issue, with articles from reliable editors/researchers, Nige Burton and Jamie Jones, abetted by thorough contributors, Alex Hopkins, Marcus Turner and David Huckvale.

George Waggner/Curt Siodmak's The Wolf Man is, as Daniel Horne's atmospheric cover conveys, the issue's headliner, with fondness bestowed to its star, Lon Chaney Jr., who plays the cursed Lawrence Talbot. Acknowledgement is also given to his prime costars, Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya and Evelyn Ankers. Beyond any debate, the assessment is exquisite, as are its complementing photos.

To dip further into the Universal flavor, there's an adoring article on Glenn Strange, Frankenstein's Monster in House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, as well as other fantastic entries, such as The Black Raven, Master Minds, The Mad Monster and The Monster Maker, in addition to his westerns roles. 

For additional seasoning, Issue #29 is accented by Lugosi's B-flick favorite, The Ape Man; the Hughes Brothers' Jack the Ripper exploration, From Hell; the vindictive yet humorous Theatre of Blood, with Vincent Price and Diana Rigg;  animal-attacking terror that salutes Jaws, The Birds, Them, Frogs, Razorback, The Devil Bat, The Alligator People, King Kong 1933, The Fly 1958, Pet Sematary 1998, Cujo, Kingdom of the Spiders ... Arachnophobia; and Tai Ortiz's stylish, modern-macabre short, Positively Do Not Open. 

Classic Monsters of the Movies is a rich and satisfying periodical. Issue #29 proves it once again. 

Order at 

https://www.classic-monsters.com/shop/product/classic-monsters-magazine-issue-29/

HAPPY FRANKENSTEIN DAY 2022 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY SHELLEY)

 

HAPPY 75TH ANNIVERSARY...FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN!!!

Today marks the 75th anniversary release of perhaps the most influential monster-movie team-up in history..."Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man"!!!

The film, written by Curt Siodmak and directed by Roy William Neill, sports a memorable Hans Salter score and one helluva cast: Lon Chaney, Jr.; Bela Lugosi; Maria Ouspenskaya; Ilona Massey; Patric Knowles; and Lionel Atwill. It also paved the way for such significant monster-movie rallies as "House of Frankenstein", "House of Dracula" and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein".

The film is both thrilling, moving and still holds up today: an indisputable classic that demonstrates how to do a crossover right!!!

FAREWELL, ELENA VERDUGO...

You were best known to television viewers for your portrayal of Consuelo Lopez on "Marcus Welby, M.D.", as well as your variety of movie appearances, including that in the adventurous "Gene Autry and the Mounties". 

To horror fans, however, you're most adored for your pairings with Lon Chaney Jr. in "Inner Sanctum's The Frozen Ghost" and of course, the legendary "House of Frankenstein". In the latter, your alluring, Esmeralda-inspired Ilonka charmed me (and many a restless lad) to no end on many a Saturday afternoon, bringing warmth and compassion to Universal's first monster rally.

You'll be dearly missed, but fondly remembered for the decades of joyful performances you bestowed upon your legion of followers. 

Monster Team-up Reflection #15: Al Adamson/Sam Sherman's Dracula vs Frankenstein

Al Adamson/Sam Sherman's "Dracula vs Frankenstein" really doesn't require any elaborate exposure among my readership. It's as popular in some respects as the Universal and Toho monster team-ups. In fact, as a marketing gimmick, the film was ballyhooed for recapturing the former's glory, but in truth, "Drac vs Frank" is a specialized product of its '71 time frame, despite featuring J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney Jr and Kenneth Strickfaden's Frankenstein workshop props. In this respect, "Drac vs Frank" feels very much in tune with the works of Jess Franco, Paul Naschy and greatly smacks of Sherman's Independent International "Blood Island" franchise.

That "Drac vs Frank" doesn't deftly match the Universal style isn't surprising, since the film wasn't originally designed as a monster team-up. It initially went under the title, "Blood Freaks/Blood Seekers" (a quasi biker/horror flick). Nevertheless, it was from the "Blood" footage that Chaney's appearance was allegedly culled, with Naish eventually re-entering the scene (as an official, wheel-chaired Frankenstein descendant) to strengthen the new format. 

Sam Sherman/William Pugsley's story revolves around Frankenstein sending forth his mute, axe-armed henchmen, Groton (Chaney), to slay young women, who he then reassembles for implied resurrection. Meanwhile, Dracula (Zandor "Brain of Blood" Vorkov, aka Robert Engel) pays the doctor a surprise visit one night, promising to assist him with his gruesome tinkering and presenting the Monster (John "Incredible Two-Headed Transplant" Bloom), whom one of Frankenstein's colleagues (Famous Monsters editor, Forrest J Ackerman) had sneakily stored away. Dracula also hints to Frankenstein that he will help the mad genius gain revenge on those peers who have crippled and ridiculed him.

Regina Carrol (Adamson's lovely wife and star of many similar exploitation efforts) portrays a Vegas showgirl (which she was in actuality), who goes in search of her sister: one of Groton's victims. Along the way, she meets a mature bohemian, Anthony "Hawaiian Eye" Eisley, who is already wary of the doctor's activities and eager to expose them.

On the supporting side, Russ "Satan's Sadists" Tamblyn portrays a biker who rules the hippy-haven setting, while Bela Lugosi co-star, Angelo Rossitto plays an edgy, scene-stealing barker and as such, tremendously enhances the ominous atmosphere.

Adamson's direction is competently smooth, though the original ending shot was changed by Sherman, with new footage added after-the-fact (and Bloom replaced by Shelly Weiss). The ending attached to the film is rather notorious among horror fans, but the original concept seems more in line with the older films that "Drac vs Frank" purportedly tries to emulate and would have acted as a better springboard for a sequel, if such were ever to have emerged. (Incidentally, Adamson did promise such before his untimely death.)

Paul Glickman and Gary Graver's cinematography strikingly captures the bright boardwalk sequences. William Lava's score is also effective, though sparsely used, often taking a backseat to catchy contemporary tracks.

As it stands, "Drac vs Frank" is a would-be attempt at stealing a style it could never truly hope to recreate. That's okay. It instead comes across as a hip, psychedelic ride, and for those who have absorbed its televised showings, it remains a favorite, even if it doesn't generally gain consistent accolades. Again, that's okay. This one belongs with the likes of  "Count Yorga, Vampire", "Blacula" and "Fury of the Wolfman": low-budget, labors of love that habitually lured audiences to their local drive-ins and despite it all, utterly entertained. Indeed, watching "Drac vs Frank" in the privacy of one's living room may not fully recapture the glory of such times, but it's sure as hell a step in the right direction. Indulge, my friends, indulge!!!

Monster Team-up Reflection #4: Wolfman vs Dracula

 

I get a kick out of the alternate-history idea of movies and franchises…generally. I guess it comes down to how bad I might feel once I learn I’ve been fooled. Fortunately, I leapt in on the Orson Welles Batman movie-hoax well after it was exposed. On the other hand,  when I once searching for some general King Kong info, I came across what appeared to be a new film on the making of Dino Kong, starring Danny DeVito as De Laurentiis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Rick Backer, I thought--gosh, oh-gee, a monster-movie "Fitzcaraldo! This is going to be mega-cool, only then to be devastatingly disappointed to find it only an affable ploy.

 

Now we have a series of "altnerate-history" scripts that have emerged (some reportedly early drafts or unfilmed concepts) courtesy of author Phillip J. Riley, with the concensus of one in particular being questionable; though, indeed, "Wolfman vs Dracula" may have truly stemmed from actual Universal Studios consideration, since it appears (based on at least one informative blog I read), the NY Times reported the studio green-lighting such as a Technicolor follow-up to "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" in early 1944. However, as often happens with such ambitious prospects (e.g., Willis O'Brien's "King Kong vs Frankenstein" and RKO's "Mighty Joe Young Meets Tarzan"), it is only ever the grand premise that seems to have emerged and not a full-fledge script.

 

What Riley presents (with the common belief being that he composed the manuscript himself) is attributed to scriptwriter Bernard Schubert: something which certainly jives with the NY Times article. Schubert, incidentally, scripted Tod Browning's "London After Midnight" remake, "Mark of the Vampire", with Lugosi, and would go on to script "Frozen Ghost" and "Mummy's Curse", both starring Chaney Jr.

 

Important note: many have criticized the opening of "Mummy's Curse" for commencing with Kharis and Ananka emerging from a Louisiana bog, whereas the previous entry, "Mummy's Ghost", ends twenty-five years prior, with the two descending into a Massachusetts swamp. That the "Wolf vs Drac" script opens with Talbot's preserved body found in a location other than the collapsed Castle Frankenstein (the site where "Frank Meets Wolf" ends, and rather in a spot closer to Talbot's circumstance at the end of "House of Frank") arguably fits into Schubert's continuity style, and maybe this plot device is contained in "Wolf vs Drac" for this very in-the-know reason. (Also, the script has Dracula enter the story already resurrected; his return from dormancy never remotely explained.)

 

Despite the missing bridges between events in "Frank Meets Wolf" to "Wolf vs Drac", the latter projects a familiar, Universal story structure, with dialogue that matches Talbot and Dracula perfectly, to the point where I could actually hear Chaney Jr. and Lugosi's voices in my head as I read.

 

 

Also, the story brings Talbot and Dracula gradually together via seemingly fated means, with Talbot transmforing after being awakened from suspended animation and trekking to the vicinity of an executioner's home. Since Tablot can only be killed by a silver bullet when in werewolf form, he ultimately requests the hangman to perform the ghastly deed, but the poor man is reluctant, thinking Talbot mad. The hangman's daughter, meanwhile, is being courted by none other than Count Dracula. (Evidently, her father doesn't object to Dracula's suspicious advances, realizing that other male villagers will not entertain marrying his daughter, simply because they hold a superstitious aversion to his morbid occupation.)

 

In hopes of prompting the father into killing him, Talbot runs off with the young lady, and they return wedded. Dracula naturally takes offense to this brash move, and from there, his adversarial relationship with Talbot mounts, ultimately culminating in an inevitable confrontation, with Talbot gallantly defending his new love, while Dracula adapts full man-bat form.

 

Indeed, the man-bat concept is reminiscent of Gary Oldman's brief, but memorable transformation in "Bram Stoker's Dracula", as well as Greg Wise's demon-bat persona in "House of Frank '97", and of course, smacks of the infamous Batman villain/monster. (I must wholeheartedly confess that I boldly play upon the idea in my upcoming novel, "Flask of Eyes", with the lead vampire also adapting a similar hybrid look.) 

 

The latter device does seem rather modern, though, and not so much in synch with Universal's otherwise bat-morphing approach to the vampire king, but if it had been implemented, it would have proven most interesting to see what Jack Pierce's make-up/suit may have looked like for Lugosi (or even his possible stand-in), or if the flying sequences were pulled off, whether animation or puppetry would have been utilized.

 

Anyway, genuine Schubert or not, I found "Wolf vs Drac" a fun read, though I must confess, the ending, despite its bristling energy, wasn't quite what I expected. Nonetheless, I was able to fashion another Universal, Chaney/Lugosi flick in my head. That, in itself, makes Riley's offering worth a whirl, and for the breezy time in which it took to read, I found my time more than well spent.