The Invisible Man's Revenge

Released in 1944, Universal's fifth Invisible Man film was The Invisible Man's Revenge (IMR) Jon Hall starred again as the invisible man, again with the last name Griffin, but the story is not a sequel. It is more of a recast of Wells' concept. John Carradine plays the role of the mad scientist who invented the invisibility drug. Ford Beebe directed IMR. He was also the director for Univiersal's 1939 serial about invisibility: The Phantom Creeps.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A stowaway sneaks off a ship unloading in London. Robert Giffin is a high strung man with a short temper. He has escaped from a Capetown asylum where he killed three people. He makes his way to the mansion of Sir Jasper and Lady Irene. Years ago, they had equal stakes in an african diamond mine, but Robert was left for dead. He wasn't, but now wants his share, plus some. Irene drugs his drink and his him thrown out. He is taken in by a shifty drunk named Herbert (Leon Errol). The two try to extort Jasper, but it fails. Robert walks the rainy roads and comes to the house of Dr. Drury (Carradine). Doc has many invisible animals. Robert asks if he could make a man invisible. Yes, but… Robert wants invisibility to get revenge on Jasper and Irene. He does terrorize them, forcing Jasper to sign over his fortune to Robert. He goes back to Herbert's little house, but Herbert is bend in his rent. Robert has him go to the pub. In a comic scene, Herbert throws darts for wagers. Robert guides them all to be bullseyes. Robert returns to the mansion. He also wants to woo Jasper's pretty adult daughter, Julie. Jasper points out that he's invisible. What kind of husband is that? Point taken, Robert goes to Dr. Drury's house and watches through the window as doc makes his big German shepherd, Brutus, reappear. The secret is a complete blood transfusion. It kills the host, of course. Doc refuses to help Robert become visible, as this would mean murder. Robert knocks out doc and transfuses his blood. He reappears. Julie's boyfriend Mark, a journalist, calls on doc to investigate invisible man stories. Robert sets the house on fire and flees. Brutus gets loose and chases him. Later, Robert arrives at Jasper's mansion claiming to be an old friend name Field. All is fine while he ingratiates himself, with too much hubris, to Julie. But, he begins to disappear again. He runs upstairs and sets up a trap to get Mark alone and use his blood to become visible again. Mark and Robert fight in the wine cellar. Eventually, Robert knocks Mark unconscious and starts the transfusion. Herbert has Brutus, who bolts for the basement. They are followed by the rest of the cast. They break in the door in time to stop Robert halfway. Brutus jumps on Robert and kills him. Later, the characters summarize and moralize about man not messing in things he shouldn't. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The concept was not novel any longer, but this retelling of it had a very noir quality which was entertaining. While the chair-moving-by-itself, or the floating-book effects were a bit stale by the fifth film, some of the effects, like the splashed water to reveal his face, were rather good.

Cultural Connection
Noir -- The "film noir" genre became popular in the early 40s. Exact definitions remain elusive, but key features include, a crime drama, moody (or creepy) settings, "dark" characters, who are cruel or heartless, often with no apparent good guy or hero, often dark lighting too. IMR fits many of these features. Director Beebe was more at home in westerns and simple crime stories, but manages to evoke some noir, even if not as artistically as others.

Notes
Saga Connections -- IMR is not a continuation of the original saga. It is a retelling of the first story. The man who becomes invisible is still named Griffin, but is not claimed to be any relation to the first John Griffin. The scientist with the drug, Dr. Drury, is not claimed to have any connection to John Griffin -- the original inventor. Leaving no room for a sequel to the new version, both the invisible man and the inventor are killed.

Neo-Vampire -- An interesting twist to the old story, which would have made for some interesting sequels, was that the "cure" to invisibility was a complete transfusion of human blood (killing the donor). The cure was temporary, however, so the invisible neo-vampire would have to kill again and again to remain "normal." As witnessed by the volume of vampire films, such an angle could have been a steady well to draw from. Sadly, by the late 40s, Universal Pictures was struggling. When IMR was released, Universal was just a year away from the ill-fated merger with Arthur Rank's other interests. Production of B-films, serials and low budget horror/sci-fi were seriously reduced. So, no ongoing stories of neo-vampires.

Minor Mad Scientist -- John Carradine's character, Dr. Drury, is the classic mad scientist. He lives alone in a remote country home. He is suspected by the locals of "performing unholy experiments." He has egotistical dreams of being equal to Galileo, Archimedes, Faraday, etc. And, to stay true to form, he is killed by his "monster." In this case, the unscrupulous and vengeful Robert Griffin, who, since he was in an asylum, is reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster having an abnormal brain.

Hound of the Invisibles -- A nice little touch in the screenplay is how Drury's dog Brutus "haunts" Griffin after he killed the doctor. Griffin's paranoia over the distant baying dog, mixed with his maniacal plans for revenge and wealth, are neatly reminiscent of the madness the original invisibility formula caused. While nothing is said of this, it is apparent. Perhaps the writer, Bertram Millhouser, expected audiences to know this already, so it need not be explained yet again.

Requisite Comedy -- Starting with the third film, The Invisible Woman ('40) the humorous-prankster angle of invisibility became a staple. Kitty's "revenge" on her mean boss is the lite and harmless version of IMR's much darker revenge. In the fourth film, Invisible Agent, ('42) the invisible man plays comical pranks on Nazis. In IMR, the invisible man plays a prank on the pub crowd. He guides Herbert's darts to the bullseye, no matter how absurdly thrown. Leon Errol, who plays Herbert almost upstages Jon Hall (who does have to be invisible much of the time). IMR has an interesting balance of comedy and grim drama.

Bottom line? IMR is sometimes described as the weakest of the invisible man films, but it actually holds its own. Granted, the trope is not new any longer, but the noir spin freshens it up. Robert Griffin is not a character to sympathize with, but then, neither are his victims (with the minor exception of Mark, who is shallowly drawn). IMR may not be gang-busters great, but it is decent B-movie entertainment.
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Jungle Captive

Universal's final installment in their ape-woman trilogy was, Jungle Captive (JC). It was released, just a year later, in June of '45. It is a sequel to a sequel in that it picks up the story where the second film stopped. Prior film characters are mentioned in the script, but JC has an all new cast. Vicky Lane plays the ape woman, Paula Dupree, instead of Acquanetta. Otto Kruger plays the mad doctor, Stendahl. The young love interest pair are Amelita Ward, as Stendahl's nurse, Ann, and Phil Brown as Stendahl's assistant, Don. Rondo Hatton plays the classic Ygor role of mad doctor's brutish henchman. There is a trace more science in the fiction, but it is still essentially a "lite" horror tale.

Quick Plot Synopsis
At a busy downtown medical center, Dr. Stendahl has long been experimenting on animals, trying to revive them from being dead. He finally succeeds on a rabbit, with a combination of blood transfusion and electric shock (like a pacemaker) to restart the heart. Congrats all around. Don asks Ann to marry him. He can't afford a ring yet, so gives her his fraternity pin. All seems happy. Meanwhile at the city morgue, a large, disfigured man, Moloch, steals the ape-woman's body from the morgue. He transfers her to a '41 Woodie panel van, then pushes the ambulance off a handy cliff. Driving on, he comes to a gated house and carries her in. The police investigate the missing ape-woman. A torn lab coat was found at the cliff, with Don's laundry mark. Detective Harrigan's questions get Ann nervous. Where was Don last night?. Dr. Stendahl asks Ann to accompany him to meet a colleague. This turns out to be a rouse, as he drives her to the remote gated house. He needs a blood transfusion to revive the ape-woman. Ann will be the donor. Scream. The transfusion and shock therapy work and the ape-woman lives again. Moloch takes a shine to pretty (unconscious) Ann. He notices her pretty pin. Stendahl wants to complete the work, so sends Moloch to get Dr.Walters' notes from Dr. Fletcher's office. Meanwhile, Don is worried about Ann's disappearance. Newspaper headlines tell of Dr. Fletcher's murder and missing files. Stendahl, now knowing the hormone trick, drains yet more blood from Ann. Moloch frets for her. The ape-woman becomes Paula again, but with a blank mind. While Stendahl is in town, Paula escapes and wanders off. Moloch rushes to town to find Stendahl and tell him she's missing. Don notices Moloch wearing his fraternity pin, so follows Moloch back to the gated house. Don is knocked out and tied up. Ann will be the brain donor needed to perk up the blank Paula (who they did find in the woods). After a few twists and turns, Moloch objects to hurting Ann. Stendahl shoots Moloch. Unseen, Paula has morphed back to ape-woman. She rises up and kills Stendahl. Just as ape-woman was going for helpless Ann, Harrigan shows up and shoots ape-woman. Don and Ann are free and cleared. They marry and Harrigan buys them a honeymoon at Niagara Falls. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
If one has accepted the ape-woman / Paula Dupree character, there is curiosity over what will happen to her next. Overall, JC is "lite" entertainment that keeps moving along.

Cultural Connection
One feature that stands out about JC is that the villain defied the usual villain stereotypes -- those clues which signal that he's "mad." No outbursts of emotion, no angry eyes, no maniacal laugh, not even the customary moment of uplighting to make him look creepy. Throughout it all, Stendahl remains calm, almost affable. His evil was virtually invisible. In this way, he presages the coming über-villain -- nuclear radiation -- that would drive so many 50s sci-fi stories. Whether this was intentional, or a lack of artistic flair by director Harold Young, is hard to say.

Notes
New Paula -- Acquanetta does not return for this third film. Instead, a 19-year old actress named Vicky Lane gets the ape-woman role. Vicky doesn't resemble Acquanetta all that much, other than being tall, thin-to-shapely, and brunette. But, this isn't disruptive. JC's Paula is a fairly small role with little screen time, and no spoken lines. All she does is stare blankly, not respond and shamble about like a zombie. Understandably, such roles did nothing to boost Vicky's career. She only did a few movies, mostly with bit parts. JC was one of her "big" one, after which she pretty much retired.

The Brute -- Rondo Hattan plays Moloch, "The Brute", and Stendahl's henchman. Hattan gained fame as "The Brute" and as a serial murderer of "The Creeper" idiom, in several films. Hattan suffered from a form of giantism which gave him his disfigured face and large hands. He was born average and grew up an otherwise average man, but exposure to poison gas during World War One affected his pituitary gland. This led to slow irregular growth of some bones (such as the face and hands). Universal "discovered" him in the early 30s and quickly exploited his looks for various brutish killer roles. This typecasting is said to have displeased Hattan, but a job is a job. Hattan died of a heart attack less than a year after making JC.

Face of Evil -- An interesting study in compare-and-contrast in JC are the two characters: Moloch and Stendahl. Moloch looked evil. He killed, yes, but had a sensitive side. He got all sentimental and protective over Ann. Stendahl, on the other hand, looked kind and friendly. Yet, he ordered the killings and couldn't have cared less. "A true scientist understands the unimportance of a mere life, when it might impede progress." Which was actually the worse evil?

Prop Watch -- Note the movable electro-control console used by Stendahl. This is the same prop as used in Universal's House of Frankenstein ('44) by Boris Karloff as Dr. Niemann. The other equipment, too, keeps up the Universal style for random sparky things being part of a mad doctor's lab.

Bottom line? JC is thin fare for the average sci-fi fan. It's even a bit thin if it's ape women you're after. Young's visual imagery is a bit flat, but the acting is okay (aside from Vicky, of course). There are enough plot twists to keep the story interesting, and enough suspense developed to keep you watching. A triple feature of all three ape-woman films might be fun, but on their own, each would be best watched by yourself.

Jungle Woman

Universal's second ape-woman movie was a "classic" sequel in many ways. Jungle Woman (JW) (1944) continued the story of Paula the ape woman right where the first movie left off. Some of the prior cast carry over, particularly Acquanetta, who remains the titular ape woman. There is virtually no science in this fiction, so the film would normally fall outside of this study of sci-fi cinema. However, it earns a family pass from the first ape-woman movie (in the mad doctor genre) and the animal-woman affinity from H.G.Wells' "Island of Dr. Moreau" (soon to be reviewed here as The Island of Lost Souls. (1932))

Quick Plot Synopsis
The film opens with a man being attacked by a woman (all shown in shadow). He stabs her. Dr. Fletcher is then before an inquest for murder. The trial frames multiple flashbacks to tell the story. Fred and Beth, from the first film, narrate flashback clips condensing Captive Wild Woman into about ten minutes. Fletcher then tells how Cheela the ape wasn't totally dead and he nursed her back to health. Fred tells Fletcher about rumor of an african witchdoctor who turned people into animals. Cheela might have originally been a woman. Cheela goes missing, but Paula appears in the woods. Seeming traumatized, she becomes Fletcher's patient. Fletcher's semi-retarded patient-helper Willie (usually in trouble for something) takes a shine to Paula. Paula, however, takes an instant shine to Bob, boyfriend of Fletcher's daughter Joan. Paula kills the smitten Willie and hides his body in the woods. Paula is jealous of Joan. In a huff and unseen, she topples the canoe where Joan and Bob are smooching. Some local farm animals are killed by something very strong. Willie (a large lad) is suspected since he's now missing. Paula (who now speaks semi-broken english) tries to get Bob to run away with her. She pretends that bruises on her shoulder were from Dr. Fletcher abuse. Caring, naive Bob wants to help. Joan is jealous. Another doctor tells Bob to take her back to Fletcher. Paula, not happy about not getting to run away with Bob, hides in the bushes. Willie's body was found. Fletcher, now knowing the truth about Paula, prepares a hypo with a sedative. Paula tries to break into Joan's cottage to eliminate the competition. Fletcher comes along. Paula attacks him. (opening scene, so end flashbacks) Since a woman is dead, and Dr. Fletcher admits giving the sedative (unintentionally overdosed) the District Attorney calls for a guilty verdict. The coroner (acting as judge), believes Fletcher's tall tale. If true, Paula wasn't really human, so it can't be called murder. At the morgue, they uncover dead Paula to see a mostly-ape/semi-human head. Not guilty. The happy music plays. Bob, Fletcher and Joan walk off, arm in arm. A final text screen reads, "The evil that man has wrought shall in the end destroy itself." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Mostly, for the continuation of the Paula, the Ape Woman saga. The story is fairly fast paced with some interesting scenes. Acuqanetta is still easy on the eyes.

Cultural Connection
As mentioned before, one of the interesting traits of pre-bomb sci-fi is the underlying reassurance that the evil is (or can be) contained. The final title card hammers this thought home. It was just the accepted norm that the monster died at the end of the movie. Often, the evil scientist died too. If not, he was deeply sorry and repentant. Audiences were reassured that evil was manageable. This all changed when people realized that nuclear radiation was an indiscriminate, pervasive and long-lasting killer. Atomic evil could not be contained.

Notes
Three In One -- A curious quality to JW is that it feels like a stew of three movies (maybe four). The inquest frame recurs enough to take on a story life of its own. The flashback footage from Captive Wild Women is then a second film. Yet another, if one senses the recycling of footage from The Big Cage. Then there is the Bob, Joan, Paula triangle story. This last part is something of a remake of the Fred, Beth, Paula triangle in the first film, but with less depth. Where Cheela's affection for Fred had lots of time to develop, Paula's instant infatuation for Bob has only the depth of a petulant middle-school crush.

Cool Scenes -- Director Reginald Le Borg made the film visually solid, if mostly unremarkable. Two scenes stand out as visually interesting. One is the shadow attack at the start of the film. A slender wild-haired woman jumping on and mauling a man who struggled to stab her with something, is captivating -- all the more so for being shot as cast shadow. The second cool scene is when Paula swims out to overturn Bob and Joan's canoe. She's a human torpedo. This, too, is visually striking.

Woman or Ape? -- Just to muddy the waters, Paula may have been originally a woman, turned into an ape by a witch doctor. That, Fred says, may explain her intelligence and affection. Then Dr. Walters manages to somehow undo the witch doctor's black magic with glandula treatments. (so he really didn't succeed in his quest after all). Now, in JW, Paula is a slender woman with the strength and mood of an ape without having to turn into one. Although, she does occasionally, such as in the off-screen chicken coop affair where she left large ape-like fingerprints. Now, she seems to be able to adopt either form, if not at will, at least without outside "science".

She Speaks! -- Acquanetta gets more of a chance to act than she did in the first film. She had several speaking lines in JW. Her first one, "Hello, my name is Paula," is interesting since it breaks her silence. From then on, however, her simple english and flat delivery ("No. I don't like doctors. Take me away.) don't help the ape-woman role, nor her career as an actress. Her movements are stiff and wooden. Since the other actors and actresses manage more 'natural' movements, her woodenness is not likely director Le Borg's fault. Perhaps Acquanetta was more fluid and charming off screen, to make Universal execs think she had star potential. On-screen, however, tt became fairly apparent that a pretty face and great legs just aren't enough.

Flacid Scientist -- Quite the opposite of John Carradine's mad scientist character, the role of Dr. Fletcher is more like Dr. Milktoast. He had no ulterior motives of creating a super race. He wasn't ruthlessly pushing the ethical bounds of science. He wasn't doing much beyond adopting Dr. Walters' problems from the first film.

Bottom line? JW is not really sci-fi. It's just grandfathered in because the other two films in the trilogy have traces of the mad-doctor sci-fi. It is the weaker of the three, but still moves briskly enough to have entertainment value. While probably not worth seeking out on its own, JW would be worthy of a triple feature Ape Woman marathon.

Return of the Ape Man

Before continuing with Columbia's four Karloff movies, this seems like a good time to chase the Frozen Alive trope itself. which seems to have gotten its start in, The Man With Nine Lives ('40). Two Frankenstein movies after that, in 1943 and '44 used the Frozen trope. Return of the Ape Man (RAM) was also released in '44. It is another Frozen movie, but is also intertwined with the Frankenstein series. (more on that below). RAM starred Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist, and John Carridine as his ethical assistant. Lugosi was in the downslope of his career, doing films like RAM for Poverty Row studios like Monogram.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A tramp named Willie the Weasel has been missing for over a month. Professor Dexter (Lugosi) and Professor Gilmore (Carridine) abducted Willie and put him in their deep freeze chamber. They were experimenting with suspended animation for the usual supposed benefits to medical science. They revive Willie after three months, proving their process a success. Dexter, however, wants a bigger test to prove it. He mounts an arctic expedition to find a Neanderthal man frozen for tens of thousands of years. Reviving him would be the ultimate career coup. Handily enough, they find an "Ape Man" frozen in glacial ice. They haul him back to Dexter's basement lab. Once thawed, Dexter administers his drug and electric treatments. The Ape Man awakens, but is violent. Dexter keeps him at bay with an acetylene torch and locks him in a handy jail cell. Dexter wants to give the Ape Man half a brain transplant. A modern half-brain would allow him to speak and understand (obey), while the original half would still contain all his caveman memories. Dexter wants to know what life was like as a caveman. Gilmore objects, as brain transplant equals murder. At a dinner party at the Gilmore home, Dexter lures Gilmore's nephew-in-law, Steven to his lab and drugs him. He would have been the brain donor, had not Gilmore arrived in the nick of time. Gilmore says they're through as a team. Fine. Meanwhile, the Ape Man bends his jail door bars and escapes. He accosts a woman and kills a policeman. Ape Man returns to the lab and is reconvened. Gilmore knows the "monster" is Dexter's Ape Man. Dexter asks Gilmore to come to his lab to "help destroy the monster." Gilmore agrees, but it's a trap. Gilmore becomes the brain donor. Now with half a modern brain, the Ape Man can speak. He says his name is Gilmore. Dexter thinks another operation is needed to access the Ape Man's identity. This news makes Ape Man run away. He runs to the Gilmore home. He climbs the trellis, plays Moonlight Sonata on the piano, then kills Mrs. Gilmore (for no good reason). Steve and Gilmore's niece Ann call the police. While searching Dexter's lab, Ape Man breaks free of the cell (again), mortally injuring Dexter, who says with his last breath that the Ape Man will go to the Gilmore home.. He does, and abducts Ann. With her limp, fainted form draped over his shoulder, he climbs buildings and eludes the police. Eventually, he takes her to Dexter's lab and locks her in the freeze chamber. The sparking wires upset him, which creates more sparks and eventually a fire. Steve and the police arrive. Steve rescues Ann, but the Ape Man dies in the flames. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Mostly, it is Bela Lugosi who gives RAM any appeal. In fact, he is the primary redeeming feature. The film's interconnections to the Frankenstein franchise add interest, for those aware of such details.

Cultural Connection
In the vein of Lost World, RAM continues the notion that things ancient were brutish, destructive and deadly. By extension, is the backhanded conceit that modern man is rational, constructive and kind. The Savage, is an old cultural trope, always looking for a new face by which we may contrast ourselves.

Notes
FrankenThreads -- RAM has several interwoven connections to Universal's Frankenstein movie collection (which was almost done by 1944). Aside from the by-now-familiar mad scientist character, Lugosi played Ygor in Son of Frankenstein ('38) and Ghost of Frankenstein ('42). He played the monster himself in the next film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman ('43), which also had the Frozen Alive trope. John Carridine also acted in House of Frankenstein done in the same year as RAM, 1944. Carridine would go on to play the mad scientist in the Frankenstein idiom, in later films. Then is the scene when the Ape Man first stirs post-thaw. "It's Alive!" exclaims Dexter.

Ape Threads -- An interesting alternate rabbit trail is Caveman thread. There are many movies in this sub-genre. Some are purely set in cave man times, such as One Million B.C., but most are, like RAM, built around the resulting mayhem when a caveman is put into "modern" society. While in RAM the Frozen and Caveman threads intersect, following the cavemen will be a later project.

Threadbare -- Monogram productions were never slick. The writing was more prone to pulp than poetry. A couple of examples: Tiny Haystack : To test his process Dexter needs a prehistoric man who happened to be frozen alive thousands of years ago. Gilmore calls the search a needle in a haystack, but sure enough, they find one in a few minutes. How handy. The Healing Door: The Ape Man bends the bars of the jail cell door to escape. When Dexter recaptures him, he puts him in the same cell with the bars restored. He must have had a spare jail cell door. Very Handy! Instant Powerless Pad: Dexter reads in his How To electronics book, how to make a paralyzer pad that will immobilize a person. Handy for stopping a brutish Ape Man, AND your victims with little exertion. Cheap Freeze: Dexter's freezer room is a simple booth with some pipes visible through the window. It has one knife-switch and one big dial which goes from 60 to zero in seconds. No time is wasted on freeze effects. Simple Surgery: Dexter performs brain surgery on two men, by himself, in about a minute. No shaved head, no bandages, no big dramatic stitches or franken-scars. Dexter had some serious surgical skills. Very very handy.

Where's Zucco? -- The posters give George Zucco third billing. Even the credits cite Zucco and Frank Moran as playing the Ape Man. What's the deal? Apparently, Zucco was hired as the Ape Man. (He played in several prior cheap horror films, so had some marquee power.) He was was fitted with the Ape Man makeup and costume, posed for some publicity stills and even started some of the shooting. But, he fell ill. Movies like RAM had very tight schedules and were typically shot over just a couple weeks, No time for recoveries. Frank Moran was hired as a replacement. Some fans contend that Zucco does not appear on film at all. Others say that shots of the just-thawed Ape Man are Zucco, but that when he sits up, it's Moran (and thereafter). They call attention to the changes in makeup as their guide.

They're After Our Women! -- In true "Kong" form, the Ape Man performs the required abduction scene. Making this easier, she faints a lot and doesn't fight too hard while being carried over his shoulder. Still, the ancient visceral imagery is there. The Outsider, the Stranger, is out to steal OUR pretty young women -- who are enticingly dressed in clingy fabrics and high heels!

Returns? -- The neanderthal "returns" to life is the rationale, perhaps, but the title seems like a marketing allusion to a prior Monogram film, The Ape Man, 1943, also starring Bela Lugosi. RAM is not a squeal.

Bottom line? RAM is clearly low-B entertainment with low production values. On its own, it has little to recommend it. But Bela Lugosi gives it life. It has some film-historian value, too, as a dot connecting several threads.

House of Frankenstein

By 1944, sequel-itis was finally developing in the Frankenstein saga. House of Frankenstein (HoF) was Universal's sixth film in the series. The hand of management and/or marketing departments was more plainly evident. Curt Siodmak provided the kernel of the story. Of course, the title role went to Frankenstein's monster. After that, Universal threw in Dracula and the Wolf Man, again played by Lon Chaney Jr.. Boris Karloff stars, but as the mad scientist, not as the monster. The thinking must have been, that if each would only attract a quarter of their previous audiences, together they might make a whole hit!

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Gustav Niemann. and his hunchback assistant Daniel, are imprisoned in a dungeon for stealing bodies. Lightning strikes the castle, causing some walls to collapse. Niemann and Daniel escape. They kill and assume the identities of a Dr. Lampini who has a traveling sideshow featuring Dracula's skeleton. Niemann wants revenge on one of the men who convicted him. He pulls out the wooden stake. Dracula re-forms. He convinces Dracula to do his bidding in return for protection. Dracula befriends Herr Hussman, his grandson Karl and wife Rita. Once alone, Dracula puts the bite on Hussman and gives a trance-inducing ring to Rita. Karl calls the police who give chase to Dracula and the abducted Rita. Dracula's wagon crashes. The sun comes up and he turns to a skeleton (again?). Rita is saved. The ring drops off. Niemann drives on to Visaria where they meet some gypsies. Daniel falls in love with the pretty dancing gypsy girl, Ilonka. She is whipped by the nasty gypsy leader for not giving up all her coins. Daniel rescues her. Niemann and Daniel search the flood ravaged castle (previous film) looking for Dr. Frankenstein's notebook. They find the frozen bodies of the Wolf Man and the Monster. Niemann builds a fire to thaw them out. The thawed out Wolf Man turns back into Talbot. He shows Niemann where the notebook is hidden. The group drive on to Niemann's old lab. En route, Ilonka starts to like Larry more than Daniel. Jealousy flares. They clean up the lab and Niemann sets about reviving the monster. He plans to give it a better brain and improve on Frankenstein's work. He promised to put Larry's brain in an uncursed body, and put Daniel's brain in an unhunched body. Both grow impatient with Niemann's obsession over the monster. Daniel whips the semi-conscious monster in his rage. Larry turns into the Wolf Man and kills a villager. This results in the usual mob of villagers with torches, looking for the killer. Meanwhile, Ilonka learns of Larry's dark secret. Since she loves him, she makes a silver bullet to end his misery. Larry becomes the Wolf Man and attacks Ilonka. Before she dies, she shoots him. He dies. Daniel finds the dead Ilonka and tries to kill Niemann. The monster revives and throw Daniel out a window. Daniel dies. The torch-toting mob arrive at the castle and chase the monster out into the woods, carrying the hurt Niemann along with him. Setting a brush fire, the mob forces the monster into a quicksand pit where the monster and Niemann sink out of sight. The End.

Sci-fi Connection
Again, only near the end of the film does any hint of "science" factor in. Niemann's lab has many of the same sorts of sparking, buzzing, crackling devices as in previous films. There is fairly cavalier talk of swapping brains and bodies, but other than seeing "megavoltage" applied to the monster, there's not much else.

Saga Connection
The connection to the Frankenstein family is thinner yet. At least the last film (..meets the Wolf Man) featured Elsa, the daughter of Ludwig Frankenstein. Dr. Neimann (Karloff) is the brother of one of Henry's assistants. This previously unknown assistant learned most (but not enough) of Henry's secrets and passed them on to Gustav. Hence Niemann's desire to find Henry's notebook. Having Boris Karloff take the role of the mad scientist was a neat role reversal, since he became famous as the monster.

Notes
Cheap Shots -- Universal Pictures was famous for its 1931 classics, Frankenstein and Dracula, almost "owning" the horror genre. Its fortunes waned in the wake of the Laemmie family's loss of control and the new management's conservative leading. By the mid-40s, times were lean at Universal. At this point, Universal is just about to become part of an ill-fated merger that would ultimately yield Universal-International, but not until after yet more lean times. The desperate need for profit was, no doubt, the impetus behind HoF as sequel-cum-mashup. It was a low-risk appeal to an existing audience. Universal's House of Dracula (1945) would be a very similar type of production.

Monster Wrap -- As if anticipating Universal's new management's desire to get out of the monster movie business, the plot of HoF tries to wrap up the story lines of their three big monsters: Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein (monster). The goal seems to have been to kill off all three and be done with them.

Act One: Dracula -- The first half of the film is almost its own, devoted to Dracula (here played by John Carradine). Dr. Niemann is the binder, but the story is typical Dracula. He kills, he entrances a pretty woman, (who has nothing else to do with the plot) and he dies when the sun comes up. An interesting tidbit is how Dracula, who just re-materialized, managed to come up with a big black coach, team of horses, and a driver. Black magic perks, perhaps.

Act Two: Wolf Man -- Most of the second half revolves around resuming Larry Talbot's desire to die and escape his wolf curse. The silver bullet trope is recited. Ilonka, pretty handy as a silversmith and gunsmith, makes a crude silver bullet for her quaint flintlock pistol. The Wolf Man's demise is no surprise.

Act Two and a Half: Notre Dame II -- Interwoven in the other plot lines is a revival of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The mad scientist usually has a hunchbacked assistant, but this one is lovelorn. The lonely hunchback takes a liking to a pretty dancing gypsy girl. She is nice to him, but loves another. Sound familiar?

Act Three: Monster DejaVu -- The last part of the film is stereotypic Frankenstein monster -- here played by Glenn Strange. Once again, he is a mute beast. Once again, he is abused by the hunchback. Once again he rages and kills. Once again, he is pursued by a mob of villagers with torches. Once again, he is presumed to die in the end. But, since a burning windmill, molten sulphur pit, flood or glacier had not killed him. Why would mere quicksand?

Star Watch -- Some bit players to note: Lionel Atwill plays the village inspector again. Michael Mark plays Straus -- one of those Niemann is seeking revenge upon. Mark played Maria's father in the first film, and a town councilor in Son of… and Ghost of… Sig Ruman plays Burgomeister Hussman. He will be the jovial Sergeant Schultz in Stalag 17 in 1953. Elena Verdugo plays the gypsy girl Ilonka. Just 18 at the time, Verdugo would play many TV roles. Her most famous was as Consuelo, assistant to Marcus Welby MD.

Stuck In Time -- Despite some effort in the middle films to bring the saga into the twentieth century, the story seems stuck in time. The people of the village of Frankenstein had automobiles in Son of… In HoF, it is strictly horses, wagons and carriages. It's as if the saga just belonged to the 1800s.

Parallel Universe -- Just a year after HoF, Universal released House of Dracula (HoD) with a very similar formula. In some ways, HoD was weak sequel to HoF in that the monster is found in sand and mud in a cave, with the skeleton of Dr. Niemann. Yet, Dracula (again with John Carradine as "Baron Latos") and Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man: both alive as if the events in HoF had not happened. HoD is like HoF played out in a parallel universe.

Bottom line? HoF has all the hallmarks of a hackneyed sequel, but it took five sequels to get that way. It is the least compelling of the six, but still not a bad movie. The many subplots keep the pace moving. The visuals do a fair job of maintaining the stark and gloomy look of the earlier films. Fans of the first few films will feel at home in the last.