Original subtitles

Lawrence Stewart Talbot,

who died at the youthful age of 31.

R.I.P.

That's it.

Give me the chisel.

Suppose they didn't bury him with the money on him.

Everybody in the village knows about it...

his gold watch and ring and money in his pockets.

It's a sin to bury good money when it could help people.

This gives me the creeps.

What do you think it will look like after so many years?

Just bones and an empty skull.

Watch the lamp.

Get me the light.

Wolfbane.

Wolfbane?

Yes.

Even a man who is pure at heart...

and says his prayers by night...

may become a wolf...

when the wolfbane blooms...

and the moon is full and bright.

It looks like he's asleep.

Let's get on with it. First the ring.

We won't have to worry for a long time. I thought the dead was stiff.

Shut up.

Gold.

It's holding me.

Help me. Help me.

Alive.

Help, help!

Don't leave me!

Here, now. Come up.

Come on. Wake up and get along with you.

You've got a home, haven't you?

Or do you want me to take you to the station?

Good heavens!

How is the patient, Nurse?

He's conscious, Dr. Mannering.

And talked. He insists upon sitting up.

Conscious? Talked?

But that's impossible so soon after a critical operation.

The nurse tells me you're well enough to talk.

Why, yes.

Pulse, 72, no fever.

There's no pain?

No.

Where am I? Queen's Hospital.

Queens? Yes, Queen's Hospital in Cardiff.

Wh... How did I get here?

You were found in the street more dead than alive with a head injury.

How did you get that skull fracture?

I... don't remember.

This is Inspector Owen. I'm Dr. Mannering.

What's your name?

Lawrence Talbot.

Lawrence Talbot.

Where did you come from?

Llanwelly Village.

But... how did I get to Cardiff?

That's enough for now. You must rest.

You'll be fit again very soon.

If there's any change, call me immediately.

Yes, Doctor.

Hello? Put me through to the police station at Llanwelly.

Just a routine checkup, Doctor. Then we can close the case.

Llanwelly Police Station.

This is Inspector Owen speaking, from Cardiff.

Have you got anything in your file on a man named...

Lawrence Talbot?

Why, of course. He lived here.

Good. That's all right, then. We've got him up here in our hospital.

I wouldn't want him in our hospital.

He died four years ago.

Why, of course I'm sure, Inspector.

I was present at his funeral.

That'll be all, Inspector. Good-bye.

Lawrence Talbot died four years ago. Your man's an impostor.

That's a harsh word, Inspector. Poor devil of unsound mind.

I'll wager he's sound enough to remember his own name.

I'm gonna have another talk with him.

Inspector. Yeah?

That man is my patient, not your prisoner.

I'll decide when he can be questioned again.

Very well. It's in your hands.

I found this bandage here when I came in this morning.

I didn't open the window. The patient must've done it himself.

You'd better cover him up.

You're all right. Nothing has happened.

Better get some more bandages. We'll renew the compress.

Now, don't excite yourself. Please be calm.

Doctor... something terrible has happened.

You must've had a nightmare. It's evident you were walking in your sleep.

Call the police.

The police? Yes, you'd better call them.

I'm a...

I'm a murderer.

Yes, of course. Anything you say.

Ask Inspector Owen to come here at once. Yes, Doctor.

What is all this about wanting the police?

Last night, I... I killed someone.

But you were in this room all night.

I tell you, I did it. I killed someone.

But you couldn't have.

You must've heard the nurses discussing it.

Mr. Talbot, you're suffering from a delusion.

It's true someone was killed last night, but it happened many streets from here.

Moreover, he was attacked by some sort of wild animal.

That's just it. I turn into an animal.

Well, Mr. Talbot.

Decided to remember your real name?

Mr. Talbot seems to have heard about the unfortunate constable last night.

It's disturbing him. But he doesn't understand.

There's a curse upon me. I change into a wolf.

It's a bit difficult to believe, my good man.

See that scar?

That's where I was bitten by a wolf.

Only it wasn't a real wolf. It was a man.

A werewolf. I killed him.

Now I change into a wolf at night when the moon is full.

Hmph.

It's the truth.

Ask Maleva, the old Gypsy woman. She knows.

Maleva? Gypsy? Hmph.

Mr. Talbot, you must get back into bed.

Oh, are you blind? Won't you believe me? Help me.

Just tell us your real name. Let us do the worrying.

I told you. Lawrence Talbot.

Lawrence Talbot! Why can't you understand?

Lawrence Talbot died four years ago.

Died?

Four years?

Well, I did...

I can't die.

Mr. Talbot, if you want us to help you, you must do as we say.

Now, please lie down. You think I'm insane.

You think I don't know what I'm talking about.

Well, you just look inside that grave where Lawrence Talbot is supposed to be buried,

and see if you find a body in it.

Please get back into bed. Get on with it.

You're treating me like a lunatic. Well, you're as stupid as all the rest.

Come along, Inspector.

You mean to say that Talbot actually experienced that murder last night?

I'm afraid so.

People with brain injuries sometimes develop supernormal mental powers...

that are quite extraordinary.

Certainly he got up and opened the window.

The borderline between delusion and reality is very narrow.

Sometimes a patient may unknowingly overstep that line.

Then that man's dangerous. He ought to be behind bars.

He's a lycanthrope.

A what? Lycanthrope.

Oh. What's that?

A man who imagines himself to be a wolf.

Oh.

Poor devil.

We should try to do something to help him.

Well, Doctor, I think I'll run up to Llanwelly and find out...

You know, Inspector, I had the very same idea.

To be able to cure this man, I have to know who he is.

Right. We'll go up together.

Somebody's broken into this vault.

How long since you were here last, Sergeant?

Not for months. Nobody's died in Llanwelly lately,

and nobody comes here if he doesn't have to.

The door...

What about it? It's broken from inside.

Here, give me that.

Someone must've taken the body out of the tomb.

That's not Lawrence Talbot. Not Talbot?

Do you know who this is here? Yes. That's Freddy Jolly.

Who's he? Been up for vagrancy.

What would you say he died of, Doctor?

Severed jugular. This man bled to death.

Same as the constable in Cardiff.

Looks rather like the bite of an animal. Aye, that animal.

We remember it well hereabouts.

And it must've carried away the corpse of poor Sir Lawrence.

What animal? Why, didn't you know, sir?

There was a wild animal around here a few years ago.

It killed people. Bit through their throats, drained their blood.

Did they kill it? Sir John Talbot thought he did, sir.

He attacked it in the dark one night, or so he thought.

But it was his son he killed. Poor Mr. Larry.

Where is Sir John Talbot now?

Over there, sir. Died of grief shortly after.

Let's get out of here. But the body, sir.

Mustn't touch that. That's evidence. Yes, sir.

Sergeant, if it's convenient, I'd like to see a photograph of Lawrence Talbot.

There's one up in my office, sir.

Good.

Here's Mr. Larry's photograph, sir.

Take a look at this face, Doctor. Isn't that our man in Cardiff?

Yes. There is a similarity. But I wouldn't swear it's the same man.

Of course it's not the same man.

If it were, I'd be off me top.

I think the sergeant here better come back to Cardiff with us...

and see if he can positively identify this man.

That's the thing to do. Do you mind if I use your telephone?

I'd like to check up on my patient's condition.

Of course, Doctor. Over there.

Hello? Put me through to the Queen's Hospital in Cardiff, please.

I want to talk to Dr. Gordon.

Have you ever heard of a Gypsy woman named Maleva?

A Gypsy woman? A vagrant?

We always register them.

Hello, Dr. Gordon? This is Dr. Mannering speaking.

How's Lawrence Talbot doing?

You know, the head-injury case that went violent yesterday.

Did you notify the police?

Well, I suppose that's all we can do at present.

I'll be back tonight, Doctor. Good-bye.

What happened to Talbot? Did he die?

No, he tore off his straightjacket during the night and escaped.

Tore off his straightjacket?

How? Bit right through it.

Tore it to shreds with his teeth.

With his teeth?

Bruno! Stop it!

What do you want here?

I'm looking for an old Gypsy woman.

Maleva is her name.

Is she here with you? Maleva? Yeah, she is with us.

You'll find her over there.

Maleva!

They told me you'd left England.

I've looked all over Europe for you, from town to town.

Now that I've found you, you must help me.

Come in.

What do you want from me?

Maleva,

here I still carry the sign of the pentagram.

The mark of the werewolf.

I kill people.

When the moon is full, I turn into a wolf.

It's not in my power to help you.

You're the only one that understands.

Nobody else in the world will believe me.

But you... you know.

Your own son Bela was a werewolf.

He attacked me. He changed me into a werewolf.

He's the one that put this curse on me.

You watched over him until he was permitted to die.

Well, now I want to die too.

Won't you show me the way? I can't.

But I will guard you and take care of you...

as I took care of my own son.

You're not leaving us. You're not going with him.

He has the sign of the beast on him.

He is dangerous only when the moon is full.

I shall watch over him.

He will murder you.

No. I shall take him to a place I know.

Where? I know a man...

who has the power to help you.

Help me?

Who?

Is that the town?

Yes, that is Vasaria.

At last.

Stop. Ooh.

Let's ask in here.

Are you the proprietor? I am.

What do you beggars want? We just want to ask you, sir,

about the Doctor Frankenstein.

Frankenstein? Don't mention that name around this town.

Oh, please, won't you tell us where he lives?

There.

That's his burial place.

The fire destroyed him and all his misdeeds.

He's dead? Oh, but he can't be.

He didn't die any too soon for us.

We all wish that he'd never been born.

What did you want with him?

I heard he was a great doctor...

who could help people that other doctors couldn't cure.

Him? Murder and crimes was all he ever brought us.

He harbored a monster in his house,

a thing created by black magic.

Dr. Frankenstein, dead.

Come.

Thank you, sir, for the information.

Come on. Get out and stay out.

We don't want your kind around here.

Oh, keep your hands off of me!

Now I must go on living.

There's no hope for me to die.

Wait! Stop! Don't go!

Wait! Don't go!

Don't!

Who could've done this terrible thing?

Could it be the monster again?

Frankenstein's monster?

No. The monster was burned to death by Dr. Frankenstein.

Yes, we found his bones and buried them.

How do you know they were the monster's bones?

She wasn't killed by a monster. An animal bit her to death.

I saw the wound on her throat.

What animals are around here that can kill people?

A wolf. Yes, a wolf.

That's his cry. Come on. Let's get him.

Come on! Come on!

There he is!

Where is he? He was here a moment ago.

The Gypsy woman! What are you doing here?

Come on. Speak up, old witch.

Where's that strange man that was with you?

Let's take her back to town. We'll make her speak.

Dr. Frankenstein must've kept records.

A diary.

You know where it is. Show me.

It isn't here.

"To my dear father."

Then... she's the one...

that can tell me.

And this man, he wishes to buy the ruins of my father's estate?

Yes. That's why I asked you to come here, Baroness.

He wanted me to give him your address.

Naturally, I refused.

But since I knew you were anxious to get rid of the property,

and all the memories connected with it,

I thought that in my position as mayor...

I would take the liberty of sending for you.

- Did he say his name is Taylor? - Yes.

And that's all I know about him.

Baroness Frankenstein, Mr. Taylor.

- Baroness. - Mr. Taylor.

Come in, Mr. Taylor. Come in, come in.

Do you mind if I speak to the baroness alone, please?

Why... Why, certainly, certainly.

Now, if...

If you need a witness for the contract, Baroness, I'm at your service.

Thank you.

Won't you please sit down, Mr. Taylor?

Thank you.

I understand that you want to buy our land.

No, I... I wanted to meet you.

I don't understand. I didn't know how to find you,

and the mayor wouldn't give me your address,

so I felt that if I offered to buy your land...

that you'd be sure to come.

It's certainly a most unusual way to make an acquaintance.

But now that you have gone to all this trouble to meet me,

what can I really do for you?

I want your father's records.

His experiments with life and death.

The records of the creation of the monster.

My father's diary.

Yes. You must give it to me.

I don't have any records.

If I had, I...

I would have destroyed them long ago.

My father was a great scientist,

but all he created brought unhappiness,

terror.

Oh, but you don't understand.

I must have them. Won't you help me?

I'm sorry, Mr. Taylor. There is nothing I can do.

The house burned down,

and I have never set a foot on that ground again...

and never shall.

And that's all the information I can give you.

Well, is everything settled, Baroness?

No.

We decided not to go through with the sale after all.

Why, that sounds like... Yes, Baroness.

It's the Festival of New Wine. It begins tonight.

It's beautiful.

Takes me back to my childhood.

Why don't you join us tonight, Baroness, as our guest of honor?

You would take the first train in the morning.

Thank you, Mayor. Of course I'll stay.

You, too, Mr. Taylor. I hope you will accept the invitation...

to be our guest tonight, on behalf of our community.

Thank you. I'll be there.

Eternally! I don't want to live eternally!

Stay away! Go away, all of you!

Let me alone.!

Stay away!

Good evening, Mr. Talbot.

I beg your pardon.

You must be mistaken. My name is Taylor. I know you by Talbot.

Lawrence Talbot. You carry your identification on your forehead.

Baroness Frankenstein, Dr. Mannering.

How do you do, Dr. Mannering?

Won't you sit down? Thank you.

How does it happen that you're here, Doctor?

I've been looking for you, Mr. Talbot.

And you were very easy to find.

The newspapers told me where to look for you.

Fontainbleu, Aachen,

Elrad,

and finally Vasaria.

I simply followed the trail and found you.

Very clever of you, wasn't it, Doctor?

Mr. Talbot is returning to England with me.

I don't think that I care to do that, Doctor.

Baroness, will you give me the honor of the next dance?

Of course.

At our Festival of New Wine, gentlemen,

it's a man's privilege to ask any lady for a dance.

And vice-versa. Excuse us.

Why have you followed me?

Talbot, you're a murderer.

Prove it. You're insane at times, and you know it.

You're sane enough now, though, to know what you're doing.

Why don't you let me take care of you?

Do you think it would do any good to put me in a lunatic asylum?

You know that's where you belong. It's the only thing to do.

That wouldn't do any good. I'd only escape again, sooner or later.

We might be able to cure you. Might prevent you...

I only want to die. That's why I'm here.

If I ever find peace, I'll find it here.

You understand. Why don't you help me?

Sit down.

How can I help you?

Dr. Frankenstein left a diary.

In it are his records of the secrets of life and death.

If I can find Dr. Frankenstein's diary,

I can break this curse and find peace in death.

That's morbid. Besides,

Dr. Frankenstein's experiments were considered rather extraordinary.

Medical science never, never recognized them.

That's just it. Why don't you ask that girl, his daughter?

She can tell you about things Dr. Frankenstein did...

that your medical science has never heard of.

Talbot, I'm appealing to your better nature...

while you can still think normally.

The moon will be full again soon. You must come back with me while there's still time.

Isn't there somebody that could understand?

Gentlemen, why those serious faces?

The monster.! The monster.! The monster.!

No. No, it's me.

Come on with me.

Well?

Not a sign of them. We shall have to wait until morning.

It's clear to me they're hiding in those ruins.

Much as I'd like to kill the monster, I'd hate to crawl around...

through the dark catacombs of Frankenstein's castle in the black of the night.

What about that Frankenstein girl? She has lived up there.

Let's bring her in here. Stop, stop.

There's no need for us all to storm after her.

She'll come in if I ask her.

Why should we treat her so fancy? She's a Frankenstein.

Wait, wait, wait.

She's a young woman who's done us no harm.

Now, stay here.

The men would like to talk to you, Baroness.

The Gypsy woman is still locked up in the prison.

Let's find out what she knows about all of this.

There's the daughter of the accursed Frankenstein.

That name has brought nothing but misery and misfortune to our village.

We want an end of it, do you hear? Tonight.

Now listen to me.

The baroness and I want nothing but to help you.

I tell you, he's lying. I heard him this evening...

talking to that stranger about insanity and murder.

I heard it with my own ears.

Don't get excited. You won't get anywhere by raving.

Dr. Mannering is right. To find and destroy the monster, we must have a plan.

We know that it's hiding in the Frankenstein ruins.

I can lead you there, if you want me to.

I know those cellars well.

Don't trust her! Don't let them fool you! They're all in this together!

Here she is. And the Gypsy too.

She's one of your gang of murderers. You know these people?

Speak up, old witch.

I never saw them before.

What's your name?

Maleva. Maleva?

See? He knows her. Why don't you arrest them, all of them?

Lock up these murderers. As long as I'm mayor, justice shall be preserved.

I shall decide what is to be done in this village.

Haven't we tried before to get rid of the monster by force?

We burned down the sanitarium,

and yet we didn't destroy Frankenstein's fiendish creation.

We must be more clever this time.

Let's use our brains for once.

Whose brains? Yours? I'd rather depend on my fists.

There's no use in storming the ruins.

We must pretend to be friends with the monster.

Yes. Why not elect it mayor of Vasaria?

This monster was created artificially.

It must be destroyed by the same means.

I'll take you to the ruins now. I'll go with you, of course.

I promise you, if you'll help me, I'll rid Vasaria of this curse once and for all.

Talbot! Talbot!

Talbot, where are you?

Talbot, we're your friends.

They must be there. I saw the smoke.

- What do you want? - We have come to help you.

What do you mean?

You wanted to find my father's diary.

Yes, of course. I'll show you where it is hidden.

She speaks the truth, my son.

I... I guess I'll have to trust you.

Steady.

They're friends.

This is Dr. Mannering.

He's come to help you, to make you well.

Yes, that's why I'm here.

Dr. Mannering.

But the diary... You said you knew where your father hid it.

Yes.

It isn't in there. I know.

Please.

The Secret of Life and Death.

"Matter ages because it loses energy."

"This artificial body I have created..."

"has been charged with superhuman power..."

"so that its span of life will be extended."

"Its lifetime will equal the lives of more than a hundred human beings."

"This, my creation, can never perish, unless..."

"unless its energies are drained off artificially...

by changing the poles from plus to minus."

But that's the secret of life. What good does it do me?

I'm not interested in life.

I wasn't created artificially.

I'm a human being. I've got real blood in my veins.

What can we do to end my life?

"Energy which cannot be destroyed can be transmitted."

Well, if that's the case,

then the energies from my body can be drained off also.

Dr. Frankenstein must've...

performed his experiments in this room.

With these machines.

The don't seem to have been destroyed by the fire.

You must fix them...

and help me be rid of this thing that keeps me alive eternally.

When you were talking to the monster,

I was afraid you meant what you said.

What did I say?

You said you'd help him.

Of course I can't.

I mustn't.

It shouldn't be difficult to connect these wires again.

Yes, I'll need these machines.

I believe they can be repaired again.

Machines, day after day.!

What does Mannering need machines for?

Remember Dr. Frankenstein? He ordered machines too.

I tell you, that English doctor's no better than Frankenstein himself.

Ho, hum. Always grumbling, Vazek. Always complaining.

We've got to trust the doctor. What else can we do?

But doesn't it strike you as strange that Mannering and that Frankenstein girl...

never tell us what they're doing up there?

If it wasn't for that old Gypsy witch...

driving her wagon down to buy their provisions, we'd never see any of them.

- I think we ought to go up there and see for ourselves. - Right.

Oh, they're not hurting us. It's none of our affair what goes on there.

Do you want to wait for disaster to strike at us again?

I'll tell you what we ought to do.

Here are the ruins.

In here are all of them.

Here runs the underground stream that drives

the turbines that Frankenstein installed.

But the water comes from up here...

to the dam below.

Blow up that dam and they'll all drown like rats.

All of them.

You're drunk, Vazek.

That's why I don't take your word seriously.

Otherwise, I'd have you arrested for conspiring to endanger...

the lives of this community.

That's the water.

The water rushing down to turn the turbines.

That'll make the machines work.

Doctor.! Aren't you almost ready?

I'm setting the machines now. Everything will be ready for you in a little while.

Yes, but there's so little time.

I don't want to live through another spell.

Yes, I know. But please don't bother me now.

I have work to do.

Remember, Doctor. It must be tonight.

Why don't you lock him up...

so you can give your full attention to do what you promised...

to destroy the danger of the monster?

Please, Elsa, I know what I have to do.

- But he's insane! - Insane?

He's not insane.

He simply wants to die.

Frank! Frank!

Listen to me, Frank.

I saw my father become obsessed by his power.

He died a horrible death,

just as my grandfather did. Yes, I know.

You promised the people to rid Vasaria of this monstrous creation.

I want to be sure that nothing,

nothing whatsoever, can sway you.

It is in your hands to undo the crimes my father and grandfather committed.

We must clear the name of Frankenstein.

All right. Tonight, I will draw off the monster's energy.

And I hope I'll bring peace to both of them.

"Connecting the plus poles to the minus...

"will charge the energy output of the nervous system...

as by connecting the minus to the minus."

Connect the minus to the minus.

I can't do it.

I can't destroy Frankenstein's creation.

I've got to see it at its full power.

Frank! You're making him strong again!

Frank, stop it!

Stop the machine, Frank! Don't pull that switch!

Where's Vazek? He said he'd blow up the dam.