Most people believe that the phenomenon known as Morphing in film began in Hollywood in the mid 1980's (" Flight of the Navigator ", " Willow "), before truly coming into its own in " T2: Judgement Day ".
Well, maybe not...
In A&CMF, there are scenes where Dracula " Morphs " into a bat. Yes, I know, it was done with pen & ink rather than CGI. But hey, it' still morphing! ;-)
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While John Carradine (playing Dracula) morphed into a bat a few years earlier (I think that it was in "House of Dracula," but I am not sure), the transformation was only seen from the back rather than being a "full-frontal" transformation, as in "A & C Meet Frankenstein." So, I would be inclined to agree with you: that this is the first example of true "morphing" seen in a Hollywood film -- and an exceptionally good job was done, in my opinion. If you want to see what I personally consider to be the best pre-CGI "morph," check out "Jack the Giant Killer" (1962). In glorious Technicolor, at the film's climax, the sorcerer Pendragon transforms himself into a winged Dragon. As in the case of Bela morphing into a bat, cartoon animation is used, followed by a dissolve into the stop-motion puppet. The effectiveness of the scene is greatly enhanced by the use of effects animation to show lightning on the background plate and the flames (painted directly onto the cels, I suppose) which envelop the sorcerer as he transforms himself. The models in "Jack" may not be as good as Harryhausen's (if you like his films), but there are some truly stunning and imaginatively staged sequences in "Jack the Giant Killer."
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shareI suppose some people might have a "problem" with cartoon animation being used in this fashion. I don't. In fact, watching the film again last night, the first time they did the transformation, I found myself yelling at the TV, "Oh man, THAT'S SO COOL!!!" They'd done ainamted stuff like this in several previous vampire movies, but none as extensive and smooth as here. Walter Lantz did a great job.
shareIt would have been more effective and a little scarier if the morphing was done in total black images. The man would instantly turn into a black silhouette, morph into a bat or whatever, then we'd see the creature he morphed to. They could have even superimposed a flash or explosion (?) over the figures during their morph. Lots of potential. But I never did think the switch to animation was a good idea. Doesn't ruin the scene for me, though.
"All necessary truth is its own evidence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Walter Lantz did the same job in Son of Dracula when Lon Chaney "morphed" from a bat into his character. And I don't know if it was the first, but the Superman films in the 1940's had Kirk Alyn run for a few steps, then transformed into a cartoon of Superman flying. Supposedly the studio didn't have the money or technical expertise to "fly" the actor, and they were roundly criticized for it. While this may not be a "morph" as we understand it now, it was still a technical change.
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