Results

The Wolf Man (1941): Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Bela Lugosi and Maria Ouspenskaya. Directed by George Waggner, Screenplay by Curt Siodmak.

When I was a kid, The Wolf Man was my favorite monster. I don’t know why. I know I wasn’t alone. In fact, so fascinated was I by this monster, I’m currently writing a movie about werewolves.

With an almost ten year gap filled with pseudo-sequels and suspense thrillers, Universal was due to hit the ball out of the park with another classic monster. This, strangely, was not the first werewolf movie that Universal tackled. 1935 saw “The Werewolf of London” starring Henry Hull and Werner Oland. For whatever reason, after its release, Universal saw fit to tread the same ground again, this time with an American werewolf, Lon Chaney Jr. Henry Hull’s original makeup in the 1935 film, designed by Jack Pierce, was pretty much the same as what Chaney sports in this 1941 film, but, reportedly, Hull did not want to be buried under a mountain of hair, so a revised version was made and the classic Wolf Man look we know today was shelved until Chaney took up the mantle.

The film, scripted by Curt Siodmak, was based, in tone, on his experiences in Nazi Germany: good men becoming monsters under certain circumstances. Likewise, in the film, Larry Talbot has no control over his killing urges when he changes and suffers torment, knowing what he has done. Chaney brings a full range of emotion to the anguished hero role, and he truly is the hero of at least the first film, Universal having elevated their monsters to the point of being main characters, rather than their potential victims.

So successful was Chaney’s portrayal of the Wolf Man, he is the only actor in the stable of Universal Monsters to have had the distinction of playing the role in every film appearance, and a lot there were: “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man”, “The House of Frankenstein”, “The House of Dracula” and “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”. Ah, I long for an age when a good character can drift in and out of other movies for no reason. Seriously though, the first “sequel”, “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” was one of my favorites as a kid, even though the Frankenstein monster is technically Dracula (Lugosi, taking up the role that it’s claimed he turned down in 1931).

As well, “The Wolf Man” has the distinction of actually creating a supernatural myth, as, prior to the film and its sequels, there were no real rules governing when a lycanthrope changes. In “The Wolf Man”, Talbot is specifically told “Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” The fact that the moon is full has nothing to do with it. I reckon, actually, that merely the fact that the editors at Universal decided to use stock footage of a full moon that the legend was born. Silver bullets, likewise, were not part of the original myth, but were added as part of the Universal franchise.

A remake of “The Wolf Man” is currently underway, starring Benicio Del Toro and normally, I would be up in arms about this, but since (longtime Famous Monsters fan) Rick Baker’s involved, and from all indications and on-set photos 100% reverence is being placed on the original (unlike the disrespect Stephen Sommers paid, reinventing the Universal Monsters in “Van Helsing”), I actually look forward to seeing it.

Get it at Amazon:
The Wolf Man - The Legacy Collection (The Wolf Man / Werewolf of London / Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / She-Wolf of London)

Related posts:

1. “Frankenstein” (1931)
   Universal Monsters Thursdays continue with my second favorite classic creature. Released the same year as Todd Browning's "Dracula" starring Bela...
2. “An American Werewolf in London”
   In 1981 director John Landis made something that was slightly unusual at the time: a comedy-horror film. Sure there had...
3. “Dracula” (1931)
   A lifelong fan of the Universal monsters, Dracula has always been my least favorite. I guess it's something I've carried...
4. Ben Chapman 1925-2008
   Ben Chapman, best known for his role as my all-time famous monster, “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” died earlier...