House of Frankenstein (1944)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1944
Running Times: 71 mins
Format: black and white     35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Producer: Paul Malvern

SCRIPT
Script: Edward T. Lowe
Story: Curt Siodmak

DIRECTION
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Assistant Director: William Tummel

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: George Robinson

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Philip Cahn

MUSIC
Music: H.J. Salter, Paul Dessau (uncredited)
Musical Director: Hans J. Salter (uncredited)
Stock Music: Charles Previn, Heinz Roemheld, Milton Rosen, Frank Skinner (all uncredited)

SOUND
Sound Director: Bernard B. Brown
Sound Technician: William Hedgcock

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Jack P. Pierce (uncredited)
Gown Supervisor: Vera West

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: John P. Fulton

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Directors: John B. Goodman, Martin Obzina
Set Decorators: Russell Gausman, A.J. Gilmore

STUNTS
Stunts: Carey Loftin, Gil Perkins (both uncredited)

CAST
Boris Karloff (Dr Gustav Niemann)
Lon Chaney (Lawrence Talbot)
John Carradine (Dracula)
Anne Gwynne (Rita Hussman)
Peter Coe (Karl Hussman)
Lionel Atwill (Inspector Arnz)
George Zucco (Professor Bruno Lampini)
Elena Verdugo (Ilonka)
Sig Ruman (Burgomeister Hussman)
William Edmunds (Fejos)
Charles Miller (Burgomeister Tobermann)
Philip Van Zandt (Inspector Muller)
Julius Tannen (Schwartz)
Hans Herbert (Meier)
Dick Dickinson (Boern)
George Lynn (Inspector Gerlach)
Michael Mark (Friedrich Strauss)
Olaf Hytten (Hoffman)
Frank Reicher (Ullman)
Brandon Hurst (Dr Geissler)
Glenn Strange (Frankenstein monster)
J. Carrol Naish (Daniel)
Edmund Cobb (Regelsburg coachman (uncredited))
Gino Corrado (man in audience (uncredited))
Belle Mitchell (Urla (uncredited))
Charles Wagenheim (jailer at Neustadt prison (uncredited))

PLOT SUMMARY

The insane Dr Niemann escapes his incarceration with his hunchbacked assistant Daniel and revives Dracula who he finds in a travelling sideshow. Before long, he's tracked down Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man, and discovered the remains of the Frankenstein monster both of who he plans to use as instruments of his revenge upon his enemies.

A great cast, more monsters than you can shake a stick at and a completely silly plot make this one of the most enjoyable of the late Universal horrors. The scriptwriters clearly hadn't quite got to grips with how to spread their monster menagerie out across the whole film (Dracula is disposed of suprisingly quickly and the Frankenstein monster doesn't turn up at all until halfway through) but the excellent cast and some still-impressive special effects make it a fun romp.

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Universal Pictures; Realart Pictures Inc
Video Distributor: MCA
Laserdisc Distributor: MCA

Finland
Rating: banned in 1947

USA
Rating: unrated

1944
December
1: USA – theatrical release

1986
April
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1992
August
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on Sky Movies)

Al di là del mistero – Italian title
Chamber of Horrors - working title
The Devil's Brood - working title
Dom Frankensteina – Polish title
Doom of Dracula – US 8mm extract title
La zíngara y los monstruos – Spanish title

SEQUEL TO
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Son of Dracula (1943)

SEQUELS
House of Dracula (1945)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years of Horror (1996)
Coming Soon (1982)
House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Wolfman Chronicles (1991)

SEE ALSO
El castillo de los monstruos (1957)
Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971)
Mad Monster Party? (1967)

MAGAZINES

Kine Weekly no.2051 (8 August 1946) (UK)
credits, review

Midi-Minuit Fantastique no.4/5 (January 1963) p.150 (France)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.13 no.111 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Motion Picture Herald vol.157 no.12 (23 December 1944) (USA)
review

New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews vol.1 no.31 (18 December 1944) p.151 (USA)
review

Starburst vol.5 no.4 (March 1984) pp.31-32 (UK)
illustrated article

Today's Cinema vol.67 no.5377 (2 August 1946) (UK)
review

BOOKS

John Carradine: The Films (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co (1999))
article (by Tom Weaver)

Universal Horrors (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co (1990))
article (by Michael Brunas, John Brunas, Tom Weaver)

KEYWORDS

dracula, fire, frankenstein's monster, gypsies, hunchbacks, laboratories, mad scientists, monsters, prisons, resurrection, sequels, skeletons, transformations, vampires, werewolves

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009