For years, I have seen the below photo here and there of Lon Chaney Jr. as the Frankenstein monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). The first time was in an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland from the late 1960s.
The photo had a caption that said something like, "The monster ablaze, he lifts his gaze in agony." (Funny how I can remember stuff like this.)
I have always wondered about the photo and now there's something more to it.
This morning, I was perusing around YouTube and came upon a clip that was discovered by Don Glut. It is the same scene as the photo that's been floating around for years. As the video states, the photo was originally thought to be a publicity photo, but the footage seems to indicate that it was possibly an alternate ending filmed but not used.
The footage is quite interesting. It really shows the genius of make-up artist Jack Pierce.
The photo had a caption that said something like, "The monster ablaze, he lifts his gaze in agony." (Funny how I can remember stuff like this.)
I have always wondered about the photo and now there's something more to it.
 |
| Above, yours truly with Don Glut at a Kong exhibition in 2017. |
This morning, I was perusing around YouTube and came upon a clip that was discovered by Don Glut. It is the same scene as the photo that's been floating around for years. As the video states, the photo was originally thought to be a publicity photo, but the footage seems to indicate that it was possibly an alternate ending filmed but not used.
The footage is quite interesting. It really shows the genius of make-up artist Jack Pierce.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting that. Fascinating to see, for the first time, a scrap of footage from a familiar film that's almost 80 years old! It actually makes sense that Frankie walked away from the burning house, because in the next film, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, he is found frozen under Dr. Frankenstein's castle/laboratory. It never occurred to me to wonder how he got from Ludwig's burning house back to Wolf's (?) lab? I just figured Universal wasn't very careful about their continuity.
He wouldn't have gone to Wolf's laboratory. It was stated in the movie that Wolf went into exile. The ending as it is makes more sense as the monster was found in a glacial ice cavern under the ruins of the burned sanitarium. Also, the daughter of Ludwig was in FMTWM (played by Ilona Massey).
But yes, Universal is known for not paying much attention to continuity. - A.
Yeah, you're right. I never realized until recently that Ilona Massey (in Meets the Wolfman) was playing the same character as Evelyn Ankers (in Ghost). But the structure that burned at the end of Ghost looks nothing like the burned out lab (in a castle?) that they set up the lab in Meets. I guess that's what mixed me up. While on the subject, I think Ilona Massey is one of the most attractive actresses in the whole series. Too bad we didn't see her in more pictures. And the icing on the cake is that she was a conservative Republican!
Universal's lack of continuity with set/model designs doesn't help. At the beginning of "Ghost of Frankenstein", the villagers blow up the ancestral Frankenstein castle in the village of Frankenstein. Then Ygor and the Monster head to Vasaria.
In "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man", all the action takes place in Vasaria. For giggles, I always referred to Visalia, California as Vasaria. - A.
Post a Comment