Classic Movies - Universal Studios Monsters: the Wolf Man - House of Dracula

Today we will conclude our week of Univeral Studios Monster - the Wolf Man. The movie featured today is House of Dracula (1945), starring Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, Martha O'Driscoll, Lionel Atwill, Onslow Stevens, Jane Adams, Ludwig Stössel, and Glenn Strange. During the 1940s, Universal had created several monsters to scare the public, one movie after another. Several of those movies not only featured one of their monster creations, but two or three, which added to the tension and fear of the film. In House of Dracula, Count Dracula and the Wolf Man seek a cure for their afflictions; a hunchbacked woman, a mad scientist and the Frankenstein monster have their own troubles.

Dracula arrives at Dr. Edelman's (Stevens) office asking for a cure to his vampirism. However, this is a ruse by Dracula (Carradine) to get near Dr. Edelman's beautiful female assistant, Nina (Adams), and turn her into a vampire. Meanwhile, a sincere Lawrence Talbot, AKA the Wolf Man (Chaney), arrives seeking a cure for his lycanthropy. When Dr. Edelman's first attempt fails, Talbot tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, but instead finds a network of underground caves where the Frankenstein Monster (Strange) is in stasis. Chaos ensues as the three monsters fight for dominance of each other.

So for a scary "Monster Mash Month" selection, we recommend watching the 1945 classic film, House of Dracula with Lon Chaney, Jr., John Carradine, and Glenn Strange. Join "Let's Talk Classic Movies" next week to conclude our month of Universal Studios monsters when we feature a week of Universal's 'Mummy' movies. Monday we will be featuring Universal's 1932 film, The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff.

**Trivia Question for Today: House of Dracula was the last of Universal's original FRANKENSTEIN movie series. How many films were included in this series? Which movie was excluded from this series?

Trivia Answer for Previous Post: When The Monster's dialogue was deleted in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, also removed were any references to The Monster being blind - a side-effect of Ygor's brain being implanted into The Monster at the end of The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). As a result, Lugosi's sleepwalker-like lumbering gait with arms outstretched is not explained and became the subject of ridicule. It also established the Frankenstein Monster-walk stereotype.