Happy Halloween!

Well, here we are at the last day of the month. I’ve slogged through 31 Frankenstein movies, a few of which were actually good. But all things must come to an end, and today’s will be my last FrankenPost. I’ll provide my final Frankenstein movie review; I’ll make some summary observations about Frankenstein’s continued presence in cinema; I’ll list my top five movies; and I’ll end with a few Frankenstein cartoons that have been sent in by loyal readers. Here we go!

Our final Frankenstein portrayal is “Lizard’s Leg and Owlet’s Wing,” which was a Halloween episode of the TV series Route 66. For those of you not familiar with the show, it was an anthology series that ran on ABC in the early 1960s. Each week two buddies (played by Martin Milner [who’d later star on Adam 12] and George Maharis [who went on to pose nude in Playgirl in 1973]) would drive their Chevy Corvette to another town, where the episode would center on one or more guest stars in some minor plot contrivance.

But what’s especially notable about this particular episode is that it includes the fourth and final time that Boris Karloff appeared as Frankenstein’s monster. You’ll recall that the first three times were for Universal’s Frankenstein movies from the 1930s. This episode aired in 1962.

I consider this episode to be a special treat, strictly for Karloff’s presence. He was 75 at the time this was filmed, and would die seven years later–just a few months after he narrated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

As I see it, you can’t think of Frankenstein without thinking about Boris Karloff. So it’s a rare gift to be able to see him once again in the iconic Jack Pierce makeup for a final outing as Frankenstein’s monster.

The episode is available for free on YouTube. Karloff appears throughout the show, but he dons the Frankenstein makeup around the 51 minute mark.

The Plot: As a story, this episode sucks. It’s contrived and cringe-worthy in many ways. But it had a fun premise for a Halloween episode, bringing together three horror actors from a bygone era: Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, and Peter Lorre. The tissue-paper-thin plot meant to justify this assemblage was that the three aging actors are putting together a new horror series on television. But they disagree over whether it should feature the old monsters (as Lorre and Chaney insist), or whether they should jump on a more modern bandwagon and feature space creatures and such (which is Karloff’s preference). As the individual actors live in England, New York, and Los Angeles, they decide to meet up at the O’Hare Inn in Chicago to discuss the matter further and come to an agreement.

Of course, the O’Hare Inn turns out to be the same hotel where Martin Milner and George Maharis have arrived to work as guest liaisons. (Why or how that happened beats me.) That leads to some corny and very 1960s subplots where Maharis is assigned to assist a convention of 40 female executive secretaries, and Milner keeps bugging him to “share” some of the girls with him. Meanwhile, Karloff, Chaney, and Lorre decide to test the relevance of their old monster personas by donning the classic makeup and seeing how the secretaries at the hotel react. After some more tedious subplots, the actors appear in costume and the secretaries faint from the sight of Lon Chaney’s Wolfman and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein. (Peter Lorre seems to just be himself, and there’s a running joke that the women faint at the sight of him as well.)

I told you it sucks as a story line.

The Monster: It’s Boris Karloff, back in his old makeup. It’s not scary, but rather quite a bit like seeing an old friend! Well, an old friend who’s constructed out of corpse parts.

I do think that Karloff (as well as Chaney) are wearing rubber masks rather than the painstaking makeup treatment that Universal used to apply. But it’s still fun to see them in character, as it were.

Karloff appears as the monster for only a minute or two. So I won’t hold it against you if you just fast-forward to that point of the show.

The Atmosphere: The atmosphere is very early-1960s…which is creepy in its own way. Practically the whole episode is filmed on location at the O’Hare Inn.

General Comments: This is a period piece, for the 1960’s Chicago hotel, the Cro-magnon social attitudes, the breezy and semi-pointless television show, and of course for the swan song of the three horror icons. It’s these points, rather than the story, that makes this an entertaining show.

Peter Lorre would die of a stroke a year and a half after this episode aired. Boris Karloff would die 5 years after that. And Lon Chaney would be gone 4 years after that, in 1973. So ends the golden age of classic monsters.

FRANKENSTEIN IN CINEMA

As we’ve seen, movie makers are still mining Mary Shelley’s story for new portrayals of Frankenstein and his creature. Even though the story is often (but by no means always) set in the 19th century, there’s something timeless about the theme of medical science trying to create life. In part it’s a cautionary tale about what can happen when we try to play God. What’s more, the Frankenstein myth also lends itself to an exploration of how we react to an ugliness and beauty. It is of course notable that only children and a blind man accept Frankenstein’s creature at face value (as it were).

And there’s another, even more interesting level to the Frankenstein story, and it involves the feelings of the creature himself. Even though he might not be human, and might not have a soul, his anguish, sadness, delight, and confusion help us to understand ourselves and the human condition. There’s something universal about this. Ironically, it’s by stripping away the veneer of humanity that Frankenstein’s monster exposes truths about ourselves.

So I’d expect there to be more Frankenstein movies in the future. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already done so, I’d recommend you read the book. And you might also want to watch (or re-watch) some of my top Frankenstein movie picks. Below I’ve listed the 31 movies I reviewed this month, and I’ve highlighted my five top favorites.

OCTOBER’S HALLOWEEN MOVIE REVIEWS

Title	Year	Blog Link	Notes
Frankenstein	1910	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/01/frankenstein-1910/	First Frankenstein movie
Frankenstein	1931	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/02/universals-frankenstein-1931/	Universal’s first Frankenstein movie, with Karloff
Bride of Frankenstein	1935	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/03/bride-of-frankenstein-1935/	Universal’s second Frankenstein movie, with Karloff
Son of Frankenstein	1938	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/04/son-of-frankenstein-1939/	Universal’s third Frankenstein movie, witih Karloff
Young Frankenstein	1974	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/05/young-frankenstein-1974/	Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks’ masterful and reverential spoof
Ghost of Frankenstein	1942	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/06/ghost-of-frankenstein-1942/	Universal’s fourth Frankenstein movie, with Lon Chaney Jr
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman	1943	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/07/frankenstein-meets-the-wolfman/	Universal’s fifth Frankenstein movie, with Bela Lugosi
House of Frankenstein	1944	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/08/hou/	Karloff is back, but not as the monster
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein	1948	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/09/abbott-and-costello-meet-frankenstein-1948/	As lame as it sounds
Curse of Frankenstein	1957	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/10/curse-of-frankenstein-1957/	Hammer’s first Frankenstein movie, witih Peter Cushing (as Dr. F)
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein	1957	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/11/i-was-a-teenage-frankenstein-1958/	Frankenstein is a buff teenager
Frankenstein 1970	1958	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/12/frankenstein-1970-1958/	Karloff as Dr. Frankenstein’s descendant, making a monster
Revenge of Frankenstein	1958	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/13/revenge-of-frankenstein-1958/	Hammer’s second Frankenstein movie, with Cushing
The Evil of Frankenstein	1964	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/14/terror-of-frankenstein-1964/	Hammer’s third Frankenstein movie, with Cushing
Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster	1964	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/15/frankenstein-meets-the-spacemonster-1964/	Pure drive-in garbage. Unclear if it’s supposed to be a spoof
Mad Monster Party	1967	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/16/mad-monster-party-1967/	Karloff voices Dr. F in this Rankin-Bass holiday special
Frankenstein Created Woman	1967	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/17/frankenstein-created-woman-1967/	Hammer’s fourth Frankenstein movie, with Cushing
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed	1969	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/18/frankenstein-must-be-destroyed-1969/	Hammer’s fifth Frankenstein movie, with Cushing
Horror of Frankenstein	1970	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/19/horror-of-frankenstein/	Hammer’s sixth Frankenstein movie, but without Cushing
Lady Frankenstein	1971	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/20/lady-frankenstein-1971/	Italian “Spaghetti Monster Movie”
Frankenstein: The True Story	1973	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/21/frankenstein-the-true-story-1973/	Surprisingly good television miniseries
Terror of Frankenstein (aka Victor Frankenstein)	1977	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/22/victor-frankenstein-1977/
Frankenstein	1984	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/23/frankenstein-1984/	Another surprisingly good made-for-TV movie
The Rocky Horror Picture Show	1975	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/24/the-rocky-horror-picture-show-1975/	Spoof of classic monster pictures, with lots of sex and music
Frankenstein 90	1984	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/25/frankenstein-90-1984/	Failed French attempt at a Frankenstein spoof
Frankenstein Unbound	1990	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/26/frankenstein-unbound-1990/	Roger Corman’s incomprehensible sci fi effort
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein	1994	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/27/mary-shelleys-frankenstein-1994/	Kenneth Branagh’s hubris, paired with Robert De Niro’s monster
Frankenweenie	1984 and 2012	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/28/frankenweenie-1984-and-2012/	Tim Burton’s charming story of a boy reanimating his dog
The Frankenstein Theory	2013	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/29/the-frankenstein-theory-2013/	My pick for the worst Frankenstein movie ever.
Victor Frankenstein	2015	https://waytrips.travel.blog/2021/10/30/victor-frankenstein-2015/	Buddy movie with Dr. Frankenstein and Harry Potter
Route 66	1962	You’re reading the post right now!	Last film appearance of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster

TOP FIVE

Her’es the rationale behind my top five picks. Note that they are NOT rank-ordered; I consider them all to be in the top five, without distinction.

Frankenstein (1931): How could I not include this one? It’s the first full-length Frankenstein movie, and as such it came to set the mold for all future Frankenstein movies. It’s iconic, having hugely influenced the way that we think about Frankenstein’s monster to this day.

Young Frankenstein (1974): It’s simply a masterpiece, having captured the look, feel, and many of the tropes from Universal’s Frankenstein films, and then gently, reverentially, and lovingly satirizing them. The movie holds together as a story, and humor holds up surprisingly well after almost 50 years! I know a lot of people for whom this is the only Frankenstein movie they’ve seen. But I think you’re missing half the fun if you haven’t first watched Boris Karloff’s three Frankenstein movies.

Revenge of Frankenstein (1958). Peter Cushing and Hammer breathed new life (sorry) into the Frankenstein story. They focused on Victor Frankenstein, who turned out to be far scarier and more interesting than the creature from prior movies. Cushing is the next name in Frankenstein, after Karloff.

Frankenstein: The True Story (1973). OK, so it’s not really the true story. But this movie is engaging, fun, frightening, and at times stirring. Plus, the acting and sets are consistently impressive. Not bad for a made-for-TV movie.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994). This one has an advantage with its 40 million dollar budget. Its sets, costumes, effects, and (most of its) actors are the best that money can buy. But for me, Robert De Niro makes the movie. His portrayal of the creature is riveting and tragic.

So, there you go! Let me know your favorite film from the month

FRANKENFUNNIES

Several of you sent in Frankenstein comics that have appeared over the past month. Here is a sampling:

FINALLY…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Halloween blog posts. I hope you all enjoy the Halloween holiday tonight, to the extent that CDC guidelines will allow.

I now return this blog to the service of my road trips.