How this film created the "shared movie universe" concept…
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
dcrowsnest — 11 years ago(October 22, 2014 02:50 PM)
A nice, amusing write-up about how the Universal Monsters movies, with this film and the Wolf Man character in particular, inadvertently created the trend running wild in Hollywood now:
http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/universal-monsters/240433/universal-monsters-how-the-wolf-man-created-the-first-cinematic-universe
In essence, Siodmak inadvertently made his creation the lynchpin of cinemas first shared universe. Despite the Universal library already brimming with fangs and teeth, the only one that had really continued as a series beyond a spare sequel was Frankenstein (now simply signifying the Monster since the last Dr. Frankenstein in the series appeared in The Ghost of Frankenstein). And all of these works were standalone, taking place in a twinkling Neverland of automobiles and horse drawn carriages. In fact, The Wolf Man is one of the few that appeared to take place in modern times (WWII notwithstanding), as Larry Talbot was exceedingly a mid-20th Century American with a background in electrical engineering when he returns home to Wales for the first time in 20 years. The only horse drawn carriages are from the backwards-looking gypsies, beautifully personified by Maleva (the wonderful Maria Ouspenskaya).When Larry Talbot crosses the English Channel to continental Europe in his search for a permanent death at the hands of Dr. Frankenstein, he is crossing over from his own mythology into another from the Universal canon, thereby stitching them together like the good doctor himself.
In short, this is the moment where the Wolf Man became the Agent Coulson of 1940s cinema.