house of frankenstein
The undying monster... triumphant climax of Frankenstein's genius.
I've never embraced House of Frankenstein like many other Universal Studios fans. I think it benefits from all the privileges that come with skilled crew, sets, and props that Universal provided; director Erle C Kenton is trapped, though, within the confines of a stuffed script as the demand to get in all the monsters is important instead of a focused story that would better develop the characters in the film.
But, are there some incredible sets available for good use. The prison which has a major roof collapse (amazing what lightning can do in these movies) containing Karloff's devious, forward-thinking Frankenstein-disciple, Dr. Niemann and his hunch-backed fellow prisoner, Daniel (J. Carrol Naish, who I think came off best from the jam-packed cast, although John Carradine is also rather fun as Dracula). The darkened woods leading to Herr Hussman's home he shares with granddaughter, Rita (Anne Gwynne), and Rita's husband, Carl (Peter Coe) and the foggy, marshy wilderness that encircles the castle of Niemann. The ruins of Frankenstein's castle that gives way to an underground "glacial ice cavern" where the frozen bodies of Larry Talbot (still in Wolf Man form) and Frankenstein's Monster are found by Niemann and Daniel. And Niemann's castle which has the type of equipment and machinery that we would normally see operated by Frankenstein, this time a new mad scientist, more cold and calculated, certainly a manipulative sociopath who cares only about his own success and revenge against those responsible for putting him in prison for his ghastly raids of the graves to further his own experiments in brain research. Kenton has a lot at his disposal and, to his credit, puts them to effective use.
The story is a mess. You have Niemann wanting to place a new brain in his newly discovered Monster, with designs on continuing a research that would probably continue until his own death (unless he could make that undiscovered find that would lead to his own expansion of life, his future plans seem uncertain). Daniel falls in love, just head over heels, for a needy gypsy girl, found dancing for a public of ogling onlookers willing to shell out to see her quiver those hips, rescuing her from the whipping of her gypsy traveling troup's thieving leader. But she, Ilonka (Elena Verdugo), has cast her gaze upon the weary Larry Talbot who is fed up (as we all are) with the full moon curse that causes him to kill. When he does attack a villager, the body of this victim later found by the locals of Visaria on the outskirts of Niemann's castle, Larry will pressure the scientist to work on his brain as promised (Larry found the treasured notes of Frankenstein as Niemann requested in exchange for brain surgery that would quell the lycanthropy tormenting him). Daniel is jealous of both Larry and the Monster because Ilonka pays no attention to him and Niemann is concerned, no obsessed, with his resurging the desecated tissues and lifeforce of Frankenstein's creation. The returning werewolf, Ilonka's willing to risk her life to put an end to her beloved's curse, Niemann's focus completely on the Monster a detriment to him later because of the events happening all around him, the disappearances of villagers that Niemann has taken, removing their brains with help from Daniel, and the lack of attention that should have been given to Larry's plight all truthfully deter from the success Niemann might have had if he were not so selfish and determined to get revenge on those who wronged him, not to mention, give a bit too much time to the repair of the damaged Monster. A lot going on.
It's a wonderful night. The darkness beckons to me. Another world. The world I see is far away, yet very near. A strange and beautiful world in which one may be dead and yet alive.
My favorite part, actually, concerns the revival of Dracula, although the methods behind his return are rather dodgy. The stake in his skeleton (no heart is present so whatever is holding Dracula's lifeforce in check is rather confusing), removed by Niemann on accident (he wanted to stab Hussman with it) gives life back to the resting bones of Dracula (played by Carradine, with gray in his hair). Dracula agrees to help Niemann kill Hussman (a burgomaster in the region of Riegelberg), as the scientist tells him he'll serve the Count and watch after his body during the sunlight. This is an obvious lie as Niemann just wants Hussman dead. Dracula becomes enamored with Hussman's granddaughter, slickly earning the family's trust with his pleasant, mannered personality and artistrocratic, cultured appearance. That's what I liked about Carradine as Dracula: he doesn't seem to be a menace, the predator that feeds from the living, a stark contrast to the Christopher Lee type of Dracula, that is imposing. Which Dracula would you approach? Carradine or Lee? That is a strength of a Carradine type Dracula...he gains the trust of people because he doesn't seem to pose a threat. The use of the signet ring is a nice touch I like, and Gwynne really sells his mental strangling of her as she speaks about the dead, that world Dracula belongs to. It ends really as it is getting good much to my disappointment. Mainly because those involved in the movie were more emotionally involved with the second half's characters, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster. This isn't Dracula's movie, however, so I will just concede.
I'm going to give your brain a new home...in the skull of the Frankenstein Monster.
Karloff was more than well equipped to handle such a role as the scheming, immoral scientist, Niemann, who used the characters of this film to the benefit of his own grand, master plan, but because of his own blind hatred for being placed in the prison and ambitions for seeing Frankenstein's creation brought back to full capacity, he will fail. Naish has an interesting character. The movie wants to have it both ways. We are to feel sympathy for him because of his ugly body and how the gypsy girl is repulsed by him (although, she tries to be his friend...until Larry shows up to take her full attention), yet he kills willingly, without hesitation, for Niemann. When he whips a strapped Monster, it only further illustrates his darkside and desire to be handsome, recognizing that Niemann has used him only as a killing machine, probably never serious about repairing the hunch-back's crippled body. To Naish's credit, he does a lot with the part and is set apart by the script, music, and Kenton's direction to gain acceptance from us because the question is would he be such a monster if his body wasn't so misshapen.
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