Topic: The Ghost of Frankenstien

[Boid Brain]

This entry will be of no interest to non-Universal Horror fans. ("Well, I warned you")

Many fans know that "The Son Of Frankenstien" was originally to be in color. The idea was scratched because they just couldn't get his skin color right. I'm sure most have seen the little clip with Karloff clowning around with Jack Pierce with the Hulk green skin...ulg!

But this may come as a surprize: The monster was blind in "The Ghost" movie. You will remember that Ygor's brain was inserted into his head and "damage to the optic nerves" resulted in blindness in "The Ghost of Frankenstien". It was odd to hear Lugosi's voice coming out of Chaney's mouth!

Well, to make a long story longer, it was a natural that Bela portray the monster in the next movie. He was thrilled at the oppertunity. As you all know, he turned down the role before James Whale found Karloff. For good reason as the script he was shown had the monster as a mindless, killing robot with none of the pathos found in the later script. But I digress...

After the film was completed, the Universal minds that "be" decided not only to drop the blind angle, but also took out all close-ups of the monster speaking. As a kid I noticed that he was now walking with his arms stretched out in front of him (like a blind man!) but I did not make the connection. There is one scene in the picture where you can see him speaking in profile if you look close.

After getting wind of these revelations I could not wait to see the movie again, but about 10 years went by before it popped up on You Tube! It's plain to see he was blind: in one scene where the monster is chasing the whole town down the street, Larry Talbot, his new friend steps in front of him, grabbing his arms shouting "Its me!" Then he leads him away to a wagon, pushing him into the back of it.

The coolest thing was that at the end of the movie, when Frankie was getting juiced back to his full strength, there is a close-up of his eyes which show them finally opening and looking around! Then a sly smile crosses his face...he can SEE again. Then he breaks free and chases the Wolfman all over the place.

Poor Lugosi...they really fucked him out of what could have been a great role, as alluded to in the previous picture: "Ygor's brain in the body of a giant??? THAT would be a monster indeed!"

[Curly4444]

So your saying they filmed it as him being blind, and then edited it to try and make it look like he wasn't blind??

[Boid Brain]

So your saying they filmed it as him being blind, and then edited it to try and make it look like he wasn't blind??

That is correct....you must go to You Tube and watch,,,,it will come clear. The monster was blind and had lines with Talbot....but the Universal powers decided that a Hungarian  speaking blind moster would screw up the franchise. And of course, it would have.

But they lured him to the
role and then fucked him up the ass. Another fact: Bela was pushing 60 when he took this role, so they had Chaney playing BOTH roles, as the monster and the wolfman. He freaked out because of the hours of makeup, but in the final scene you can see him fighting himself vs. the wolfman!

The movie was a mess.

[Boid Brain]

I made a terrible error....this movie was " Frankenstein meets the wolfman", not the "Ghost of Frankenstein"...but all I said was true. He was all set up to be the ultimate homicidal maniac monster with speech (Hungarian speech) and the studio lured him to this role as such.

Then they fucked Bela over to retain the image of the Karloff monster.

[Curly4444]

Didnt matter to me,  Frankenstein meets the wolfman is one of my fav universal monster movies.

[metaldams]

You're right about FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN being originally filmed as the monster being blind and then the dialogue about the blindness being taken out after scenes have been shot.  Since Lugosi played the role of a blind monster and any mention of this has been edited out, he doesn't come across so well.

The first three Universal Frankenstein's are classic, and I like GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN because of Lugosi's role as Ygor, but after that, the series turned into nothing but interchangeable monster rallies.  They're OK when I'm in the mood, but I can't pretend they are great movies.

While on 40's Universal horror, perhaps the best straight horror film of the decade from that studio next to THE WOLF MAN is SON OF DRACULA.  It is the only monster movie I can think of where the monster is the weakest part.  Chaney's not a convincing Dracula, but the atmosphere, story, and most shockingly, male and female romantic leads (!) are all well done.

[Seamus]

While on 40's Universal horror, perhaps the best straight horror film of the decade from that studio next to THE WOLF MAN is SON OF DRACULA.  It is the only monster movie I can think of where the monster is the weakest part.  Chaney's not a convincing Dracula, but the atmosphere, story, and most shockingly, male and female romantic leads (!) are all well done.

I wish you hadn't thrown in this gratuitous endorsement of SON OF DRACULA, Metal.  I was all set to watch this for the first time about a month ago (having bought the Dracula Legacy Collection box set not long ago), and found that my copy of the DVD was burned so poorly as to be unwatchable.  Then you go twisting the knife.

As for "poor old Bela" getting the shaft in FMTW, as much as I'd like to have seen the continuity from GHOST maintained, I suspect the studio may have saved Lugosi a lot more embarrassment by truncating his dialogue scenes.  It's a shame they didn't explicitly reiterate the monster's blindness and new brain for the general audience, but if you're aware of what went down in GHOST it plays fine as it is, especially the scene Boid mentioned when the monster is being re-energized and you see a devilish grin spread across Lugosi's face.  Uncharacteristic for the original Karloff version of the monster, but perfectly consistent with the idea that Ygor's brain is now running things.

[Boid Brain]

Seamus: when I first saw "the Son of Dracula" as a kid I did not buy the wolfman as Dracula. I was OK with the idea that he become a wolf, but he totally lost me when he displayed the power to transmogrify into mist!

I recently watched it again after all these years and surprisingly I found it watchable. One last word on Bela: in the Ed Wood movie Lugosi was portrayed as a Karloff hater. My God! He called him a cocksucker!

Pure D bull, Mr. Burton...Boris was one of the most loved actors of his time by his peers. They all say the same thing, that he was the sweetest man they ever met. Furthermore Karloff would do things for Bela when they worked together, such as switching roles at Bela's request. (I'm thinking of "The Black Cat") Remember that one? You might say that Boris gave up his skin for Lugosi.

[Boid Brain]

Didnt matter to me,  Frankenstein meets the wolfman is one of my fav universal monster movies.

Oh! Don't get me wrong...I loved every minute of the movie. It was a 1st rate production (save the editing) I loved that foxy Europeon blonde that was the daughter of one of the Frankenstein boys (I forget which) and that old Gypsy bitch, Maleva. I think her name was Openskia, or something like that.

I don't think screamin' Una O'Conner was in it. Or was she?