Following Phantom of the Opera (1943), in the middle of the Silver age of Universal Studios monster movies, a new sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman was considered for a Technicolor production: Wolfman vs Dracula!

Lon Chaney Jr., who was the only actor to portray Universals four classic monster roles; Dracula, frankensteins monster, the mummy and the wolfman. At first Chaney was to play both roles, as his father Lon Chaney Sr. had done in several of his famous silent films. But Larry Talbot in his human phase would look exactly like Count Dracula so the role of Dracula was given...

Late 1929. The Stock market crash. At MGM Studios Irving Thalberg was involved in a power struggle. Lon Chaneys contract was coming up for renewal. Tod Browning, MGMs famed director of the macbre genre for the studio, had left and signed a contract back at his home studio, Universal. Carl Laemmle Jr was made production head of Universal for his father and he wanted to do a film version of Dracula. Carl Sr. agreed, as long as they had Lon Chaney as the star.

Early in August of 1930, Carl Junior, still attempting to sign Chaney for the role, ordered a treatment to be authored by Louis...

With the success of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, Universal Pictures was quick to capitalize on creating a new Lon Chaney in Bela Lugosi. Chaney had been the original choice to portray a duel role as both Dracula and Professor van Helsing, Dracula's adversary. Before production could begin Chaney died suddenly leaving Carl Laemmle Jr. without a star. Laemmle Jr. had seen Dracula on the stage in New York City, although he could not recall if he had seen Lugosi or Raymond Huntley in the role of Count Dracula. However Lugosi was performing in the touring company which happened to be in Los...

In 1930 John L. Balderston was hoping to repeat his huge success with the American version of Dracula. Before production started on the 1931 Universal film version he wrote a play of "Frankenstein" with screenwriter Garrett Fort. Although it was never produced it is still an important document in American Theater history. It is here, in this play, that we discover how the name Frankenstein was attributed to the monster instead of his maker.

This latest addition to Philip J Riley's Alternate History of Classic Filmonsters series is a collaborative effort with fellow film historian David Conover that delves into one of the most famous unproduced motion pictures of all time, Merian C. Cooper's legendary WAR EAGLES Planned as a full Technicolor production at MGM in the late 1930s, WAR EAGLES would have eclipsed Cooper and long-time SFX partner Willis O'Brien's KING KONG as the greatest fantasy epic of the period had it not fallen victim to pre-war studio politics and the rise of Hitler's Third Reich on the eve of World War II. Long...

This latest addition to Philip J Riley's Alternate History of Classic Filmonsters series is a collaborative effort with fellow film historian David Conover that delves into one of the most famous unproduced motion pictures of all time, Merian C. Cooper's legendary WAR EAGLES Planned as a full Technicolor production at MGM in the late 1930s, WAR EAGLES would have eclipsed Cooper and long-time SFX partner Willis O'Brien's KING KONG as the greatest fantasy epic of the period had it not fallen victim to pre-war studio politics and the rise of Hitler's Third Reich on the eve of World War II. Long...

Everyone in the village of Badstein knows how to eliminate the vampire preying on its young daughters: Find the coffin he sleeps in during the day and drive a wooden stake through his heart. But how can you find you quarry if you don't know who he is and your suspects are many. There's a dark-complexioned Latour, given to wandering at night and sleeping during the day. . . and handsome Baron Meinster, supposedly traveling in the Orient but rumored to be hiding in his ancient chateau. . . and the stranger, Professor Van Helsing . . . it could be anyone. Meanwhile, the victims multiply - all...

The Divine Woman, Released by MGM, 1928 starring Greta Garbo is considered a "Lost Film" Only a short nine minute sequence with Russian subtitles has survived, discovered in 1993 at the Gosfilmofond, Moscow. Unfortunately it was stored in the same MGM backlot vault as another "Lost" film "London After Midnight" and both were destoyed by a fire. Adapted from the 1925 play Starlight by Gladys Unger which starred Doris Keane, the plot is loosely based on stories of the early life of the French actress Sarah Bernhardt. Marianne (Greta Garbo) is a poor French girl who goes to Paris in the 1860s to...

This volume is more of a portfolio in the development of Universal's The Invisible Man. It is different from the other volumes in the series in that, after attempts by many writers, Carl Laemmle Jr. was not satisfied with any of the treatments until James Whale got R.C. Sheriff to write the final shooting script. As you will see even Whale himself wrote a treatment. Many projects were announced for Boris Karloff, now Universal's top monster film star; they ranged from the supernatural Cagliostro, the classic monster film The Wolf Man to the science fiction projects A Trip to Mars and The...

First U.S. Printing ." . . and as the Baron Frankenstein has been adjudged responsible for the actions of the monster which he created . . . you are charged to carry out sentence of death by beheading. . " So read the instructions on the warrant- but Frankenstein did not die This is the gruesome, horrific story of Frankenstein's revenge which took the form of an operation to remove the brain from one man, and transplant it in another. Karl, the unfortunate victim of the Baron's machinations, comes to a tragic end, tormented by his new-found freedom and, finally, destroyed by it. Karl, the...