At Capacity: House of Frankenstein (1944)
My dear readers, ordinarily I am resolute when it comes to composing these critical compositions and my focus is unshakable from the time I sit at my writing table until the moment a polished critical piece is fit for publication. But lately, I fear, certain domestic disturbances have been piercing the calm that my labors typically provide. Just above my study at exactly 7:13 each evening, the most terrible cacophony unfolds -- one can distinctly hear the clattering of chains, the shrieking of women in great distress and a truly distracting sort of wet gurgle. I have even spent an evening or two watching as the ceiling overhead took on a truly distasteful shade of maroon. Perhaps avoiding my study at this hour would solve the problem entirely but I have something of a routine and I really am rather attached to it. The fact that the room directly overhead has been blocked off for some time only makes the matter more irksome.
Prison escapees doing their best to avoid drawing attention
Doctor Niemann (Boris Karloff) knows all about being kept from his work. The man is a large admirer of Victor Von Frankenstein and he harbors hopes of continuing the late doctor’s work. He has an awfully good leg up on the business of mad science, having already secured the services of Daniel (J. Carrol Naish), a man whose moral flexibility and severe kyphosis make him the ideal assistant for a budding monster maker. Unfortunately, incarceration keeps both gentleman from their professional pursuits until a violent storm dislodges the walls of their prison. Sensing that a career in show business is the best course for avoiding contact with law enforcement, Niemann and Daniel murder a sideshow owner and take over his primary attraction, the remains of Baron Dracula (John Carradine).
The purloined exhibit proves to be far from “bunk” and a truly rudimentary inspection of Dracula’s body restores him to his full undead luster. Niemann finds himself entering into an unholy bargain, swearing to provide fealty and protection to the freshly resurrected vampire. But Niemann is an odd chap, one not particularly bound by scruples or promissory statements, and he condemns the baron to an unassuming demise the moment he becomes a liability. Luckily, Eastern Europe has no shortage of legendary monstrosities and Niemann only has to travel a short distance before aquatinting himself with noted lycanthrope Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) and Frankenstein’s monster (Glenn Strange). Though the whole lot of them meet on fairly agreeable terms, it does not take long for all manner of disagreement to take hold.
John Carradine adds a Lugosi-like emphasis to the eyes
House of Frankenstein follows just one year after Frankenstein Meets The Wolf-Man (1943), the first of Universal Studio’s experiments in fusing marquee monsters into gargantuan spectacles. Undoubtedly, the public was still reeling from the notion that two notable creatures could be contained by a single motion picture and yet, much like the mad scientists from their movies, the chaps back at the studio continued to nudge away at established boundaries, reasoning that if a film could reasonably accommodate two iconic horror personalities, they should easily be able to double that quantity with little consequence. It is a bold and, dare I say, successful effort to fill the House of Frankenstein to its capacity. As one might imagine, the accommodations are a little cramped with five outsized characters wedged into just over 70 minutes. Dracula suffers the most of all, being banished to a somewhat ignoble corner of the narrative quite early on. But such sacrifices must be made when chasing such considerable leaps in progress. I imagine the cumbersome superhero blockbusters of recent summers past owe much to director Erle C. Kenton for fearlessly testing this approach to cinematic consolidation.
The House of Frankenstein runs 71 minutes and has been rated “passed.”
