Universal Twofer: The Halloween Diary (October 5th)

I think tonight’s double feature shows Chaney at his best and worst. I chose The Wolf Man & The Ghost of Frankenstein as a Universal double bill. I will start phasing in Amicus and Universal out. God, it would be nice if I could get in like 8 movies a day. That shit ain’t happening. Gotsta work for that moolah. Enough being silly. The brass tacks.

I love The Wolf Man. Every last thing about it. I think it has the tragedy, a strong sympathetic character that doesn’t deserve his fate, a village in abject terror, a wilderness with all that darkness and fog, Pierce’s marvelous trend-setting werewolf makeup, a solid cast top to bottom, dialogue that is quotable and memorable, a father having to kill his son, the deaths of innocents thanks to a full moon curse, hands that reveal the pentagram marking them for death, Chaney’s son gaining his own reputation as a horror icon, and Chaney, Jr. sharing the screen with Evelyn Ankers for the first time (I was quite surprised to read they didn’t get along; maybe their animosity brew a startling chemistry that only the screen could externalize. Claude Rains as the frustrated father worried about his son, Chaney, while Ankers is engaged to a groundskeeper while yearning for Chaney, even agreeing to go anywhere with him when it appears he’s in trouble and needing to flee. Interestingly, this wasn’t Ralph Bellamy’s stronger Universal part (that would come in the next film I mention), as his police officer has a rather flippant, wiseacre view of all the “werewolf talk” he hears as a burdened Chaney requests from his psychiatrist a dialogue about the possibility of lycanthropy. Maria Ouspenskaya as the “old gypsy woman” (her part, to me, in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, is just as fun as here) who loses her son (Bela Lugosi, in a rather small but pivotal part; his character is the one responsible for biting and cursing Chaney to begin with) thanks to a particular wolf head cane Chaney uses to defend himself in the deep dark foggy woods. To me this is about three particular talents: Chaney as the doomed victim of werewolvery, Pierce’s gnarly makeup that gives his star a ferocious beast not to be in close proximity of, and the cinematography of Joseph A Valentine. A rewarding experience every October.

Ghost of Frankenstein has one of my favorite lines regarding lightning and Frankenstein being mama and papa to The Monster. Ygor stole the show in Son of Frankenstein (not an easy feat considering the talent involved), and I think he is the (devious) heart and (wretched) soul of Ghost of Frankenstein. Again, not an easy accomplishment considering you have the likes of Atwill (in one of his best Universal parts besides Murders in the Zoo & Son of Frankenstein, as a bitter brain surgeon once reputable until “a slight miscalculation”) and Hardwicke (as yet another Frankenstein ancestor, the brother of Wolf that Ygor just happens to know, inexplicably; Ludwig is a brain surgeon and doctor known to work with mentally unstable patients). Chaney Jr. got his chance to slide into the Frankenstein Monster costume, but he’s a sour-faced, stilted bore. This is not the kind of character that lives on after him. This is the just a sign that The Monster was no longer a viable Universal monster. Ygor was the true villain here, aiming his sights on getting his wicked brain within the skull of the hulking body of The Monster. Chaney’s face never escapes its dour grumpiness, and his walk is perhaps the inspiration for how Glenn Strange would later march around with the stiff arms and legs, often imitated by trick-or-treaters on Halloween for generations to come. The use of a little girl (and a melody applied) to try and soften The Monster to the viewer just doesn’t work…The Monster has to have a personality for this to work. Only worse that The Monster for Chaney was his shambling Mummy. No worries, though, as the rest of the cast is there to salvage Chaney’s non-performance. Ankers returns as Hardwicke’s daughter (no mother, no surprise), engaged to Bellamy (yet another police officer) who earns her pops’ ire for insisting on searching his hospital/home for The Monster (held in secret by Hardwicke in one of the secret chamber patient rooms). Even at the beginning, you get to see Frankenstein’s castle dynamited to rubble with Ygor and The Monster narrowly escaping (led by the likes of a wasted Dwight Frye, a far cry his time as the scientist’s deviant assistants). The horn used by Ygor to bring a calm to The Monster, and his masterplan to dupe Atwill into surgically planting his brain in The Monster’s brain give Lugosi another memorable part for him to sink his teeth into. This guy just oozes deviousness from every pore. Hardwicke talking things over with the ghost of his father (not Colin Clive, who sadly died at the age of 37!) who persuades him not to dissect The Monster (harkening back to Van Sloan’s professor almost doing the exact same thing in Frankenstein); this is a rather surreal moment in the film…it didn’t quite work at all to me. This scene has the *ghost* encouraging Hardwicke to give The Monster a “good brain” (that of a surgical assistant The Monster kills for no good reason). The Monster is basically just a killing machine. There isn’t one inkling of humanity Karloff brought to the character that illicits our care or reason to hope for some peace. Chaney blows it. Atwill doesn’t get a lot of time, but he does express all that jealousy and festering contempt for Hardwicke, holding his repulsion inside due to the need for work (it is obvious his mistake during a brain transplantation cost him the chance to work as a chief surgeon).

Earl C Kenton was behind the directorial reins of the two secondary series “House of…” movies, and I think Ghost is his best of the three. Getting to work with Lugosi certainly helped. If you give Lugosi a part that beckons his gifts and uses his accent efficiently, the actor had gravitas. Here, once again, in my opinion, Ygor is the most colorful…always scheming and up to no good, I just think Lugosi is a blast to watch. He makes the whole film worth watching. Universal gave less money after the heyday of Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein, but their back lot is still bitchin.

I'll say that the camera work that makes Chaney's Monster look larger than life is a major plus. He looks menacing even if his facial expressiveness leaves much to be desired.