This 1948 film was a favorite of mine as a kid, but after seeing it this past Saturday night, I am declaring this my last viewing. The film is so ridiculous and flawed.
The monsters are more interesting than Abbott and Costello, but they have to stoop to their low level of humor, and look none too happy about it. Especially Bela Lugosi, who, in his final characterization as Dracula, looks old and tired, and not happy with his comic bits. Same with Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man, and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein. They deserved better.
Lenore Aubert gives the most interesting performance as Dr. Sandra Mornay, an ambitious female scientist, with a price on her head. I would like to know her back story. Since it is so soon after the war, the camps, perhaps???????????????????????????????????
This film I found insulting. If intending to be Universal's farewell to the monster genre, it was a dishonor. And flawed.
The cartoon scenes of Lugosi changing from a bat to Dracula look fake.
Dracula and The Wolfman go over a terrace, seemingly plunging to their deaths, when aficionados know only a silver bullet can kill a werewolf, and a vampire by driving a stake through his heart, or dying in the sunlight.
Same with Doctor Mornay. Transformed into a vampire, plunging out the window might muss her hair, but not kill her.
As for Frankenstein, where did Dracula get this toy gizmo to revive him, and how many other times has the Monster survived fire????????????????
What never bothered me as a kid, rankles me now. I am almost sorry I did watch it.
Sometimes, childhood illusions are better retained.
Exactly. Same with re-reading a beloved childhood book.
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ReplyDeleteVictoria,
Agreed, though I have had better
luck revisiting children's books than films.