Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Bill Slocum The Universal monster series combines two of its horror franchises – Frankenstein and the Wolf Man – in this atmospheric but thematically confused entry.Lyle Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) lies at rest after the events that brought his end in "The Wolf Man" until a couple of greedy graverobbers choose the night of a full moon to open his tomb. A reanimated Talbot finds himself in London. Kindly Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) regards him merely as a "poor devil of unsound mind" and tries to do the last thing Talbot wants, restore him to full health.I can but echo the views of other user reviews by saying what we have here is a promising sequel idea undone by a lame second half. The spooky opening sequence follows the graverobbers as they sneak through a darkened cemetery. A howling wind, squawking crows, and eerie flute music fill our ears until the panning camera stops at the tomb. Once inside, they banter about all the jewels and cash poor Lyle was buried with, not noticing the moonlit hand rising from the opened sarcophagus until it is too late...Director Roy William Neill worked on Sherlock Holmes movies at this time, and invests this portion of the film with the same ominous mystery. The question of Talbot's apparent madness, and whether Mannering will figure out the supernatural truth of the matter, is developed well.Legendary make-up man Jack Pierce is on his game, too; unlike "The Wolf Man" we get here early on a full transformation sequence, a thing of wonder even when you see the dissolves. For his part, Chaney doesn't just lie there, but works his eyes, like a frightened boy at first, then as a cunning beast once the moon takes its full effect on him.Chaney is nearly as good through the rest of the film. His is a performance of existential futility. "Now I must go on living," he sighs, after learning the fate of the one man he hoped could bring him peace. "There's no hope for me to die."Unfortunately, that one man who he hoped would kill him is Dr. Frankenstein, which leads us to the second part of the story, the iceberg as it were. While being chased by angry villagers (they always are in these Universal movies), Talbot in Wolf Man form somehow falls into a snowy cave. There Frankenstein's monster (Bela Lugosi) rests in suspended animation. Somehow, Talbot gets the idea of reviving the monster to help him get what he's after.The gang's (almost) all here: Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, but all playing different parts this time. In "The Wolf Man," Lugosi was the gypsy who infected Talbot with his werewolf state; now he's the monster Talbot relies upon for his "cure."The standout scene in the second half, oddly enough, is a village singalong that turns on the unfortunate lyric "For life is short but death is long," which really irks Talbot. He knows better.But the Frankenstein element is too forced, and after a while pulls in Dr. Mannering to play the role of mad scientist. Knowles is okay in light support but lost when we are asked to believe this placid character seized by the same delusions that pushed Victor Frankenstein five movies ago."I can't destroy Frankenstein's creation," he mutters. "I must see it at its full power."Of course, it is exactly that the audience wants to see. So what does the film do? After keeping the monster grunting in the wings for half the film, it sets up a big fight between it and the Wolf Man only to render it moot a minute later by a surprise flooding. Who builds a castle right under a dam anyway?The key problem with "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" occurs long before, when we are pulled away from England and the mystery story about Talbot's origins. I wasn't impressed with "The Wolf Man" but found the first half of this film a creepy and engaging continuation of its core idea. Too bad it transforms into a trumped-up monster mash that never finds its feet.

Spikeopath In an effort to revitalise their monster franchise at the box offices, Universal hit on the idea of of featuring more than one monster in a movie. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was to be the first of many such ventures.Lon Chaney Jr is back as Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man, who after being awoken by unsuspecting grave robbers, is once again tortured by his curse and desperately wants an end to his misery. Seeking out the Gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), the pair of them head off to find Dr. Frankenstein in the hope of finding a solution. He's dead, though, but there's another scientist on hand for help and as the villagers once again take unkindly to someone rekindling old nightmares, while the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi) is found preserved in ice...It's in effect a sequel to both The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein, though as would become the norm, Monster Frank is a bit part player in a film bearing his name. The film is delightfully brisk and with Chaney doing good work as the tortured Talbot - with the relationship between Maleva and himself quite touching - the story carries emotional weight. However, Lugosi doesn't look right for the role of the monster, Patrick Knowles' switcharoo to a mad scientist is ill thought out, while the big smack down finale is sadly all too brief.Nobody in the film, except maybe Chaney, was done any favours in the editing and writing rooms, but it's still a whole bunch of fun for fans of the Universal Monsters series. 6/10

atinder I didn't think it was as good as I expected to beI thought it started off really well but as the movie went on.I felt like something was missing from previous 2 movies for both seriesI didn't really like how the movie ended far to quick for me , I felt like they a least could of done a bit of aftermathI was not impressed with the fight scence , I was looking forward to that see but guess now away day it look a bit tameThe acting in this movie was really good from the whole cast I am going to give this movie 5 out of 10

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) In this entry in the Universal Monsters series, our old friend the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is unintentionally brought back to life a few years after his demise at the end of The Wolf Man (1941). In human form, he's actually Larry Talbot, and for the sake of plot expediency he already knows he turns into a wolf when the moon is full. Which it is, during almost the entire movie. After killing a couple of guys, Talbot winds up in a sanatorium run by Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles). Talbot wants desperately to die so he can finally rid himself of this horrible curse, and the old gypsy woman (Maria Ouspenskaya) who he knew from The Wolf Man tells him only one guy can really help - Dr. Frankenstein himself.Only the good doctor's dead, dead as a doornail, killed when villagers blew up his castle in Son of Frankenstein. These same villagers are right angry that Talbot and the gypsy even bring up the Frankenstein name, for some reason. Anyway, it's not until the movie's nearly half over that we finally see the grand titular meeting, when Talbot stumbles among the ruins of the castle and finds the monster, encased in a block of ice. (It's in an ice cave, although I'm not sure where all the ice came from.) After thawing out the monster (played by an unrecognizable Bela Lugosi), Talbot searches in vain for the doctor's diary. But luckily, Frankenstein's daughter is still around, the Baroness Elsa (Ilona Massey), and she helps Talbot find the diary. Then it's up to Dr. Mannering to hook up Dr. Frankenstein's old apparatus and - get this - switch the wires so that instead of giving life to the Monster, energy is drained off of both him and Talbot. Things don't go as planned, strange as it may seem.There's plenty of that old Universal atmosphere, although the Monster's lurching gait looks kind of silly. Here's why it's not, though: he's lurching because he's blind. He's blind because the mind of Ygor in one of the earlier films was switched with that of the Monster. That's why Frank's Monster knows where some of the doctor's research is and why he lumbers about with his arms outstretched, as if he just needed a hug. Here's another fun fact - when the villagers are carrying a just-killed girl down the street, demanding justice, they're all carrying torches. Torches that are, yes, unlit. Even when they're searching the forest for the Wolf Man, the torches are unlit. These are not smart villagers.Some familiar Universal horror names are here, too. Lionel Atwill plays the mayor; Dwight Frye is one of the villagers. Martha Vickers, who was in the Bogie classic The Big Sleep a few years later, has an uncredited role, as does Jeff Corey.I saw this movie as part of an interactive event at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland, hosted by Count Gore de Vol. For these showings, the Count stops the movies a couple of times in order to play some trivia or other games, with fabulous prizes. The Count is always good for a hammy, light-hearted performance. Always a treat.The film itself isn't anything to write home about, unless you're really into the continuity thing. The timelines of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein movies don't neatly dovetail, but close enough for government work, as they say. Still a cool movie, made all the better by Count Gore de Vol.