Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man is really more of a Wolf Man sequel than a Frankenstein sequel, which may account for the almost total lack of continuity between it and the previous Monster flick, The Ghost of Frankenstein. It may also be that the studio realized what complete hogwash that one was (though it's awesomely entertaining in its lameness), and figured they'd just blur the lines so no one would notice how much hogwash this one was. Lon Chaney, Jr. reverts to his lycanthrope/misanthrope ways when graverobbers accidentally awaken him in his coffin … how, exactly, he comes back to life is not explained, but of course it happens to be a full moon, so we get some werewolf action right off the bat. Chaney spends most of the movie wringing his hands in despair because he just wants to die, already, and that was probably an appropriate bit of casting; his own depressive streak at being forever trapped in monster movies lends him a strange credibility. The Wolf Man is certainly the whiniest of monsters, and Chaney was the whiniest of actors. Determined to find someone to help him die, Chaney tracks down the gypsy woman whose son was the one who turned him into a werewolf, and she says she's heard of a doctor who might be able to cure him. The doctor, of course, is Frankenstein, though which Doctor Frankenstein she's thinking of is unclear, as they've all been killed or run out of the country. But onward they go to the ruins of the Frankenstein castle in Vasaria, even though there was never previously a Frankenstein castle in Vasaria (it was in Frankenstein). But they find it, wherever and whosever it is, and immediately discover the Monster frozen in an underground cavern. Chaney releases him, and the two become fast friends. The Monster this time around is poor old Bela Lugosi, who rejected the same role in the 1931 original, only to watch Karloff skyrocket to fame. Of course, a key difference between the two is that Karloff was a good actor. Lugosi's Monster is hilariously stiff and self-loathing, not to mention noticeably too short. Fortunately, they don't let Bela speak. Somewhere in the midst of all this there is a musical sequence in the town square with a song about how life is short and death is long, so drink up. This sends Chaney into a rage, as his life is too long, and his deaths too short. Enter Dr. Frank Mannering (Patric Knowles), who tracks Chaney down intending to bring him back to a lunatic asylum, but once he feasts his eyes on the Monster he knows what he must do. Something about being around that ol' zombie turns everyone into Faust. When the experiment goes awry (perhaps these inevitable calamities stem from each successive scientist believing that they can succeed where the original Henry Frankenstein went wrong … and they can do this simply by reading his diary), the Monster and the Wolf Man unleash their hostility on each other (of course, Dr. Frank decided to perform the experiment during a full moon), and this scene is pretty great. There's an unmistakeable subtext of Chaney and Lugosi turning on each other in their pent-up career frustration, like siblings who fight with each other because Dad beats them both too much. Fortunately, one of the mob-minded villagers has the good sense to dynamite the nearby dam (also previously never referred to), and the big monster showdown is brought to an end by the flood of water that tears down the castle. And as with most of these movies, they just end it there, at the point of assumed death for all. It's too bad that more movies don't just end by killing the lead characters. Like, Mask would have ended right when Rocky Dennis died, or Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader died. It's actually more satisfying this way; I love concerts, but I always get antsy during encores.
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