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document.write( " Frank for a Moment: Universal's Classic Monsters
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document.write( " By David Knoles
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document.write( "When anyone thinks of Halloween and the all-time \n" );
document.write( " classic horror movie monsters who haunt it, only three names come to the \n" );
document.write( " forefront, and they aren't Freddy, Jason and Michael. These were the \n" );
document.write( " original creatures of the night that haunted our dreams in glorious black \n" );
document.write( " and white. They rampaged through the movie houses and ravaged the drive-in \n" );
document.write( " theaters. They became the kings of the late, late show on television, and \n" );
document.write( " even after as long as 70 years since their original releases, their videos \n" );
document.write( " and DVDs are still hot sellers. Who are they? Who else but Frankenstein, \n" );
document.write( " Dracula and the Wolf man?
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document.write( " Frankenstein and Dracula were characters out of literature. Frankenstein \n" );
document.write( " began as a game in 1816 played by Mary Shelley, poet Percy Shelley and a \n" );
document.write( " notorious writer of the age named Lord Byron. It was on a storm-swept \n" );
document.write( " night that Lord Byron suggested a competition in which each of them would \n" );
document.write( " write a ghost story to see which could produce the most terrifying. Byron \n" );
document.write( " came up with a tale called The Vampyre. But Mary topped them all with her \n" );
document.write( " story of the modern Prometheus, as she called him, Frankenstein. Although \n" );
document.write( " publishers were at first reluctant to print this \"\"blasphemous\"\" portrait of \n" );
document.write( " a man who plays God by using science to create a living monster from \n" );
document.write( " sewn-together parts of dead human
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document.write( " A similar fame awaited English writer Bram Stoker when he pulled out his \n" );
document.write( " pen and began to chronicle the devious doings of the Transylvanian Count \n" );
document.write( " known as Dracula. Influenced by stories like Bryons Vampyre and ancient \n" );
document.write( " legends of unholy creatures lurking in the grim Carpathian Mountains of \n" );
document.write( " Romania, Stoker based his character on a nefarious Romanian nobleman \n" );
document.write( " called Prince Vlad, the Impaler. What he came up with was Dracula. The \n" );
document.write( " novel was hailed as a pinnacle of horror when it was published in 1897. \n" );
document.write( " Like its predecessor, Frankenstein, it has never been out of print.
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document.write( " It's little surprise that these terrors would not be content to simply \n" );
document.write( " stay on the printed page. Both became the subjects of a plethora of stage \n" );
document.write( " productions both in Europe and the United States. When that new-fangled \n" );
document.write( " wonder, moving pictures, arrived in the early 20th century, both \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein and Dracula found their way onto the flickering screen in \n" );
document.write( " silent versions of the books and plays that spawned them. In fact, \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein was the first film made by moving picture inventor Thomas \n" );
document.write( " Alva Edison as a short film in 1917. A few years later in 1922, German \n" );
document.write( " director F.M. Murnau made a dark and disturbing vision of Dracula (without \n" );
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document.write( " But it wasn't until 1931 that the full horror of these tales literally \n" );
document.write( " bludgeoned moviegoers into fits of nightmares. That was the year Universal \n" );
document.write( " Studios released the first of its classic creature-features, Dracula, \n" );
document.write( " directed by Ted Browning, based on the award-winning play of the same name \n" );
document.write( " (rather than Stoker's novel) and featuring the Hungarian actor, Bela \n" );
document.write( " Lugosi, who had made the play a smash hit on Broadway. Following in the \n" );
document.write( " wake of the unbelievable success of the undead count, Universal \n" );
document.write( " commissioned director James Whale to bring Frankenstein to the screen. \n" );
document.write( " Featuring Colin Clive as the obsessive scientist, Dwight Frye (who played \n" );
document.write( " Renfield in Dracula) as his assistant, Fritz, Edw
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document.write( " With this kind of response from filmgoers, it only stands to reason that \n" );
document.write( " there would be sequels. The sequel to Frankenstein came four years later \n" );
document.write( " with the release of The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935. With James Whale \n" );
document.write( " back at the helm and both Colin Clive and Boris Karloff reprising their \n" );
document.write( " original roles, most critics found The Bride of Frankenstein far superior \n" );
document.write( " to the original, and some hailed it as the greatest monster movie ever \n" );
document.write( " made.
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document.write( " Bride of Frankenstein offered more than a few unusual twists. It begins in \n" );
document.write( " a posh English manner on a stormy night, recreating the scene in which \n" );
document.write( " Mary Shelley conceived her hideous monster. Mary, played by Elsa \n" );
document.write( " Lancanster, who later appears as the monster s bride-to-be, tells her \n" );
document.write( " companions, Shelly and Byron, that her story didn t end when the town s \n" );
document.write( " people torched the windmill, and the action begins anew at the smoking \n" );
document.write( " ruins. The monster has survived by falling in a pool beneath the mill, and \n" );
document.write( " the poor townsfolk soon learn he s on the loose again. He is captured, \n" );
document.write( " escapes, is befriended by a blind peasant who teaches him to talk, is \n" );
document.write( " driven away and finally comes into contact with another mad scientist, Dr. \n" );
document.write( " Pretorious played to the hilt by Ernest Tesiger who convinces Dr. \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein to continue his exper
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document.write( " Bride of Frankenstein also gave Boris Karloff a lot more to do as the \n" );
document.write( " monster. His speaking role added even more pathos to the misunderstood \n" );
document.write( " monster, and he comes off as a great deal more bitter than actually evil. \n" );
document.write( " Although Karloff s monster in the third installment of the series, Son of \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein, speaks as well, the lines ended there. As far as audiences \n" );
document.write( " went, it seems they preferred that their nightmares be seen and not heard.
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document.write( " Frankenstein and Dracula made Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi into the \n" );
document.write( " Hollywood heavy-hitters of horror. And it wouldn't be until 1941 that a \n" );
document.write( " contender for the crown appeared. He came in the guise of Lon Chaney, Jr. \n" );
document.write( " playing the lead in Universal Studios new slab of monster movie madness, \n" );
document.write( " The Wolf Man. Based on ancient legends of shape-shifting humans who become \n" );
document.write( " the personification of evil curses, The Wolf Man breathed new life into \n" );
document.write( " horror, to say nothing of the box office. Deliciously written by Curt \n" );
document.write( " Siodmak and directed by George Waggoner, this dark moody vision of horror \n" );
document.write( " paired Chaney with Claude Reins as his stiff-necked father, Bela Lug
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document.write( " While Dracula and The Wolf Man were lone hits (the sequel to, Dracula, \n" );
document.write( " Dracula's Daughter, didn t feature Lugosi was considered an abysmal \n" );
document.write( " disappointment) there were eight films in the Universal Frankenstein \n" );
document.write( " horror series from 1931 to 1949. Interestingly enough, the sequel to The \n" );
document.write( " Wolf Man, and the re-appearance of Dracula were among them. The eight \n" );
document.write( " films were Frankenstein (1931); The Bride of Frankenstein (1935); The Son \n" );
document.write( " of Frankenstein (1939); The Ghost of Frankenstein
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document.write( " Following the success of Bride, Son of Frankenstein featured Basil \n" );
document.write( " Rathbone as Henry Frankenstein's adult son who finds the monster lurking \n" );
document.write( " about the family grounds in the care of a hunchback named Igor played by \n" );
document.write( " Bela Lugosi. Although the monster is killed in a vat of boiling mud, Igor \n" );
document.write( " digs him out in Ghost of Frankenstein and leaves the chore of dealing with \n" );
document.write( " him to Frankenstein's other son played by Lionel Atwell, who played the \n" );
document.write( " one-armed constable in Son of Frankenstein. Atwell transplants Igor's \n" );
document.write( " brain in the monster at the end of Ghost of Frankenstein, but it doesn't \n" );
document.write( " work out all that well. That is why Lon Chaney, Jr. finds him on ice i and \n" );
document.write( " wildly successful Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
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document.write( " Throughout the series, the major stars became more or less \n" );
document.write( " interchangeable. Take the role of the monster for example. Although Boris \n" );
document.write( " Karloff is best known as the Frankenstein Monster, he only played the \n" );
document.write( " lumbering juggernaut in the first three films. Lon Chaney, Jr in Ghost of \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein, assumed the role but he returned to the role of the Wolf \n" );
document.write( " Man, Larry Talbot, in the next sequel. Bela Lugosi stepped into the \n" );
document.write( " monster s shoes in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf man. Even though the \n" );
document.write( " producers of the original Frankenstein had offered the role of the monster \n" );
document.write( " to Lugosi in the wake of his success in Dracula, his wooden, lackluster \n" );
document.write( " portrayal was la
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document.write( " But if Karloff was finished with the monster after The Son of \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein, he wasn't done with the series. He returned in The House of \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein, as the revenge-driven mad scientist. But he refused a chance \n" );
document.write( " to return one last time to the role that made him famous in Abbott and \n" );
document.write( " Costello Meet Frankenstein. Even though Lugosi returned as Dracula and Lon \n" );
document.write( " Chaney, Jr. reprised his role as the wolf man, Karloff believed the film \n" );
document.write( " would be a disrespectful bomb, and declined the role as the monster. But \n" );
document.write( " he was wrong. Premiered in late 1948, Abbott and Costello Meet \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein not only received rave reviews, but it became the surprise \n" );
document.write( " blockbust
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document.write( " While Lon Chaney, Jr played several Universal monsters, including \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein and the mummy, he considered his role as Larry Talbot the \n" );
document.write( " pinnacle of his career, and it was one he was into for the long haul. \n" );
document.write( " First appearing as the tortured Talbot in The Wolf man, he made canine \n" );
document.write( " comebacks in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf man, House of Frankenstein, House \n" );
document.write( " of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Although during the \n" );
document.write( " series he was bludgeoned by a silver-handled cane, buried in a crumbling \n" );
document.write( " castle, frozen in ice, shot with a silver bullet and swept away, along \n" );
document.write( " with Count Dracula, in the angry seas after a plunge off a castle wall, \n" );
document.write( " the saga of the wolf man actually had a happy e
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document.write( " Meanwhile, Bela Lugosi, who was so intimately tied to his role as Count \n" );
document.write( " Dracula that he was buried in his original cape, wasn't quite as faithful \n" );
document.write( " to the role that made his career. He only played the famous Count twice. \n" );
document.write( " Although Lugosi portrayed vampires in many films over his career, \n" );
document.write( " culminating with a final appearance in Ed Wood's Plan Nine from Outer \n" );
document.write( " Space, he only played the Count in Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet \n" );
document.write( " Frankenstein. In The House of Frankenstein and The House of Dracula, actor \n" );
document.write( " John Carradine gratuitously played the Count. Although Carradine s \n" );
document.write( " portrayal made the legendary Count
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document.write( " It only goes to prove that the only thing that can really kill a movie \n" );
document.write( " monster is bad box office.