Got a good one coming up tomorrow night: 1944's House of Frankenstein.

Here are some things to watch for and a few interesting tidbits, off the top of my pointy little head:

The film marks a return to the "Frankenstein" series for Boris Karloff, but not as the Monster. Here, he plays Dr. Niemann, Mad Scientist. The role of the Monster is now played for the first time by Glenn Strange, previously known as a baddie in B-Westerns and from the cheapie The Mad Monster. According to Strange, Karloff was immensely helpful to him in learning the Monster's "moves" - although the Monster really doesn't have a lot to do in this film until the end.

The first part of the film deals with Dracula, now played for the first time by John Carradine.

Here, we see, also for the first time, Dracula transforming into a bat (in a shadow silhouette) and also, in bat-form, biting a victim (also in shadow). However - since, traditionally, vampires cast no shadow, well... And watch during the coach chase and Dracula's death - Carradine loses half of his false moustache! Guess they were too cheap at Universal Pictures to do any retakes.

Speaking of bloopers, we see the Wolf Man transform while looking into a mirror in medium close-up. Fine so far. But, when the camera pulls back, we see that the Makeup Dept. forgot to give Lon Chaney the hairy werewolf gloves to complete the character's look. This too, was left in the finished film.

This was an early film for young actress Elena Verdugo, who played Ilonka the Gypsy girl. According to her, Chaney (who had a reputation as a hell-raiser and a bad drunk) was nothing but a gentleman to her during filming and was quite protective of her. (On the other hand, Evelyn Ankers, Chaney's co-star in 1941's The Wolf Man and a stalwart of Universal's early '40s horror films, definitely did not get along with Chaney.) Elena Verdugo went on to become well-known for playing "Consuelo" on the TV series Marcus Welby, M.D. from 1969-1976. She died in 2017 at age 92.

A number of familiar faces to look for: Lionel Atwill (post sex-scandal) as Inspector Arnz, George Zucco as Prof. Lampini, Sig Ruman (the heavy in several Marx Bros. films) as Hussman, Frank Reicher (Capt. Englehorn in the original King Kong and Son of Kong) as Ullman, Brandon Hurst (character actor who appeared in 1932's Murders in the Rue Morgue and the original 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Chaney Sr.) as Dr. Geissler, and probably some others whose names escape me at the moment.

Ever wonder why, when Dracula is revived, even his clothing rematerializes? Guess it wouldn't do to have a newly-reanimated, butt-naked skinny vampire flapping around the sleepy hamlet of Riegelburg trying desperately to buy formal wear and a cape before the sun comes up!



Semi-Spoiler Alert: Though Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and the Frankenstein Monster all die in the film (what a surprise!), only the Monster is brought back in the next film (1945's House of Dracula) with a continuity link to this one. Drac and Wolfie just appear with no explanation given as to how they "survived" their fates in House of Frankenstein.

Anyway, don't take the film too seriously, sit back with a couple of beers (or more) and enjoy.


Signor V.