The House Of Frankenstein is an all star Universal Monster extravaganza. It might even have been produced by legendary showman Barnum and Bailey. I can hear it now. Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! Right this way ladies and gentlemen. You will see not 1 but 5 -count them 5 classic Universal Monsters! Yes sir, in this ring, we have the Frankenstein monster--see his electrodes spark! In the next ring, ladies and gentlemen, is no trained dog act but the original Wolfman! High over head, without the benefit of a trapeze is Count Dracula. And occupying the third ring is your old favorite--The Mad Doctor with the faithful Hunchback by his side. Boris Karloff returned to the Frankenstein series not as the monster but as Dr. Gustav Niemann , a student and admirer of Dr. Frankenstein. Glenn Strange was tapped to play the monster. Brois Karloff advised Strange on playing the role and Strange was grateful to him. He would return to play the monster again in House Of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. There was no doubt that in an all star monster bash Lon Chaney Jr. would have to appear once again as the Wolfman. As for Bela Lugosi, he seemed to be on the decline in favor with Universal. It would have been natural for Lugosi to return as Dracula but Universal substituted John Carradine instead. John Carradine turned in a good performance as the Count but I think Lugosi would have made it better. J. Carrol Naish rounds out the cast as the Hunchback Daniel. The character was undoubtedly inspired by Quasimodo, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame for the Victor Hugo classic novel played onscreen by Lon Chaney Sr. in the silent era and Charles Laughton in the talkies.
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