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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frankenstein_meets_the_wolfman_poster.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"Stop it Frank!" ''"[[IAmNotShazam My name is not Frank!]]"'']]
3->''A death fight...between two beasts!''
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5''Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'' is a Franchise/UniversalHorror movie from 1943. It is a CrossOver sequel for both ''Film/TheWolfMan1941'' and ''Film/TheGhostOfFrankenstein'' and it is Universal's first MonsterMash film. It is today also recognized as the film that established the "shared universe" concept, by establishing that the studio's four preceding ''Frankenstein'' films, along with ''The Wolf Man'', existed in the same universe. Later on Universal would add its ''Dracula'' films and a version of ''The Invisible Man'' to this shared universe.
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7Four years after his death in ''The Wolf Man'', Larry Talbot (Creator/LonChaneyJr) is awakened from his slumber when two vagrants open his grave. After instantly transforming into a WolfMan and killing one of them, he finds himself in Cardiff, Wales.
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9After Larry's warnings of his [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent lycanthropy]] are ignored, he escapes and starts searching for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Gypsy]]-woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), in the hope that she will know [[DeathSeeker how to kill him permanently]]. The two set out for the Eastern European village of Vasaria, where, according to Maleva, a certain Dr. Frankenstein lives.
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11After reaching the place and finding out that Dr. Ludwig Frankenstein is dead and his place is in ruins (as seen in the end of ''The Ghost of Frankenstein''), they attempt to continue their journey, when Larry transforms yet again and in the next morning wakes up in the basement of the ruins. There he finds FrankensteinsMonster (Creator/BelaLugosi) trapped in a block of ice.
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13Enter Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) from Cardiff and the original Dr. Frankenstein's granddaughter, Elsa (Ilona Massey), and the clash between the monsters is about to begin...
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15Next up, {{Dracula}} joins the party in ''Film/HouseOfFrankenstein''.
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17----
18!!As [[MagicVersusScience the beast of supernatural and the monster of science]] clash, you will witness:
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20* AbortedArc: All references to the ending of ''The Ghost of Frankenstein'' were cut, which keeps the Monster as the ManChild it was portrayed as before.
21* AndIMustScream: The original script and Lugosi's deleted dialogue reveals that when Ygor (with his brain in the monster's body) was frozen at the end of the last film, he remained awake and aware the entire time. In retrospect, this may go some way towards explaining his sudden maniacal desire to rule the world, couple with him generally being an unpleasant jerk.
22* ArcWords: The "Even a man who is pure in heart..." poem is repeated yet again, though this time the last line is amended to "When the moon is full and bright".
23* AsYouKnow: Larry fills in the audience on his condition's origins by reminding Maleva that it was her son Bela who passed the werewolf curse on him. As if the poor woman wouldn't remember something like that.
24* AttackOfTheTownFestival: All the deadly doings in Frankenstein's ruins take place during Vasaria's "the Festival of the New Wine."
25* BackFromTheDead: Larry comes alive the instant when the wolfbane is removed from his casket and moonlight shines upon him.
26%%* BehindTheBlack
27* BigDamnHeroes: Larry transforms just in time to save the girl from Frankenstein's monster.
28* BigDamPlot: Vazec, the tavern owner in Vasaria, becomes tired of waiting for Dr. Mannering and Elsa to get rid of the two monsters and decides to take matters to his own hands by blowing up the nearby dam, and [[KillItWithWater drowning the two]].
29* BreakingTheBonds: A newly transformed Larry chews through his restraints in London, and both he and the monster break loose in Dr. Frankenstein's lab when Larry transforms and the monster is restored to full power.
30* CanonWelding: The first of the Franchise/UniversalHorror films to explicitly confirm that they had a SharedUniverse.
31* CassandraTruth: Dr. Mannering and Inspector Owen disregard Larry's warnings of his werewolf tendencies as ravings of a madman.
32* ChekhovsGunman: Dr. Mannering, the head doctor at the mental hospital where Larry was sent to at the beginning of the film for his "delusions". After Larry escapes, we expect that to be the last we see of him...but he actually follows Talbot all the way to Vasaria (with the help of the newspaper reports of his werewolf attacks), where he attempts to take him back to the hospital, but when he finds out that [[RealAfterAll Larry is ''not'' a lunatic, and in fact a real werewolf]], he agrees to assist him with his plan.
33* CoolVsAwesome: It's all there in the name.
34* {{Crossover}}: This was the ''very first'' occasion in which characters from two previously unconnected films had met in such a way, thereby retroactively creating a shared universe in which ''Film/Frankenstein1931'', ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'', ''Film/SonOfFrankenstein'', ''Film/TheGhostOfFrankenstein'' and ''Film/TheWolfMan1941'' existed.
35* DeathOfAChild: One of Larry's victims is a little girl in Vasaria.
36* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: The two monsters fight at the end with no winner, since their arena is flooded due the dam bursting.
37* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Guess which two Universal monsters meet up in this movie.
38* {{Fainting}}: When the fully powered Monster grabs Elsa and starts carrying her from the lab, she faints.
39* FakeShemp: A completely different actor plays the Monster at the start of the film when he is thawed out of the ice, and they barely bother covering the fact up.
40* ForScience: Dr. Mannering cannot bring himself to destroy The Monster after studying late Dr. Frankenstein's papers, and decides to restore him to his full power instead in the name of science.
41* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: The film uses bubbling flasks and beakers of chemicals in its opening credits sequence. None, or very few, appear in the film proper, though.
42%%* HollywoodDarkness
43* HumanPopsicle: Larry finds the Monster in the cold underside of the sanitarium's ruins, encased in ice.
44* IdiotBall: Why of course, Doctor Mannering, please DO restore FrankensteinsMonster to full strength and health! That's worked out so very well for everyone else who tried it!
45* ImmuneToBullets: A hunter shots the Wolf Man with a shotgun, but it didn't hurt him.
46* ImpromptuTracheotomy: One of the grave-robbers dies of a "severed jugular."
47* KarmicDeath: Two grave-robbers die inside of a tomb.
48* MarkOfTheBeast: Per the previous film, Larry still carries the sign of the pentagram on him.
49* MonsterMash: First film of its kind.
50* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Larry dicking around in Castle Frankenstein leads to the Monster being revived.
51* NowDoItAgainBackwards: Dr. Frankenstein's journal explains that the practically immortal monster can be killed by attaching him to the machine that gave him life and "changing the poles" (aka [[ReversePolarity reversing the polarity]]).
52* PlotHole: The film cuts from Talbot filthy and ragged after his last werewolf transformation to him dressed in a beautiful suit in order to meet Baroness Elsa. It's not shown where the money came from for his non-werewolf transformation, nor how he obtains an American-style suit in Central Europe.
53* RobbingTheDead: The two vagrants open Larry's grave so that they can strip it of any valuables. It's fatal when the one being robbed springs back to life and turns into a werewolf.
54* ScreamingWoman: One Vasarian woman, upon the sight of the Monster stumbling into her town, can only scream hysterically.
55* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: The monster in Dr. Frankenstein's lab, where it's being held until it can be destroyed.
56* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: "Come one and all and sing this song... For Life is short and Death is long..." No wonder Larry gets upset.
57* TorchesAndPitchforks: Averted. The townsfolk of Vasaria are ready to storm the ruins of the sanitarium to destroy the Monster after it interrupts their festival, but are convinced to not to by the mayor and Dr. Mannering. And by the end, the townsfolk sit out on this film's climax and only one of them takes action.
58* TransformationSequence: Larry's transformation into the Wolf Man.
59* TravelMontage: Shown when Larry travels to Vasaria with Maleva.
60* {{Uberwald}}: Vasaria is, as usually the case in the series, a mythical Eastern Europe setting.
61* VersusTitle: Of the "X Meets Y" variety.
62* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We last see Maleva just before the final scenes which result in the destruction of the whole structure and the escape of the doctor and Baroness, but we never learn what her final fate is. The behind-the-scenes explanation was that actress Maria Ouspenskaya was hospitalized after a horse and buggy turned a corner a bit too quickly, causing the buggy to topple over with her and Chaney still on it. ''Literature/AWerewolfRemembersTheTestamentOfLawrenceStewartTalbot'' revealed what happened to her... According to the original script, she was to appear at the end as the castle is collapsing and give the doctor and Baroness an escape ride on her chariot; Ouspenskaya's injury may have made it impossible to film.
63* WrenchWhack: Dr. Mannering tries to defend Elsa with a wrench from the Monster, but he gets swatted aside and loses consciouness.
64* YankTheDogsChain: Larry travels across Europe, hearing of a brilliant scientist who could help him, but by the time he gets to the Doctor's castle, he's long since deceased. Talbot's persistent, though, and manages to find both Frankenstein's notes, and a scientist willing to use them. Then the scientist decides to re-power the monster ForScience, and it all goes to Hell.
65* ZombieGait: This film is the TropeCodifier for the stretched-arms walk for the Frankenstein's Monster.
66** This is actually an artifact from the film's original script, which had the Monster blinded (a holdover from the end of ''Film/TheGhostOfFrankenstein''). While this was discarded in editing, it makes Lugosi's awkward lumbering much more understandable in context. However, in popular culture this aspect of the character became synonymous, with the next actor to play the part, Glenn Strange, incorporating aspects of it.
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