Not Since "Hamlet" Or "Les Miz" Has There Been Such A High Cast Body Count!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  "House Of Frankenstein," shown by Svengoolie last Saturday, was more enjoyable than "Son Of Frankenstein."  One thing I noticed was the body count; by the end, like the more classic works I have mentioned, all the main players were dead.  And the emotionality in this film suggests maybe they were aiming for something more.

                                                      The most touching performance was delivered by J. Carrol Naish, as the hunchback, Daniel.  Then there is Elena Verdugo, (yes, from  "Marcus Welby, M.D.") as the gypsy girl Ilonka.  Daniel falls in love with her, and she has the decency to be kind to him. But then in steps Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lawrence Talbot, aka "The Wolf Man," and who would have thought of him as a romantic rival?  Ilonka flips for him, she disses Daneil cruelly, and allows herself to be attacked by Talbot, so she can kill him, for  love, with a  silver  bullet!  Oh,  my God!  Daniel, understandably, turns on Karloff, as Dr. Gustav Niemann, whom he has been assisting in wreaking revenge on the town officials, who condemned him, years before.  But Glenn Strange, as the Monster, comes to defend Karloff, and, just as he would do with Lenore Aubert as Doctor Mornay, two years later, in "Abbott  And Costello Meet Frankenstein," throws Daniel through, I swear, the very same window!  Or a reasonable facsimlie thereof.  Or maybe the 1948 one was the facsimilie.  Anyway, the image looks similar.

                                                          Of course, the Universal back lot  torch mob is on the prowl.  But where in the world is Dwight Frye????????  Good as Naish is, Frye would have been the perfect Daniel.  Alas, he died the year before, 1943, which was when Universal made the predecessor to  this film, "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman."  And, in a small role as a village  official  is  Sig Ruman, who, the year before appeared in 1943's most prestigious, A-list film--"The Song Of Bernadette."

                                                           Imagine!  But Karloff is grabbed by the Monster,  chased by the mob into a swamp, with quicksand, where they sink, and die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  None of the main  players survive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                What the hell was going on here?  Was there a psychologist  on  the set?  I  can't figure it out, but I can tell you it was very entertaining.

                                                                     I can also tell you, had I been working on this film, I would  have spent my evenings either at Chasen's  or The Brown Derby!!!!!!!!!!!!!