ok hes bashing the HILARIOUS abbot and costello meet frankenstien BUT he was in that, playing the wolfman no less! so, cmon! ok so it poked fun of the horror genre, but it was all in good fun!
and wow chaney sounds terrible here. all those years of drinking i would guess.
I agree 100% on the "there's killing for the sake of killing and blood for the sake of blood". So true. Which is why I prefer the silent films and films of the '30s and '40s. Characters in those films, in every genre, had personalities and motives for the things they did. With VERY few exceptions, modern Hollywood relies too much on special effects, sex appeal, gore, and glamor. They've forgotten how powerful storytelling and subtlety can be. Bring back the old ways of acting/movie making!
Personally i think once Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff dead. Good horror movies also dead. It all became all about T&A, and showing the grosses things on screen as possible. Not to mention almost every slasher film has the same basic plot. There all shallow and predictable. Not to mention that making everything in color takes away the great creepy feel that old horror use to have.
I like many of Junior's movies, but I don't agree with him here. He talks like he is such an "artist" on a higher plane desiring the very best from his craft. But he was in a bunch of real stinkers later in his career, just for the money. I get it that all actors, directors, producers, even stage hands want paid, but a person can't claim they are an "artist" but still make low low low budget stinkers. He did it for the money too, just like the ones he complains about.
I love ALL horror films (from the silents of the 20's to the gore of the present) but I agree nothing touches the classic monsters for they are in a class to themselves. However I disagree with the great Chaney Jr. for this interview was taken in the 60's and that decade took HORROR to a whole new realm. No longer are their cobwebs and castles but men dressed like their momma's and the dead ripping your flesh to feed it's hunger. They had a new name for PSYCHO & N.O.T.L.D. EXTREME HORROR
In 1969, I received a nice letter and autographed photo from Mr. Chaney. I had asked him what type of roles did he like to play? His response was similar to what he says on the tape. The Wolf Man as he played was a tortured man who realized that this was his destiny and all he wanted was to die in peace. He may have felt that A&C lampooned the monsters, but it was evident that he did enjoy playing opposite them.
Sad to hear Chaney like this. While I agree with some of his criticism of some "modern" horror films, I disagree that Abbott and Costello ruined the genre. 'A and C Meet Frankenstein' allowed Universal's monsters to bow out gracefully. The film was a tribute, not a mockery.
Both Lon chaney sr and jr truly masters. to this day i wish a copy of London After Midnight would be found so it could be restored and placed on DVD . I wish all of their films could
The universal horror pictures and the days of Lon Chaney Sr. were the ideal horror style movies I truly love the best. Modern days don't cut it for me.
I second that emotion! The classic flicks of yesteryear were able to keep audiences entertained without wallowing in the gutter of gratuitous violence, gore, blood, sex & profanity.
As for Lon Jr, sadly he wound up like Bela Lugosi. By the start of the 1950's, both were washed up as major film stars as their type of genre was fading out and they were both in deep addiction - Lugosi on Morphine and Lon on booze. Lugosi, desperate for work and money, had to stoop to working with Ed Wood et, and Lon Jr had no choice but to take roles in gems like "The Indestructible Man", but put in some great supporting roles in film, and some great parts on TV.
I love Lon Jr, but "better than his dad," The Man of a Thousand Faces, he wasn't. Lon Sr. was brilliant. His films were fricking silent and are still to this day as creepy and twisted as hell. Had he lived into the talkie era, which he died of throat cancer just at the dawn of, he would have blown the roof off of the horror genre.
@TubeGunner I wonder what "Dracula" would've been like with Lon Chaney instead of Lugosi. I think "Dracula" is one slow-moving film, while Chaney's silent films (and himself acting in them) were very dynamic and fast-paced.
Don't forget they never had the special effects that are available today and yet we hold them to our hearts as we don't really do to the modern (millionare stars ) of to-day. long live Lon Chaney jnr (master of the horror flick, even better than his dad in my opinion).
i have seen any number of horror films and they don't scare me. they repulse me because of the extreme gore and violence, but they do not scare me. the wolfman on the other hand still does.
@classicrockNo1 I totally agree. Really, film makers/theatres should be honest and create a definite genre they call Repulsion as opposed to calling it Horror (or maybe us lot should make sure that happens through the internet!). They are two completely different emotions after all lol.
i remember seeing a clip of Lon Jr. on The Johnny Carson show. He said that his voice was so raspy because of little kids asking him to growl like the Wolfman many times. But we all know the truth. Anyway, with him thinking this way about Comedy horror films, he is entitled to his opinion. However, i think history cinema has proven him wrong. People love to get scared and laugh at the same time.
@mavivirgie I've never seen Chaney claim abuse anywhere, though his father left him in foster homes and boarding schools for several years at around age 8. As for the buffoonery, the Frankenstein monster scared by Lou Costello's pudgy visage? The Wolf Man being slapped around? It's a nice, nostalgic sendoff for the monsters but they were absolutely dumbed down for comedy.
I don't understand. If you look up bloopers on A.&C.M.F., it showed Chaney having a good time. In fact, the film is in the national film archive. Chaney I think has had a great horror life...But GOD....What if he saw New Moon?!!!!! He would be Petrified
Interesting how he brought up Abott and Costello. To be fair I really liked Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (I don't count it as part of the direct series rather than it's own thing but still), but they definately pushed the concept with the next movies a bit. I'm also a fan of those 70's-80's horror flicks and, but I agree with him when he says they over-do gore at times over story. The Universal movies weren't great for violence but for atmosphere, story, and acting like he brought.
Poor Lon Jr! He was treated almost as badly as Bela Lugosi. He truely didn't deserve it. He was really a very fine actor, but never had a chance to prove it. By the time he broke in to the genre, it was in decline.
He's right you know. What makes a horor rmovie really requires mood, thought, and characters you actually care about. Now grante dsome horror films like the slasher films got away with it some of the time for the victims, but many are just reduced to overuses of "jump-scares" (very weak attempt of scaring someone by the way) and blood. Blood makes it real if it has a point, but if they over-do it it looks silly. The films by Universal were scarier because of the build-up and acting not silliness
@balrog13571 The only slasher film I've watched that I think can qualify as a legit "horror film" was the original "Halloween", because it wasn't the blood/gore (there was hardly any), or the fact that it was an invincible serial killer (we don't know he's invincible until the last five minutes of the film when he takes six gunshots and walks away).
It was the fact that the antagonist was a faceless shadow with absolutely no conscience, no emotions, no capacity to feel, no humanity.
@Sanguiluna The only Halloween movie that exists as far as I'm concerned. John Carpenter has said that he didn't even want a second Halloween made after he'd made this and was effectively strong armed into it. It's like The Fog; how he didn't want that shot of the side of the crewman's green face but the studio demanded it. Studios suck man! Still love The Fog too, the camera's used v effectively for scares :)
Yes, Creighton Tull Chaney (Lon Jr.) was correct: modern horror films no longer have real stories or acting to back them up. Today's audience wants simple blood, gore, sex, and those freaking special effects (which account for 90% of some films' content). The Universal days are over.
the great Lon Chaney Jr the wolfman himself. i dont agree with him regarding comedy in horror as Abbott&Costello never made buffoons of te monsters but look at the gore blood sex today. Chanety like ka rloff&Lugosi will live on. im a horrorfilm historian. i love these classic monsters & the films still hold up. his father lon Sr would had been proud. thanks Lon slept well you grntle giant. we will always remember you & your films. TOMKES a man who knows his mknsters
I don't know if he felt that way at the time, although he did attempt suicide a month after filming Meet Frankenstein... he's entitled to his opinion, even though personally I think it's a brilliant film!
i agree, ABBOTT & COSTELLO meet frakenstein was a BRILLIANT film! those guys did'nt make buffoons out of the universal monsters. if anything they revived interest in the universal monsters. growing up watching that film made me a big fan of frankenstein, dracula & the wolfman!
I also have a soft spot for lon chaney jr. and I actually remember seeing that interview carson did with him when it happened. if you remember that and i remember that--we are getting old!!
No, I unfortunately did not even know about it at the time.. I was a kid..and not allowed to stay up to watch the Tonight show..if I knew it, I would have begged my parents to let me stay up..I read this in a bio on Chaney Jr.
ok hes bashing the HILARIOUS abbot and costello meet frankenstien BUT he was in that, playing the wolfman no less! so, cmon! ok so it poked fun of the horror genre, but it was all in good fun!
and wow chaney sounds terrible here. all those years of drinking i would guess.
burtonrules123 4 months ago
I agree 100% on the "there's killing for the sake of killing and blood for the sake of blood". So true. Which is why I prefer the silent films and films of the '30s and '40s. Characters in those films, in every genre, had personalities and motives for the things they did. With VERY few exceptions, modern Hollywood relies too much on special effects, sex appeal, gore, and glamor. They've forgotten how powerful storytelling and subtlety can be. Bring back the old ways of acting/movie making!
TheaterRaven 4 months ago
Personally i think once Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff dead. Good horror movies also dead. It all became all about T&A, and showing the grosses things on screen as possible. Not to mention almost every slasher film has the same basic plot. There all shallow and predictable. Not to mention that making everything in color takes away the great creepy feel that old horror use to have.
Tuber77 4 months ago
I like many of Junior's movies, but I don't agree with him here. He talks like he is such an "artist" on a higher plane desiring the very best from his craft. But he was in a bunch of real stinkers later in his career, just for the money. I get it that all actors, directors, producers, even stage hands want paid, but a person can't claim they are an "artist" but still make low low low budget stinkers. He did it for the money too, just like the ones he complains about.
younghoss 4 months ago
I love ALL horror films (from the silents of the 20's to the gore of the present) but I agree nothing touches the classic monsters for they are in a class to themselves. However I disagree with the great Chaney Jr. for this interview was taken in the 60's and that decade took HORROR to a whole new realm. No longer are their cobwebs and castles but men dressed like their momma's and the dead ripping your flesh to feed it's hunger. They had a new name for PSYCHO & N.O.T.L.D. EXTREME HORROR
clintbronson5 6 months ago
In 1969, I received a nice letter and autographed photo from Mr. Chaney. I had asked him what type of roles did he like to play? His response was similar to what he says on the tape. The Wolf Man as he played was a tortured man who realized that this was his destiny and all he wanted was to die in peace. He may have felt that A&C lampooned the monsters, but it was evident that he did enjoy playing opposite them.
MrFrontrowkid 6 months ago
Sad to hear Chaney like this. While I agree with some of his criticism of some "modern" horror films, I disagree that Abbott and Costello ruined the genre. 'A and C Meet Frankenstein' allowed Universal's monsters to bow out gracefully. The film was a tribute, not a mockery.
jksonny 7 months ago
Thanks For posting this audio of Lon Chaney and IMOP he and will alway be the best and the one and only Wolfman to me!
WOLF10307 8 months ago
Wolfman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
daffydoug 9 months ago
Both Lon chaney sr and jr truly masters. to this day i wish a copy of London After Midnight would be found so it could be restored and placed on DVD . I wish all of their films could
jeffhardyrocks1231 9 months ago
The universal horror pictures and the days of Lon Chaney Sr. were the ideal horror style movies I truly love the best. Modern days don't cut it for me.
WillC 1 year ago
@WillC
I second that emotion! The classic flicks of yesteryear were able to keep audiences entertained without wallowing in the gutter of gratuitous violence, gore, blood, sex & profanity.
JubalCalif 9 months ago
As for Lon Jr, sadly he wound up like Bela Lugosi. By the start of the 1950's, both were washed up as major film stars as their type of genre was fading out and they were both in deep addiction - Lugosi on Morphine and Lon on booze. Lugosi, desperate for work and money, had to stoop to working with Ed Wood et, and Lon Jr had no choice but to take roles in gems like "The Indestructible Man", but put in some great supporting roles in film, and some great parts on TV.
TubeGunner 1 year ago
I love Lon Jr, but "better than his dad," The Man of a Thousand Faces, he wasn't. Lon Sr. was brilliant. His films were fricking silent and are still to this day as creepy and twisted as hell. Had he lived into the talkie era, which he died of throat cancer just at the dawn of, he would have blown the roof off of the horror genre.
TubeGunner 1 year ago
@TubeGunner I wonder what "Dracula" would've been like with Lon Chaney instead of Lugosi. I think "Dracula" is one slow-moving film, while Chaney's silent films (and himself acting in them) were very dynamic and fast-paced.
bluworm 4 months ago
Don't forget they never had the special effects that are available today and yet we hold them to our hearts as we don't really do to the modern (millionare stars ) of to-day. long live Lon Chaney jnr (master of the horror flick, even better than his dad in my opinion).
Jbombz94 1 year ago
i have seen any number of horror films and they don't scare me. they repulse me because of the extreme gore and violence, but they do not scare me. the wolfman on the other hand still does.
classicrockNo1 1 year ago
@classicrockNo1 I totally agree. Really, film makers/theatres should be honest and create a definite genre they call Repulsion as opposed to calling it Horror (or maybe us lot should make sure that happens through the internet!). They are two completely different emotions after all lol.
johnjnukemsheridan 9 months ago
i remember seeing a clip of Lon Jr. on The Johnny Carson show. He said that his voice was so raspy because of little kids asking him to growl like the Wolfman many times. But we all know the truth. Anyway, with him thinking this way about Comedy horror films, he is entitled to his opinion. However, i think history cinema has proven him wrong. People love to get scared and laugh at the same time.
emoviebuff87 1 year ago
@mavivirgie I've never seen Chaney claim abuse anywhere, though his father left him in foster homes and boarding schools for several years at around age 8. As for the buffoonery, the Frankenstein monster scared by Lou Costello's pudgy visage? The Wolf Man being slapped around? It's a nice, nostalgic sendoff for the monsters but they were absolutely dumbed down for comedy.
JohnnyKrypton 1 year ago
Sadly, too the booze was about to kill him also.
younghoss 1 year ago
I don't understand. If you look up bloopers on A.&C.M.F., it showed Chaney having a good time. In fact, the film is in the national film archive. Chaney I think has had a great horror life...But GOD....What if he saw New Moon?!!!!! He would be Petrified
Vanoc93 1 year ago
Interesting how he brought up Abott and Costello. To be fair I really liked Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (I don't count it as part of the direct series rather than it's own thing but still), but they definately pushed the concept with the next movies a bit. I'm also a fan of those 70's-80's horror flicks and, but I agree with him when he says they over-do gore at times over story. The Universal movies weren't great for violence but for atmosphere, story, and acting like he brought.
themovieguy364 2 years ago
Poor Lon Jr! He was treated almost as badly as Bela Lugosi. He truely didn't deserve it. He was really a very fine actor, but never had a chance to prove it. By the time he broke in to the genre, it was in decline.
geinman1287 2 years ago
He's right you know. What makes a horor rmovie really requires mood, thought, and characters you actually care about. Now grante dsome horror films like the slasher films got away with it some of the time for the victims, but many are just reduced to overuses of "jump-scares" (very weak attempt of scaring someone by the way) and blood. Blood makes it real if it has a point, but if they over-do it it looks silly. The films by Universal were scarier because of the build-up and acting not silliness
balrog13571 2 years ago
@balrog13571 The only slasher film I've watched that I think can qualify as a legit "horror film" was the original "Halloween", because it wasn't the blood/gore (there was hardly any), or the fact that it was an invincible serial killer (we don't know he's invincible until the last five minutes of the film when he takes six gunshots and walks away).
It was the fact that the antagonist was a faceless shadow with absolutely no conscience, no emotions, no capacity to feel, no humanity.
Sanguiluna 1 year ago
@Sanguiluna The only Halloween movie that exists as far as I'm concerned. John Carpenter has said that he didn't even want a second Halloween made after he'd made this and was effectively strong armed into it. It's like The Fog; how he didn't want that shot of the side of the crewman's green face but the studio demanded it. Studios suck man! Still love The Fog too, the camera's used v effectively for scares :)
johnjnukemsheridan 9 months ago
Yes, Creighton Tull Chaney (Lon Jr.) was correct: modern horror films no longer have real stories or acting to back them up. Today's audience wants simple blood, gore, sex, and those freaking special effects (which account for 90% of some films' content). The Universal days are over.
rolex452 2 years ago
he was born in oklahoma city oklahoma...site is now a shopping mall..Penn Square formerly belle isle lake area....
sentaikat 2 years ago
Dear Chrissie, The real reason why Mr.Chaney growled Sour grapes
about"A&C Meet Frankenstein"? Is because the film genre' was changing..people no
longer wanted gothic horror films..they wanted sci-fi films
like"The Beast From 50,000 fathoms" and"It Came From
Outer Space".
143AC 2 years ago
Chaney was right. Horror films have, for the most part, become soulless. Perhaps we have too.
tommyrock69 2 years ago
the great Lon Chaney Jr the wolfman himself. i dont agree with him regarding comedy in horror as Abbott&Costello never made buffoons of te monsters but look at the gore blood sex today. Chanety like ka rloff&Lugosi will live on. im a horrorfilm historian. i love these classic monsters & the films still hold up. his father lon Sr would had been proud. thanks Lon slept well you grntle giant. we will always remember you & your films. TOMKES a man who knows his mknsters
tomkes100 2 years ago
With all due respect to Mr.Lon Chaney,Jr....The scripwriters,
Producer & Director of"A&C Meet Frankenstein"didn't make
the monsters look or act like dolts..they(The monsters)play
their roles streight and serious..and the film is still popular.
143AC 2 years ago
It's no surprise that Lon Jr blames A &C for the decline in horror. It was the last hoorah for Chaney's brand
Drac39 2 years ago
I don't know if he felt that way at the time, although he did attempt suicide a month after filming Meet Frankenstein... he's entitled to his opinion, even though personally I think it's a brilliant film!
chrissie2590 2 years ago
i agree, ABBOTT & COSTELLO meet frakenstein was a BRILLIANT film! those guys did'nt make buffoons out of the universal monsters. if anything they revived interest in the universal monsters. growing up watching that film made me a big fan of frankenstein, dracula & the wolfman!
mattman747 2 years ago
Dear HerasFolly, Sadly,there are no kinnie films or videotapes or even
audio tracks of Mr.Lon Chaney,Jr.'s interview on Mr.Johnny
Carson's version of NBC TV's"Tonight Show".
143AC 2 years ago
There is an audio tape of Lon's appearance on Carson, which I have, but like this recording it's home-made and the quality is not very good.
chrissie2590 2 years ago
Why thank you for that.
herasfolly 2 years ago
Wow..I always had a soft spot for Lon Chaney Jr..I wonder if anyone has the Tonight show (Johnny Carson) interview he did before he passed on.
Thanks for putting this up.
herasfolly 2 years ago
I also have a soft spot for lon chaney jr. and I actually remember seeing that interview carson did with him when it happened. if you remember that and i remember that--we are getting old!!
Saffron333 2 years ago
No, I unfortunately did not even know about it at the time.. I was a kid..and not allowed to stay up to watch the Tonight show..if I knew it, I would have begged my parents to let me stay up..I read this in a bio on Chaney Jr.
herasfolly 2 years ago
Beautiful and thank you for the upload.
bump
bumptybu 2 years ago
What a voice. Creepy, kind of reminds me of jigsaw from the Saw movies. Oh well I still love him and his father. Awesome men, great actors!
arisztidoltz 2 years ago
He had been battling throat cancer by this point.
wwahc1964 2 years ago
Yes, he had throat surgery late in '68 and it left him permanently hoarse.
chrissie2590 2 years ago
Excellent for my research.
CinemaDave 2 years ago