I've been exhausted from work, and I have barely enough time in a week to watch a movie, let alone comment meaningfully on it. It seems the busier I get, and the less time I have, the more ambitious I become.. I should have known better than to attempt a triple feature while I'm so busy.
I've learned my lesson, though: no more artificial deadlines for me! I'll try to update this site at least once every month, but for the foreseeable future, I probably won't be able to manage more frequent additions. In real life, it was Frankenstein who won. When Universal considered following the success of their horror picture with an adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, they asked Lugosi to appear as the monster. He was upset that his features were to be obscured beneath heavy makeup, and that his dialogue would be merely grunts and cries. So the role of the monster was given to a virtually unknown English character actor named William Henry Pratt.
At some point in his early silent film career, the former truck driver Mr. Pratt assumed a pseudonym that also hinted at Eastern European origins, though Slavic rather than Hungarian: BORIS KARLOFF. In some of his early films, he was billed only by the last name: KARLOFF..
- A page for describing Creator: James Rolfe. Born James Duncan Rolfe. A film buff from New Jersey (now supposedly living in Philly) with directing aspirations
- Sometime around the summer of 1988, the program directors at every local T.V.
- 27.5.1922 Belgravia, Lond. 7.6.2015 (93 let) Chelsea, Lond
- Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster have influenced popular culture for at least a century. The work has inspired.
- Quantity: Always in stock. Location: Saint Augustine, FL
Frankenstein (1969) (Los Monstruos del Terror; El Hombre Que Vino De Ummo; The Man Who Came From Ummo; Assignment Terror).
Frankenstein's Monster (Character) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more. Victor Frankenstein (Character) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more.
The Universal version of the Frankenstein monster established itself in the minds of the moviegoing public, and part of its appeal came from the fact that . In Hungary, he had tried to establish himself as B. In his early career in German silent films, he appeared as Ariszt.
His name and his strong Hungarian accent gave him a sense of mysterious otherness that audiences found appealing. Lugosi now had a competitor for the title of the screen's most popular monster. Lugosi has been accused of being a poor actor, but this is not true. Instead, Lugosi came from a stage tradition that was unsuited to the development of theatre and film in the 2.
His broad style was a carry- over from the late- 1. Romantic tradition, and while that sort of thing worked fairly well in the silent era, by the late 1. Lugosi was simply too old- fashioned and too ethnic to get work in other genres. On top of this, Lugosi's self- destructive personal life cost him deeply: he was known for living beyond his means, and for being absurdly generous to people who were rarely known to return the favors.
He was also known to be temperamental and egotistical, traits which didn't stand him well for getting regular work. His overbearing personality alienated his first wife; a late second marriage resulted in misery for both parties.
An addiction to painkillers debilitated him. Karloff, on the other hand, went through career ups and downs, but was able to maintain his celebrity and his dignity to a much greater degree than Lugosi. He especially resented the fact that Karloff's big break came in a role he, Lugosi, had turned down. And for what was this English prat Pratt given so much praise? For stumbling around under heavy makeup and grunting!
Anyone, thought Lugosi, could have done that. Before the two movie monsters met, there would be other entries in their ongoing stories: Frankenstein was followed by the wonderful Bride of Frankenstein in 1. Son of Frankenstein (1. Karloff's last appearance as the monster, and Ghost of Frankenstein (1. The Dracula story, on the other hand, had been given only one sequel in 1.
Dracula's Daughter, in which Lugosi made no appearance at all. At the end of Ghost, Ygor's brain had been put into the body of the Frankenstein monster.
This brings us to 1. Universal made a noble attempt at one more Dracula sequel, Son of Dracula, and one more Frankenstein movie, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Since Ygor's brain was put into the creature in the previous film, Universal decided to offer the part to Lugosi one more time. The monster was now articulate, since it had a new and functional brain; however, it was also blind, a result of the closing catastrophic fire in Ghost. Not only was it a stretch for him, it was also a radical change to a character that was well- known to millions of people. In fact, on consideration, it seems to me it was a doomed project from the start.
Whatever the theoretical merits of the studio's decisions or Lugosi's career move, in practice it turned out very badly. The film makers were unhappy with Lugosi's performance.. So in production, they cut out all references to the monster's blindness, and removed all of Lugosi's dialogue.
The result: they made Lugosi's performance look awful, much worse than the supposedly poor impression they were trying to fix. Frankenstein and his creation were ahead five sequels to three.
As horror fell on hard times, Universal started brining more of its stable or monsters into contact with each other. House of Frankenstein cast Boris Karloff as the mad scientist (not actually Frankenstein, but..
Carrol Naish as a hunchback. Dracula (John Carradine) also appears in the film, but is killed after a brief appearance.
Chalk up one more for Frankie. In a nominal Dracula movie, it's odd that the vampire should exit the picture halfway through. Again, the symbolic victory goes to Frankenstein, if only on a technicality. Even in movies where Dracula and the Frankenstein monster both appeared, they never actually confronted each other.
The only possible exception is Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, in which Lugosi (playing the Count on screen for only the second time in his life, and the last) attempts to use the Frankenstein monster as his slave. Here again, though, Dracula's enemy wasn't the monster itself, but rather the Wolf Man. After all, the two monsters are much different: the vampire subtle and seductive, a force of spiritual evil; and the monster a misbegotten scientific blunder, first misunderstood, later a murderous simpleton relying on brute strength, and its inability to die. How do you match up two such creatures? Universal decided not to. Hammer Studios brought new life to the Dracula and Frankenstein sagas starting in the mid- 1.
Frankenstein, all products of the late 1. It's difficult to believe it took 4. It's even more difficult to believe that even after 4. King of Vampires and the Frankenstein monster in combat. And the most unbelievable thing about the whole situation is this: not one of these three movies is particularly good. Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1.
Los Monstruos del Terror; El Hombre Que Vino De Ummo; The Man Who Came From Ummo; Assignment Terror)Last Role For: Michael Rennie(NOTE: I'll be the first to admit that I'm cheating a little by including this movie under its video title. As far as I know, Los Monstruos del Terror was never released to theaters as Dracula vs. When it played on TV, it was known as Assignment Terror.
Still, for a long time this movie was only available on video under this title, and under this title it has been reviewed in several publications.). Aliens from a far distant planet come up with a plan to conquer the Earth. They first re- animate the bodies of two brilliant scientists who were recently killed in accidents.
The leader of these scientists, Dr. Varnoff, is played by Michael Rennie, who looks old and ill and light- years away from his performance as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still. The other scientist is played by European genre film regular Karin Dor. These ghouls will strike fear into the hearts of the Earthlings and allow the aliens to take over. There's an ugly little side- plot involving a plan to take over the minds of beautiful young women, because (as everybody knows) all the world's great leaders are men, ha- ha, and every man is putty in the hands of a beautiful woman. You know: aliens taking over the bodies of the dead to start an invasion? Or aliens taking over the world's greatest monsters to form an improbable invasion force?
Plan Nine from Outer Space meets the previous year's Destroy All Monsters. To make matters worse, the makers of the movie seem to have been worried about stepping on Universal's copyrights. Thus we have an invasion force consisting of Count de Meyerhof, the vampire; the Farancksollen Monster; Tao- Tet, who is not a Vietnamese diplomat but rather the Mummy; and - - since this is a Spanish movie - - the Polish wolf man, Waldemar Daninsky. In it, they read of all the monsters that will appear in the film, plus the Golem, who was probably cut for budgetary reasons. The funny thing about the book is this: Farancksollen describes the creation of his creature, and its subsequent rampage, and how he must destroy his life's work.. The poor Count obviously knows nothing about the technique of climax and release.. You have to feel sorry for poor old Dra- - oh, hell; this is supposed to be a Dracula vs.
Frankenstein movie, so let's call them by their proper names.. Dracula, being reduced to a side show spectacle. Imagine what the show must be like.. Pull out the stake: presto! Put the stake back in: poof!
Gone before your very eyes. Three shows a day, four on Sunday; that's gotta hurt.
Varnoff's assistant is the first to start regaining her human feelings - - it's implied that it's because she's a woman, and therefore (all together now) the weaker of the sexes.. The irony here is that her emotional . Furthermore, the monsters don't want to be controlled (if only they could have shown a similar resistance to being cast in the movie!). Drac keeps trying to cadge a snack from the brainwashed babes. Least obedient of all is poor Waldemar Daninsky, who is still uncomfortable with the whole . This is, after all, a relatively early appearance for him. Paul Naschy played Daninsky and similar figures for so long that it's hard to remember a time when he was a fresh new face in the horror business.
Daninsky rebels at the thought of betraying the human race, especially after he falls in love with a pretty young thing (Patty Shepard, star of Naschy's first big success, Walpurgis Night / The Werewolf vs.