Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)

One of my brothers is an even bigger Holmes fan than I am, so when I brought up the Rathbone movies to him recently, I was surprised to hear that he hasn’t seen them yet. The greater surprise though came when I recommended them.

His reservation was the same as my initial one: that Holmes is best experienced in the Victorian setting. I was easily able to put him at rest about Fox’s period-piece Hound of the Baskervilles, of course, but I also defended the Universal series based on the success of Steven Moffat’s recent, contemporary take. And that’s what’s shocking to me. If you’d told me after I watched The Voice of Terror that I’d end up recommending the WWII-set films, I’d have sneered scornfully at you around my pipe. But The Secret Weapon and now Sherlock Holmes in Washington have changed my mind.

Maybe the series has empirically improved over the last couple of films or maybe I’m just getting used to Spy Holmes. In Washington, he’s called in to find a missing courier who was delivering an important document to the US capital. Naturally the Germans are behind it. Henry Daniell (the evil magazine editor in The Philadelphia Story) plays the head of the team of villains who snatches the courier, but he’s not the mastermind behind the operation. That’s George Zucco, who plays his second Holmes nemesis here. He was also an excellent Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It’s kind of cool that Daniell would get his own chance to play Moriarty in The Woman in Green, which we’ll get to later.



In addition to some great villains, there’s an intriguing mystery for Holmes to solve. The courier passed off his document to an unsuspecting fellow passenger on the train ride from New York to Washington, but no one knows which passenger it was. Like in The Secret Weapon, there’s a race between Holmes and the Germans to find the recipient and the document first. And when that’s done, there’s a showdown in the villains’ hideout, an atmospheric antique shop complete with hidden rooms.

The only thing that bugged me about the movie was Holmes’ naked admiration of the wonders of the United States. As a pair of G-Men usher Homes and Watson around DC, Holmes expresses awe at the monuments and buildings. He even makes a passionate, little speech at the end of the movie, something that’s become a habit for him in these films. I understand the patriotism of the wartime filmmakers and audience; it just seems out of character for Holmes. Though perhaps not as out of character for Rathbone’s version as I might hope. After all, this is the Holmes who expressed appreciation for Poe’s detective novels in Voice of Terror, an approval that Doyle’s Holmes explicitly did not have. In general, Rathbone’s Holmes is far more agreeable than the literary one.

And it’s interesting to me that though I didn’t care for Holmes’ enthusiastic admiration of the US, it felt right and pleasant with Watson. I loved watching Nigel Bruce enjoy a malt and chuckle over Flash Gordon in the paper. It’s extremely likely that this says more about me as a child of the post-Vietnam era than it does about this WWII movie, but I find Watson’s simple enjoyment of America’s pleasures more believable and endearing than Holmes’ eager patriotism. But does that mean that I’m not putting the work into it that I should as a viewer? Or just that the film is dated?

31 Days of Frankenstein: Mystery and X-Magination

Mystery and Imagination (1968)



Mystery and Imagination was a British, horror anthology series in the late '60s. In addition to Frankenstein, they also adapted other classic horror like Dracula, The Body Snatcher, The Fall of the House of Usher, and various works by MR James and Sheridan Le Fanu. Seriously, it sounds like an awesome show.

The Frankensteinia blog declares this version to be "the first Frankenstein film attempting a fidelity to Mary Shelley’s original story." Writer Marc Berezin points out that - unlike its predecessors - it faithfully follows through on the literary fates of William, Justine, Clerval, and Elizabeth. It's also notable for having Ian Holm play both Baron Frankenstein and his Creation. It's not the first time that had been done (the Frankensteinia post lists and discusses the other examples), but Mystery and Imagination uses it to highlight the Baron's hubris and God-playing by having him want to create a being "in his own image." That's not faithful to Shelley, but it's brilliant. As is the single, chilling word that Frankenstein shouts after Creation in the clip below.



X-Men #40 (1968)



X-Men #40 doesn't feature the most famous version of the Monster to appear in Marvel Comics, but he is the first. At least, he is if you don't count a couple of anthology stories from the '50s when Marvel was still calling itself Atlas. I don't, because what we think of as the Marvel Universe didn't exist yet.

Panelology has a great article about the Monster's history at Marvel (and I'll be coming back to it in a few days), so if you're curious about those Atlas stories, that's where you should go. Even then, they were using the flat-headed, bolt-necked Universal version that also made it into The X-Men. But where the Atlas version was supposed to be the actual Monster created by Victor Frankenstein, the X-Men version wasn't. Panelology speculates that since the then-powerful Comics Code Authority prevented the depiction of actual monsters, Marvel was forced to come up with a different origin for their version: a malfunctioning robot created by aliens as an ambassador to Earth. It wasn't until five years later, when the Code had relaxed some, that a more faithful (and popular) version would be introduced to the Marvel U.

31 Days of Frankenstein: Mad Casino Party?

Casino Royale (1967)



The 1967 Casino Royale was a spoof not only of James Bond and other spy movies, but of pop culture in general. Seriously, it was the Jason Friedberg movie of its day, throwing every then-contemporary pop culture reference it could think of into the pot, from Woody Allen (who also starred in and directed a piece of it) to What's New Pussycat? (which starred Casino Royale cast member Peter Sellers) to Westerns to - of course - Frankenstein. It's very much an everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink movie in the tradition of Hellzapoppin' and features another Universal-ripoff Monster for ease of recognition. Mostly, this version is remarkable because it's played by David "Darth Vader" Prowse.

Also in the tradition of Hellzapoppin', here's the completely nutso ending even though it doesn't have the Monster in it.



And just because it's hilarious and awesome: a fan trailer that makes the movie look infinitely better then it really is.



Mad Monster Party? (1967)



I don't know how I got through childhood without knowing about this Rankin Bass masterpiece, but I didn't discover it until I was all grown up. Boris Karloff is the voice of a Dr Frankenstein who wants to retire from his position as leader of all monsters everywhere. Unwilling to leave a power vacuum, he calls everyone together to Monster Island (not that one) so that he can announce his successor: his nephew; mild-mannered soda jerk Felix Flankin. The other monsters are of course unhappy about that, especially the Baron's hot lab assistant Francesca, so they split into factions and shaky alliances in order to bump off Felix and claim the leadership position. The monsters include Dracula, a werewolf, a Creature from the Black Lagoon-type sea monster, the Invisible Man, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, the Mummy, a Peter Lorre-like ghoul, and of course the Frankenstein Monster (called "Fang," for some reason) and his Mate (voiced - and looking like - Phyllis Diller).

With a script and character designs by Mad Magazine's Harvey Kurtzman and Jack Davis, the hour-and-a-half movie is very funny and looks great. It's easily in the top five specials Rankin-Bass ever produced. Davis' creatures are all a mixture of his distinctive style and the classic film versions everyone's familiar with, including Fang.

Apparently there was also a cartoon (very loose) sequel in 1972 called Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters, but probably the less said about that the better.

31 Days of Frankenstein: Conquers the Dell

Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)



I totally like the more accurately descriptive, Japanese title for this better: Frankenstein Versus Subterranean Monster Baragon. You'd think that a movie combining two of my favorite things - Frankenstein and giant monsters - would be something I'd enjoy, but alas: not so. Like Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, I've only ever been able to get through this via judicious fast-forwarding.

At least it actually features a Frankenstein Monster of sorts. Using the Axis alliance as a springboard, the film opens with the Nazis appropriating the heart of the Frankenstein Monster from a European scientist who's been studying it, then has them ship it to Japan for further research. The Japanese are studying it in Hiroshima when the Allies destroy the city and the immortal, radioactive heart lies dormant under the rubble for years until it begins to grow a new body.

As with all radiation-affected creatures in these movies, the new Frankenstein Monster continues growing until he's Godzilla-sized and ready to go to battle against a burrowing, bat-eared, horn-nosed giant reptile.This version of the Monster pays some homage to Universal's without getting too close to it. It spawned one sequel, War of the Gargantuas, in which the Monster's cells mutate further and create two versions of itself: a good one and an evil one. Meanwhile, Baragon went on to much greater success joining Godzilla in several of his movies.



Dell's Frankenstein (1966)



In the early '60s Dell did a series of one-shots adapting Universal's most popular monster-movies: Dracula in 1962, then Frankenstein and The Wolf Man both in 1964. A couple of years later though, the monster craze still being very big in the US, they decided to turn the characters into superheroes. Dracula and Frankenstein were no problem as long as Dell didn't use the Universal likenesses. They even continued the numbering from the one-shots, starting the superhero versions with #2 issues. Since the Wolf Man name was trademarked by Universal, Dell renamed that series Werewolf and started with a new #1.

Chris Sims did a great write-up about all three series for Comics Alliance last Halloween and describes the Frankenstein one as "What If Batman Was Frankenstein."

31 Days of Frankenstein: Meets the Space Doctor

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)



Not really a Frankenstein movie at all, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is about a Martian invasion to capture Earth women to help repopulate the Red Planet. Thinking it's a retaliatory missile, the Martians shoot down a space probe containing a human-looking android named Frank Saunders. Frank is severely damaged and goes on a rampage of Puerto Rico before ultimately facing the Martians' radiation-scarred mutant-monster.

I've only tried to watch this thing once and failed to make it without a lot of fast-forwarding, but I don't remember Frank's even being called "Frankenstein" by another character in the movie. If he is, it's just a nickname based on his first name, his monstrous appearance, and his terrorizing humans. If not, it's an even lamer attempt to inappropriately use the name to steal some ticket sales. I do like Frank's Two-Face look though. It's an interesting, symbolic way to depict the man-monster.



Doctor Who: "Journey Into Terror" (1965)

"Journey Into Terror" is an episode in the longer, second season Doctor Who serial called The Chase. In that story, the Doctor and his companions are being pursued by Daleks who have developed their own time-travel device. As the Doctor tries to outrun the Daleks he stops in a variety of settings, including a haunted mansion inhabited by Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster. It's later revealed that the place is actually a futuristic (1996!) theme park and that the monsters are just robots. The episode used the Universal version of the Monster, but clothed him in mummy-wrapping.

31 Days of Frankenstein: Kiss Me, Herman!

Kiss Me Quick! (1964)



I have no idea what the Frankenstein Monster is doing in Kiss Me Quick!, even after reading an extensive article about it on Images Journal. Like House on Bare Mountain, it's a nudie flick with the primary purpose of providing a showcase for naked women. In Kiss Me Quick!, this takes the form of the experiments of a mad scientist named Dr. Breedlove who's working to turn women into "insatiable love machines." He's visited by an alien named Sterilox, a sexual ambassador from the Buttless Galaxy who's come to Earth looking for women to mate with. It's apparently not hardcore porn, but while no mating occurs in the movie, there's lots of naked dancing as Dr. Breedlove helpfully shows his experiments to the alien.

Apparently, the Frankenstein Monster comes in at some point, played by the same actor who plays Sterilox. And as the movie's very NSFW trailer shows, Dracula too. Maybe they're supposed to be more of Breedlove's experiments? I don't know how long they're in the movie, but since neither Images nor Wikipedia nor IMDB mention them in their plot summaries, it sounds like maybe they're just throwaway gags. Whatever the case, the Monster is obviously a rip-off of Universal's version and the Images article provides some insight to how the filmmakers got away with it:

These movies rarely played theaters that booked traditional Hollywood fare. Instead, [they] existed in an alternate cinematic universe that typically used grindhouses and (occasionally) art houses as exhibition venues. Hollywood studios apparently paid little attention to this environment.

As evidence, on the audio commentary track of [...] Kiss Me Quick!, Mike Vraney asks producer Harry Novak how he got away with using the Frankenstein monster (complete with flat-top head, forehead clamps, and neck bolts) - a licensed character that Universal Pictures has vigorously protected for many decades. The Frankenstein monster even appeared on the movie's posters and newspaper ads. "Didn't they ever call you?" asks Vraney. "What for?" retorts Novak, with his customary bravado. "We had tits and ass. They didn't have tits and ass."

So in some cases, people got away with it just by slipping under Universal's radar. But that obviously wasn't the case for this next one.

The Munsters (1964)



Herman Munster got away with looking exactly like Universal's Frankenstein because The Munsters was produced by Universal. Hammer had re-invigorated the horror craze in the '50s, but not single-handedly. Thanks to films like Creature from the Black Lagoon, Universal and other US studios had kept monster movies going and the fad lasted well into the '60s.

The Munsters wasn't an original idea. The show premiered only a week after The Addams Family, but it was based on a concept even older than that. As early as the late-'40s, Looney Tunes animator Bob Clampett pitched Universal a series of cartoons about a family of monsters. The idea was kicked and passed around for a decade or so until MCA (Universal's parent company) decided to run with it as a live-action show. I couldn't find an original source for this, but according to an Addams Family fan site, word got out that ABC had locked down a series based on Charles Addams' popular strip and that's what got MCA moving (and CBS buying). Both shows ran for the same two years and were cancelled within a month of each other due to the popularity of Batman and color TV in general.

31 Days of Frankenstein: Bare Mountain Evil

House on Bare Mountain (1962)

If you know how to parse it correctly, the title tells you everything you need to know about this low-budget nudie flick. "Bare Mountain" refers to the mountaintop girls school/nudist colony that's the setting for the film; I suspect that "House" refers not only to an actual house there, but to House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The movie's about an old woman (actually Bob Cresse in drag) who runs the naked girls school as a cover for her moonshine operation. At some point, the operation is visited by Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man.

There are conflicting reports on where the monsters come in. According to a review at Happyotter, the moonshine still is operated by the werewolf, but IMDB's short summary suggests that the monsters don't "invade" the school until later. Either way, the movie has a scene of the Universal-looking Monster spiking a punch bowl and that's awesome.

A couple of things about this movie are worth noting. First, as far as I can tell, it's the first movie in which the Monster has been misnamed "Frankenstein" in the credits. Mistaking the Creature for his creator is a much older phenomenon than that (in fact, Son of Frankenstein has Wolf von Frankenstein lamenting it early on), but the movies at least had gotten it straight up to this point. Even Hellzapoppin', as loose as that was.

The other thing has to do with the Monster's look. "Serious" remakes/sequels (even the extremely cheap ones) understood that they couldn't just steal Universal's design, but it's a different story with comedies. Maybe Universal wasn't that protective of its version in the '60s; maybe rules about parody apply. Either way, the popularity of the Universal version made it an easy short-hand so that audiences could immediately identify the Monster and laugh as he acted against type. Like spiking the punch bowl.

The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

I skipped over The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Hammer's sequel to Curse of Frankenstein, because there's no real Monster in it. I mean, there sort of is, but not really. Not as its own, unique character. Maybe I should've included it anyway.

Either way, the third in Hammer's series was The Evil of Frankenstein, a narrative and stylistic departure from the first two. Though Peter Cushing again plays Baron Frankenstein, he plays him with a different personality and flashback scenes in Evil contradict events of the previous movies. Also, though it's supposed to be the same one from Curse, the Monster looks completely different. Thanks to a deal in which Universal agreed to distribute the film, the Monster's look in Evil was able to include some of the famous design, including the flat head.

31 Days of Frankenstein: 1970 and Daughter

Frankenstein - 1970 (1958)



Following Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, other filmmakers wanted to cash in on the revival. Set twelve years into its own future, Frankenstein 1970 promised a Monster "for the atomic age." It also offered Boris Karloff in his second appearance as a mad scientist working on a Frankenstein project (House of Frankenstein being the first, but 1970 was the first time he played a guy actually named Frankenstein). Frankensteinia describes the Monster's look as "a cross between the Michelin Man and the boiler robot of the classic Republic serials," which isn't inaccurate, but I kind of love it anyway.



Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)



This cash-grab was made for $65,000 in less than a week. That's important when you realize that the masculine Monster in the poster is actually supposed to be the titular Daughter. According to Frankensteinia again, the story goes that Frankenstein's grandson Oliver Frank wants to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, but chooses a female corpse to turn into his Creature. Unfortunately, no one told the makeup guy that the Monster was female. "There was no time or money to fix the mistake, so they slapped lipstick on The Monster and, according to director [Richard] Cunha, 'we pushed the guy on the set and started shooting.'"

31 Days of Frankenstein: House, Curse, and Tales

We've got three entries today, because I screwed up when I made my initial list and left out Curse of Frankenstein! I know!

House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945); Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)



Oddly, my second-favorite Universal Frankenstein is the least-known one. Or maybe that's not so odd. Karloff defined the Monster's look, but when I look at Chaney and Lugosi in the make-up I can't really see anything but Chaney and Lugosi. I've only ever seen Glenn Strange out of make-up once (in The Mad Monster, which I highly recommend to anyone with a love of cheesy werewolves and mad scientists), so he disappears into the Monster role nicely.

His version isn't as thin as Karloff's, but he's got an awesome face for the part. He looks really cool and holds his own lumbering around next to Lon Chaney's Wolf Man and a couple of Draculas. In fact, thanks possibly to having access to Boris Karloff on the set of House of Frankenstein, he's much less out of place than John Carradine as Dracula in the two House movies. But I should probably save that commentary for next year (spoiler alert!). At least Bela Lugosi came back as the Count for Abbott and Costello.





The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)



Following the success of their first horror film, The Quartermass Xperiment (based on a BBC TV sci-fi serial), Hammer Film Productions began looking for other horror properties to adapt. Through a tentative partnership they were trying to form with a US studio, they got their hands on a script for a Frankenstein film. Unfortunately, it bore an unhealthy resemblance to Universal's Son of Frankenstein, but with some extensive rewrites and a different look for the Monster, Hammer was able to not only salvage the project, but create a genuine, ground-breaking classic.  

The Curse of Frankenstein was the first color version of the story and also set new standards in the amount of gore that horror movies were allowed to show. Up until then, blood was rarely shown and when it was, it was obscured by the black-and-white film. With Curse, it was vivid red and the camera lingered on it. The film created countless imitators and launched a successful series for Hammer.



Tales of Frankenstein (1958)



The year after Curse of Frankenstein was released, Hammer struck a deal with Columbia Pictures to co-produce a Frankenstein TV show for US television. It was never picked up for a series, but it's interesting that its version of the Monster was visually a cross between Christopher Lee and Universal's.

Frankensteinia has a great history and synopsis of the pilot episode and notes that many of the unproduced script ideas became seeds for later Hammer films like Evil of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Created Woman. You can watch the entire pilot below

31 Days of Frankenstein: Wolf Man and Briefer

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942)



Bela Lugosi's troubled relationship with Frankenstein is legendary. I'd always heard that Lugosi turned down the part of the Monster for the original Frankenstein film, because he didn't want to be hidden by the makeup. According to writer Steve Miller though, it was actually director James Whale's decision to recast the Monster with Boris Karloff. Not only that, Miller also says that Lugosi went up for the part of Doctor Praetorius in Bride of Frankenstein, but was again rejected by Whale. It wasn't until Son of Frankenstein that Lugosi was able to join the series as Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant, Ygor.

Before Karloff was cast though (and, apparently, before Jack Pierce had figured out what the Monster would look like), a Frankenstein poster was made with Lugosi's name and likeness on it. How different history would be had they gone with that version.

Of course, Lugosi eventually did get his shot at the neck-bolts in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. He looks ridiculous in the get-up, but I do love the continuity in having him play the part. At the end of Ghost of Frankenstein, Ygor's brain is put into the Monster's body and we actually hear Lugosi's voice coming out of Lon Chaney Jr's mouth. It's fitting that the Monster's face eventually morphs into Ygor's too.

But even then, Lugosi couldn't really catch a break. It's established at the end of Ghost that an incompatibility between Ygor and the Monster's blood causes the creature to go blind. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man never reminds its audience of that and confuses the situation even more by removing all of Lugosi's lines. The result is a monster who's inexplicably mute and clumsy. Not exactly one of Lugosi's best-loved performances.



Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (1945)



I've got Craig Yoe's collection of Dick Briefer Frankenstein comics, but I haven't read it yet. I'm hoping to do that this month, but in the meantime, if you're interested in this awesomely stylized take on the Monster, I'll direct you to Yoe's post on the Frankensteinia blog that tells all about it:

Briefer was of two minds. The cartoonist drew a horrific version of Frankenstein during the horror comics craze of the 50s. The stories were dark, grim and foreboding. But, before that he drew a humorous Merry Monster version that was lighthearted, nutty, and wacky. Think The Munsters or The Addams Family--kooky and creepy, altogether ooky. This was the version Briefer himself preferred. Actually, when I was putting together the book I discovered that there was a THIRD version. The early 1940s original stories in Prize Comics, starting in issue #7 were almost a synthesis of the two known styles. At least art-wise. These seminal stories were gritty, but the art had a bit of that boffo, gusto, and bravado of the early Golden Age comics that had a simple cartoony flair, almost humorous, approach. Those comic books are trez expensive. I had to almost beg a collector to scan his valuable and fragile inaugural Frankenstein stories for me. So I am thrilled to present the fascinating rare first three Frankenstein stories in the book.

31 Days of Frankenstein: Hellzapoppin and the Ghost

Hellzapoppin' (1941)



Since this was produced by Universal, it's really a bona fide use of their version of the Monster, just not one that most people remember. Hellzapoppin' is a completely insane, everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink musical review based on a stage version by the same name. It's the kind of thing where everyone's doing a conga number and from out of nowhere a guy in a fur coat comes out to shoot at a bear in a fake tree. "Ha ha ha!" says the bear. "You missed me. You need glasses." Then one of the hunter's dogs says to the other one, "Can you imagine that? A talking bear!"

I searched for a YouTube clip of the Frankenstein part and couldn't find it, but IMDB says that towards the end of the movie, Frankenstein grabs Martha Raye and throws her onto the stage. From what I've seen of the rest of the film, the Monster probably comes from the same place as that hunter and his talking dogs: the writer's butt.

Just because it's awesome, here's the ending:



The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)



After Son of Frankenstein, Universal's Frankenstein movies went from A- to B-movie status. The first of them was Ghost of Frankenstein with Lon Chaney Jr taking Boris Karloff's place in the makeup. It's a difficult adjustment to make as a viewer, especially if watched right after Son. Karloff's gaunt Monster is terrifying; Chaney's thicker version looks as comical as the one in Hellzapoppin'.

That said, I do like Ghost quite a bit. As Ygor, Bela Lugosi is even more menacing in it than he was in Son. It's too bad he doesn't continue playing Ygor in the next film...