Larry Talbot aka The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) and the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi) emerge from an icy cave in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943).

PICTURE OF THE DAY:  FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) – ICY CAVE

Whenever we’re stuck in a cold and snowy winter, I think of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN since a key scene in this classic monster movie bash from Universal pictures takes place in a snowy icy cave.

The scene I’m talking about, pictured here in today’s PICTURE OF THE DAY, is when Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) discovers the Frankenstein Monster (Bela Lugosi) frozen in a slab of ice.  It begins when the mob of angry torch-wielding villagers chase the Wolf Man into the countryside.  The beast, fleeing the mob, accidentally falls through some loose earth and lands in a frosty subterranean cave.  After trying futilely to escape the cave, and after some dramatic flip flops in the snow, looking like a pet dog playing in the snow for the first time, the Wolf Man passes out.

When he awakes, he’s back in his human form as Larry Talbot, and as Talbot, he notices the body of the Frankenstein Monster buried in ice.  He chips away at the ice and releases the Monster from his icy grave, and he’s interested in the Frankenstein Monster because he’s looking for Dr. Frankenstein’s notes on his experiments, because Talbot believes that since Frankenstein was such a medical genius, in his notes there may be something there indicating how he Larry Talbot- a man cursed to eternal life as a werewolf- could actually die.  Why Talbot doesn’t get hold of a silver bullet and do the job himself, I don’t know!

Also, since he’s never laid eyes on the Frankenstein Monster before, how does he know that that’s the Monster frozen in the ice?  Perhaps those electrodes sticking out of his neck gave him away!

And of course the Monster comes right to life— no need for any new electric shocks to recharge his batteries— because, like Talbot, he’s cursed with eternal life.  That’s because Dr. Frankenstein made him so he could never die.  Quite the scientist, that Dr. Frankenstein from the Universal monster movies.  Not only did he create life, build a body from other bodies, and then brought it to life, he also built so it would live forever!

In this photo, we see the Frankenstein Monster in the familiar pose with his arms stretched out in front of him.  As I’ve written in previous articles, Bela Lugosi was the first actor to portray the Monster in this fashion, with his arms outstretched in front of him, and this was because in the original script for FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, the Monster was blind, as he lost his vision at the end of the previous film in the series, THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942).  Sadly, all references to the Monster’s blindness were eventually cut from the film, making Lugosi’s performance puzzling until you realize he was supposed to be blind.

It’s really too bad this was cut from the film because it made perfect sense.  At the end of THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, Dr. Bohmer (Lionel Atwill) puts the brain of the evil Ygor (Bela Lugosi) into the Monster.  So, in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, it made sense for Lugosi to play the Frankenstein Monster, because the brain of Ygor was now inside the Monster’s body, and originally the Monster was to speak with Ygor’s voice in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN.  Again, to the misfortune of Lugosi, all of dialogue as the Monster in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN was cut from the final film, again taking away from Lugosi’s performance as the Monster.  Evidently, Universal thought an evil Frankenstein Monster speaking with Ygor’s voice was too frightening for movie audiences, and they balked at the idea and cut all references to Ygor from the film.  There was also some concern, supposedly, that the Monster’s plans to take over the world were too close to the real life rants of Adolf Hitler who in 1943 was trying to do just that.  We can only imagine how much better FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN would have been had the original concept of the Monster with Ygor’s brain been kept in the film.  Lugosi would have had a field day.

So, back to walking with his arms outstretched, again Lugosi was the first actor to play the Monster in this fashion, and it would make sense for a blind person to walk this way.  Karloff’s Monster didn’t move this way, nor did Lon Chaney Jr. in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN.  Interestingly enough, Glenn Strange in his three performances as the Monster in the final three films of the series, did walk this way with his arms outstretched, even though in those three films his sight was restored.  How do we know this?  Well, at the end of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, with Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) pumping electricity into his body, Lugosi gives his Monster a sinister smile, and it’s because it’s the first time in the film that he can see again.

But early on, as he is in the scene pictured here, he’s as blind as a bat, which is why he walks with his arms stretched out in front of him.

Hey, bundle up guys!  It’s freezing in that cave and neither one of you are wearing a heavy coat!

Maybe that’s where the Monster is taking Larry Talbot.  He knows where the winter gear is stored.

Thanks for reading!

—Michael