House of Frankenstein (1944)

Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) regales his hunchbacked cellmate Daniel (J. Carroll Naish in a surprisingly tepid performance) with tales of how he had nearly put the brain of a human into a dog. This gives Daniel hope. If brain switcheroos were possible, wouldn't that mean his own brain could be removed to a better home than the misshapen body he's now trapped in? A thunderstorm destroys their prison, and they escape to find refuge in the company of a traveling carnival. It seems the carnival owner (George Zucco) has possession of the skeleton of Count Dracula (John Carradine), who can be revived by removing the wooden stake from the area of his heart. Niemann has the hunchback kill the owner, and then resurrects Dracula to kill those who had sent him to prison.

Dracula has other plans, and his part of the story is resolved 27 minutes into the movie. Later, Niemann and the hunchback encounter a gypsy caravan where Daniel falls in love with a beautiful gypsy girl: shades of Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame." She winds up traveling with them to Frankenstein's ruined castle, where they find Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange, his first appearance in this role) and the Wolf Man frozen in ice. Niemann thaws them out, finding the Monster fairly inert and the Wolf Man changed back to the tormented Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.). To Daniel's misery, the gypsy girl falls in love with Talbot, unaware of his lupine alter ego. Meanwhile, Niemann promises both the hunchback and Talbot new bodies; but for some reason he wants to put Talbot's brain into the Monster's body.

Where would Daniel's brain go? Talbot's body? The gypsy girl's? A stray dog's? The movie already has ten times more plot than it needs; maybe this detail got lost. I didn't even mention Sig Ruman as a burgomeister; Peter Coe as his smiley son with a face full of baby fat; or Anne Gwynne as Coe's wife and Dracula's would-be mistress. Oh, and Lionel Atwill returns as the Inspector from "Son of Frankenstein"—but what happened to his mechanical right arm? Now both arms seem to be real.

"Bride of Â…" and "Son of Â…" were tongue-in-cheek, but "House of Â…" is asinine. It has the kind of unintentional surrealism that results not from an artistic mind, but from studio executives demanding that X number of popular elements go into their new product. It reminded me of old Saturday morning cartoons like "Jabberjaw," which featured a shark ("Jaws" was popular) that talked like Curly (the Three Stooges), complained that he got no respect (Rodney Dangerfield), and solved mysteries ("Scooby Doo") with a teen rock band ("Josie and Pussycats"). Here we get: The Mad Scientist! Frankenstein's Monster! The Hunchback! Dracula! The Wolf Man!

You can't hate a movie this wacky, especially when isolated scenes are effective. (The Wolf Man always frightens me, even when he meets Abbott and Costello.) But you have to wonder what James Whale would have done had he been forced to cram all these monsters into a single movie. Would the project have dispirited him, or would he have created something even more weird and wonderful than "Bride of Frankenstein"?

Fmovies: Okay, let's get this straight right off the slab - not the best Universal monster movie ever made, but tons of fun! Gets an extra star due to sheer number of monsters in the film; Boris Karloff as the mad scientist, Lon Chaney Jr. as the wolfman, J. Carol Naish as the hunchback, Glen Strange as the monster, and John Carradine as Dracula! Whew! And they manage to pull it all off convincingly. What more could one ask for? This is a fun, fast paced, monster rally. Check it out - if you enjoy the Universal monster movies, you'll love this one.

The movie begins with evil Dr. Gustav Niemann and his sidekick, Daniel roaming the countryside doing evil and making a few bucks on the side. It's a simple life traveling the countryside and creating mayhem, but somebody's gotta do it, right?! Well, the maniacal doctor has a lot of unforeseen luck, as he stumbles first upon the skeleton of Dracula (who he wisely decides to revive). For some odd reason, the long-dead Dracula comes back not as Bela Lugosi but John Carradine. While a decent enough villain, it just made no sense why Lugosi didn't reprise the role. Anyway, they later discover the Frankenstein monster and the Wolfman frozen in a cave (since their last film) and spend much of their time trying to revive them--so they can kick butt and spread terror. Well, they did not foresee that the Wolfman, when in the form of nice-guy Larry Talbot, didn't want to spread terror and death (shucks). Well, the plan is shot and evil is thwarted. Cool.

Strengths of the film are the evil doctor--he's a really nasty menace, having three monsters instead of the usual one and the fact that it is a Universal horror film with all its campy fun. The weaknesses are that the series is getting a little old, the pathos concerning Daniel falling for the gypsy girl is a tad annoying, and John Carradine just isn't and never could be Dracula!

House of Frankenstein fmovies. House of Frankenstein features Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine alongside the masterful Boris Karloff -- who is absolutely amazing for sheer presence alone -- as an enthusiastic, budding mad-scientist named Dr. Niemann who escapes from prison after a bolt of lightning inexplicably strikes the granite reformatory that he and his servant -- a hunchback assistant played by J. Carrol Naish -- are bound in.

Fortunately, after his escape, Niemann comes across the creepy Professor Bruno Lampini, who is conveniently taking a traveling show of horrors across the country. His main attraction is the skeletal remains of Count Dracula (complete with wooden stake jutting from ribs). As expected, Niemann kills Lampini, poses as the renowned crackpot, and revives the vampire (played by a 'princely' young Carradine), who, in turn, takes revenge on one of Niemann's enemies as a favor. Oh, and then Dracula dies like a wussy and his dull little role is over as if it never existed since it never helped move along or even remotely create a plot out of this revolving-door mishmash of monster cameos (read on).

Though this is essentially a sequel to 1943's Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, the title sort of refers to Neimann's aspiration to carry on Dr. Henry Frankenstein's work (speaking of which, the Monster doesn't appear until about 45 minutes into the film), though Neimann's objectives are never quite revealed to the viewer. Nevertheless, while exploring the ruins of the great doctor's decimated Vasarian castle and to generate some semblance of plot, Neimann finds the monster offspring of Frankenstein frozen in a block of ice near the Wolfman (Chaney), who is quickly unthawed and put to work by Neimann. For some reason, the escaped doctor intends to switch the brain of Frankenstein's Monster with the brain of the Wolf Man, which, in itself, might have been funny. I just wonder if the Wolfman's curse would have followed the brain or the body, and how a Wolfman with poor motor-skills would have convincingly frightened someone - `I'll rip you to shreds like a wild dog as soon as I make my way over to the other side of this room!')

Again, aside from revenge, I couldn't really detect a plot, and the film has the single most abrupt ending I've ever seen! Plus, Frankenstein's Monster (played by cowboy actor Glenn Strange rather than Karloff) does absolutely nothing as the film plods on! Besides getting to toss a hunchback through a window (and who doesn't enjoy doing just that every now and again), he descends - quite dramatically -- into quicksand and lies around comatose the rest of the time (how about a cross-promotion film with the Weekend At Bernie's franchise -- Bernie Does Vasaria?).

As the famous Universal Studios monsters continued to parade out, I began to think of the marketing possibilities this film might have had if the whole state of affairs would have been placed in the here-and-now - playsets, lunch-boxes, limited-edition bobble-heads, House of Frankenstein-flavored fruit bars, Taco Bell Wolfman Burrito tie-ins, Dr. Neimann chemistry sets, etc.! In short, House of Frankenstein was obviously a crass attempt to bleed quick dollars out of a highly profitable franchise. There was no attempt at veiled artistry, and you can almost hear executives counting out the money beneath the hackneyed layer of canned shrieks! On a lighter note, the film would have easily qualified for 'self-parody' status with a bonus appearance from the

Boris Karloff returns to the Frankenstein series after being away for five years,he doesnt play the monster,but a mad scientist,named Gustav Nieman. He has a friend named Daniel,they are both condemned to life in prison,for expierments very similar to that of Dr.Frankenstein. Once they are busted loose,they kill a Professor Lampenni a head of a travelling show of horrors.Then they make their way to Vasiara now a village in all most every Frankenstein,and Wolf Man movie. On the way they resurrect Dracula. Whom is played very badly by John Carridine. I would have liked to see Bela Lugosi,but his talent would be wasted here.Dracula falls for a young lady,and tries to make his move,Nieman uses Dracula to kill those who sent him to prison. When the young lady's husband,goes to rescue her,Nieman afraid of being caught throws Dracula's coffin out of Lampenni's wagon,Dracula is killed by the sunlight. Once they reach Vasaria,they meet a gypsy show,Daniel falls for a beauitful young gypsy. They bring her with on their journey. Once Nieman reaches the Frankenstein ruin,he resurrects Laurnece Talbot,and The Frankenstein Monster,to do more of his evil bidding...

House of Frankenstein will never reach up to Whale's Frankenstein,or Bride of Frankenstein,Browing's Dracula,or Waggner's Wolf Man,but it is fun,and a good pop corn film. Lon Chaney Jr is in his top act here as The Wolf Man. Glenn Strange is actually a good Frankenstein monster,if he were given more screen time,I`m sure he would have been an excellent monster. Karloff is in the top of his game as the mad doctor. He is insane,and a dishonest man. Though the plot is cheesy,the movie still is rather enjoyable. The Dracula plot doesnt work much,it just should have been a Frankenstein meets Wolf Man 2

3/4

Mad scientist Boris Karloff escapes from prison with hunchbacked assistant Daniel (J. Carrol Naish). He plans revenge against the men who put him there and wants to revive the Frankenstein monster. Along the way they revive Dracula (John Carradine) and Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) pops up as the Wolf Man. Silly but enjoyable all-star monster mash. Naish, Karloff, Carradine are all very good as is Elena Verdugo as a gypsy who falls in love with Talbot. Chaney Jr. just walks through his role. No great shakes (or scares) but there's tons of atmosphere, beautiful sets, pretty good special effects and it moves quickly. Worth seeing.