8mm Forum: THE WOLFMAN REEL-1X800FT/B/W.SOUND.

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Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on July 20, 2006, 06:02 AM:

HI there fellow members.i thought i'd give you my views on
those old universal/castle super8 releases...
Anyway here it goes...
The wolfman-After a good title opening we switch to the forset
and witness an animal walking.the camera pulls up and we see
The wolfman(Lon chaney jr).A great shot thats still as spooky
as ever.
A grave digger looks up and is totally amazed;the wolfman
attacks and kills him.
The local villagers are awakend by the wolf's howl.
The police are quick on the scene,but there's only wolf tracks.
the following morning,Sir john talbot(Claude rains)and the local
men are prepairing to set a trap;Larry tries to talk to the doctor but is dismissed.
Later that night the wolfman gets caught in a trap;he reacts
until he passes out;an old gypsy woman comes out of the mist.
She gets down from her cart and speaks -a little diddy..
The way you walk is thorny...;as this is spoken we see that
The wolfman transforums back into Larry talbot(chaney).
The old woman helps him get out of the trap;and he hobbles off.
Larry goes into the village and seeks help from the local beauty
Gwen(Eveyln Ankers);she is planning to help him,but larry sees
in her hand the five pointed star..only the wolfman can see this.
We then cut back to Larrys home were he has a final confrontation
with his father.Sir john thinks his son is insane;larry asks his
father to tie him to the chair,and take the cane...
Everything is set for the finale..
All the local villeage men are at the hunt..;also there is
Gwen,she is franctic to find larry,the old gysy warns her,she
runs off,but she has something or someone following her...
It is of course the wolfman and he managers to catch up with her.
She screams as the wolfman attacks her-in the nick of time
with the silver topped cane out of the mist comes Sir john and
both wolfman and sir john get locked in combat.As sir john belts
the wolfman with the cane;the wolfman ends on the ground,as sir john contiues to belt him.
Out of the mist comes the old gypsy woman and we witness the final transformation from wolf to man.
Here the camera is on the wolfmans face so we can see him transform back to Larry Talbot.
A very well edited two reeler,its good print and sound
with a 17minute running time.
Frankenstein meets the wolfmnan-8mins/b/w snd.After the great success of the universal's THE WOLFMAN it was certain that a sequel would appear.
This is my view of the old Castle one reeler,so here it goes...
After the title sequence we open with that famous graveyard scence.Two grave robbers enter a cyrpt and search for the tomb
of Larry talbot(Chaney).
The robbers are succesful and open it..they think their luck's in
until they find wolf-bane.
Its here that the most famous werewolf saying ever-
Even a man who's pure at heart..its complete.the robbers contiue
as the full moon rises,and moonlight shines on talbots body.
its here Castle make a cut;we see the excellent transformation from man to wolf;another cut,and we are back with the two grave
robbers.A hand rises from the casket and grabbs one of the robbers.he pleads for help,his partner does a runner.
We then cut to a villeage were a young girl has been found dead.
The local mob think that the monster has come back to life.
A howl is heard and so the local rent-a-mobgive chase.They see a wolf and shoot at him.he mangers to give the mob the slip,but falls thru down into Frankenstein's old castle.
Its here we cut to the final battle between Frankenstein's monster and THE wolfman.
The local damm is blasted by a local and the tons of water crashes thru the castles remains drowning the two monsters.
That is until the next movie.A neat little one reeler with
good print and excellent sound.Well edited too.
House of frankenstein-8mins.b/w/snd.This is castle's second one
reeler from House;and it covers the second half of the feature.
This one reeler stars Boris karloff and Lon chaney jr.this is well edited.Anyway after a shorted title,we see the evil Karloff
and his helper dan(J.CARROL NAISH),arrive at a villeage.
Karloff is looking for Frankenstein's diary to contiue his own
mad experiments.
The local police tell him to move on,the ruins of the old castle
in their sights.
That night our evil twosome search the ruins and come across the
Frozen bodies of the Frankenstein's monster and The wolfman.
He sets them free and asks Larry talbot for help.larry finds the diary for him;Karloff agress to lift larry's curse.
Time passes and as karloff tries to revive the frankenstein's
monster,larry gets impatient and pleds with him to help him before the full moon rises.
That doesn't happen;and that night talbot must once again suffer
his curse.A shot is heard and the wolfman is seen rolling in pain;he dies.
Dr.Niemann(KARLOFF) does reviev the monster in the nick of time
as danniel turns on him.
The local rent-a-mob give chase and both the monster and Niemann
are disposed off in the local quick sand bog.excellent.
The wolfmann's cure.7.5mins/b/w/snd.This is the final Wolfman movie,but one.
In this one Larry gets himself put into jail.its here that this one reeler opens when the doctor arrives to see him.the moon is of course full;and he becomes a werewolf.the local doctor eldlmann(ONSLOW STEVENS)is sure he can help him.
Larry enters the doctor's room;and the doc. gives him the bad news.He tells larry that he can help him;but no that night.
Talbot can't take anymore and runs out and jumps off the cliff.
Later that night Eldlmann goes down after Talbot and finally cures him,with an operation..
This is my own views of those old castle/universal8 releases from
times gone by.My personnal fav.rave Universal monster is THE WOLFMAN,and its sequels are also great fun.I have put all of my
reelers onto an 800ft spool.The only two reeler is the first Wolfman movie..the rest are very neatly edited one reelers.
My advice is simple-track those oldies down;in point of fact any of the old castle's-universal horrors..Great fun.andy.Hope fellow
members enjoy my reviews.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on July 20, 2006, 11:32 PM:

Andrew,

Fantastic run down of
these 8mm Classic package
movies.

Are you able to describe the
quality between the
400' and 200' versions?

Either way,the plot outline
descriptions sound
equally as fun to own and
watch again and again.

Michael

Posted by Philippe Cuypers (Member # 55) on July 21, 2006, 07:57 AM:

andrew thats a great breakdown of these wonderful universal classics ! I still love them just when I was a kid , even more now , because I have problem with my eyes so its better for me to see in big screen than the small tube ! and whats great about the 200ft or 400ft version, if you dont want to take your vhs or dvd out, and you just want to see the main scenes or the end of each films, you take you castle film or universal films out and you are at the movies!!!!!! But your specification on each one is very carefuly observe and very profesionely written! a big plus andrew.
for me the univesal 8 400ft digest of the (abbott & costello meet frankenstein, I thing they should have done the scenes in the wax museum that would be great! Buts still either version I liked , some like you say are harder to get and more expensive to get , but they are around.And thats the fun of our hobbys if you own everything theirs no more challenge right!!! they are really fun , if you have kids , or having a birthday party, or any occasion, to pull out these great universal film monsters out of the closet ,and bring them back to life again and again , just like dr. frankenstein .very nice said andrew! take care , and lets roll them and enjoy them while whe can!!!!!!

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on July 21, 2006, 09:44 AM:

Glad you enjoyed the review mike and philippe.Of course your
correct.those oldies are great;be it one or two reelers.Andy.

Posted by Norman Fisher (Member # 481) on September 04, 2006, 01:29 AM:

Great reviews Andrew! Don't suppose you can review the 400 footer of FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN from UNIVERSAL 8 can you? This is one title I have always wanted to own but never can find it. I would love to know how it's edited.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on September 04, 2006, 10:04 AM:

Thanks Norman,Sad to say but i've only ever seen FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN-1X400FT,from UNIVERSAL8 once.That was on EBAY;stateside
at the begining of this year.I did put in a bid for it,but lost.Andy.
Even so if the one reeler comes up Norman and you don't have it in your collection,go for it.
It does what it says on the cover...Frankenstein meets the Wolfman,a fine addition to any collection.Keep searching and good luck.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on December 13, 2006, 07:15 PM:

A great run down Andrew and i'd love to get my mits on the U-8 400' edition but the old Wolfman even on the 200' edition is highly sort after and difficult to get hold of unless you want to pay high prices on the bay.

I have managed to get hold of the original House Of Frankenstein for a fiver (right time and place).

I'll try and track down some of the others over the next few month's.

Posted by Peter Richards (Member # 738) on January 06, 2007, 03:38 PM:

Many Thanks to Andy for keeping his eyes peeled for The Wolfman U-8 400' edition for me.

I now have this superb digest in my collection and agree with Andy this is a real treat from U-8

Highly Recommended [Cool]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on October 13, 2008, 02:05 AM:

I too would be interested to know what's on the FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN 400' reel. I read that the graveyard scene (which takes up so much of the 200' version) is not present.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 13, 2008, 10:00 AM:

Apparently, Mr. Crist is on a Horror kick!

(ahhh, the horror of it all!) [Razz]

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on October 13, 2008, 03:28 PM:

I'm so thrilled to have finally found this forum; I've had a lot of pent-up Castle Films monster digest chat inside me.

Posted by Marshall Crist (Member # 1312) on October 14, 2008, 03:28 AM:

Also:

Had the 200' of THE WOLFMAN as a tyke. That cutdown omits Bela Lugosi, but surprisingly it sounds like he didn't make it into the 400' either! I guess I can understand why, though.

Posted by Charles Phelps (Member # 1341) on November 14, 2008, 08:47 AM:

Wow, talk about having pent-up Castle speak! [Smile]

The FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN 400' reel is basically an 18+ minute cut-down of the last 30 minutes of the feature.
It begins with the festival; Mannering finds Talbot and Elsa Frankenstein; The Monster crashes the party; The villagers get all in an uproar; Mannering promises to rid the villagers of their problems—yeah, sure, we have all heard that one before; Elsa takes him and Melava to the castle where they find Frankenstein's "How I Did It" notebook; Mannering readies the machines and straps both monsters down; Villagers come along to dynamite the dam; Frankie breaks loose; The full moon invokes the Wolf Man; The monsters fight; The dam blows up and to quote the old Castle subtitles, "and with it will go the castle and the wolfman forever." [Smile]

For a more detailed review, I will have to watch it again. The only thing it has in common with the 200' is the climax although the 400' is not as heavily edited. Everything in the 200' up through the Wolf Man falling into the ice cave and the abrupt cut to the monster turning around is not on the 400'. Splice the first 6 minutes of the 200' into the beginning of the 400' and you have a big honking 24 minute digest with a very awkward transition. The monster turns and suddenly there is dancing in the streets.

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