I confess that I had low expectations when I watched this. Sequels generally don't blow me away to begin with, and my guess was that Universal Pictures was going a bit over the top in trying to milk the "monster cow" by putting these two together. I suppose that one of the great benefits of low expectations, however, is that you stand a chance of being pleasantly surprised, and I was. This was actually a pretty good movie, which has a decent, if far fetched, story line (of course it is about a werewolf and Frankenstein's monster, so far-fetched was inevitable) and it moves along at a very good pace, since there's really no need for significant character development.
Lon Chaney reprised his role as Larry Talbot here, the unfortunate man bitten by a werewolf, who was killed at the end of "The Wolf Man." In this movie, grave robbers open his casket, but unfortunately they do it during a full moon, which somehow brings him back to life. This movie introduces the significance of the full moon (as I recall in the original, it was an autumn moon that was significant.) Chaney is more heavily made up in this one, and after some unfortunate incidents in Wales, he leaves for Europe to try to find the Gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Oustenskaya) from the first movie, who he believes can help him. Instead, she directs him to Dr. Frankenstein. Unfortunately, he's dead, but his monster (played here by Bela Lugosi instead of Boris Karloff) isn't, and the movie eventually leads up to a confrontation between the monster and the werewolf - and the monster seems to get the best of the fight actually! The supporting cast in this includes Patrick Knowles as Dr. Mannering, the doctor who first treats Talbot in Wales and then finally searches him out in Europe - and who essentially is the Dr. Frankenstein of this movie. Introduced to Frankenstein's experiments, he also becomes obsessed with them which leads to the clash between the creatures. Ilona Massey played Baroness Frankenstein, the late doctor's daughter. It's pretty good, and the story works far better than I thought it would, although I thought Baroness Frankenstein was received far too civilly by the villagers who hated her father. The musical scene at the village festival also seemed out of place to me. The ending seemed unsatisfying, as well. Without giving too much away, I find it hard to believe that either creature was killed by what happened at the end, given that neither seemed able to be killed! Still, it's enjoyable, and a good job of blending two otherwise unrelated horror stories. 7/10
Lon Chaney reprised his role as Larry Talbot here, the unfortunate man bitten by a werewolf, who was killed at the end of "The Wolf Man." In this movie, grave robbers open his casket, but unfortunately they do it during a full moon, which somehow brings him back to life. This movie introduces the significance of the full moon (as I recall in the original, it was an autumn moon that was significant.) Chaney is more heavily made up in this one, and after some unfortunate incidents in Wales, he leaves for Europe to try to find the Gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Oustenskaya) from the first movie, who he believes can help him. Instead, she directs him to Dr. Frankenstein. Unfortunately, he's dead, but his monster (played here by Bela Lugosi instead of Boris Karloff) isn't, and the movie eventually leads up to a confrontation between the monster and the werewolf - and the monster seems to get the best of the fight actually! The supporting cast in this includes Patrick Knowles as Dr. Mannering, the doctor who first treats Talbot in Wales and then finally searches him out in Europe - and who essentially is the Dr. Frankenstein of this movie. Introduced to Frankenstein's experiments, he also becomes obsessed with them which leads to the clash between the creatures. Ilona Massey played Baroness Frankenstein, the late doctor's daughter. It's pretty good, and the story works far better than I thought it would, although I thought Baroness Frankenstein was received far too civilly by the villagers who hated her father. The musical scene at the village festival also seemed out of place to me. The ending seemed unsatisfying, as well. Without giving too much away, I find it hard to believe that either creature was killed by what happened at the end, given that neither seemed able to be killed! Still, it's enjoyable, and a good job of blending two otherwise unrelated horror stories. 7/10