Wolf Man, The

Wolf Man, The

Released: 1941

MPAA Rating: None

Genre: Werewolf

Nuts and Bolts: Welsh aristocrat Larry Talbot is bitten by a werewolf and as such becomes a werewolf himself when the full moon rises. Larry must wrestle with his own encroaching insanity as the neighboring villagers desperately hunt for the murderer of a young girl.

Summary: Lawrence Talbot returns to his ancestral castle in Llanwelly Wales after spending eighteen years abroad. His brother had been killed in a hunting accident and Larry reunites with his father Sir John Talbot just in time for the funeral. The two men pledge to never let their differences come between them again.

Later that afternoon, Larry is experimenting with the refractor on his father’s telescope when the lens focuses on the upstairs bedroom of Gwen Conliffe across the street. Larry is immediately taken with Gwen and decides to visit the Antique shop that she lives in.

Upon entering Conliffe Antiques, Larry begins trying to shmooze Gwen using some of the worst pickup lines to ever fall from the lips of man. Gwen tries to divert Larry’s affections by selling him some merchandise. He decides to buy a walking stick, which contains a silver handle in the shape of a wolf’s head. Set inside the handle is the symbol of the pentagram, a five-pointed star. Gwen explains that the pentagram is the symbol of the werewolf and she recounts an old Eastern European proverb regarding werewolves. A werewolf was said to see the mark of the pentagram in the palm of his next victim’s hand. Larry doesn’t really give a shit about the cane; he’s just trying to get down Gwen’s drawers. He asks her out on a date but Gwen isn’t buying it. Larry doesn’t seem to understand that the bitch has zero interest in him and he continues to press the issue. Despite her rebuffs, Larry promises that he will pick her up at eight o’clock.

Just as he promised Larry the Loser arrives outside Conliffe antiques at eight o’clock. Gwen gives in but only if her friend Jenny can come along. (Why don’t I have this sort of luck?) The three decide to visit a carnival being set up in the village by a traveling gang of gypsies. They stop at the tent of Bela the fortuneteller. While Jenny gets her fortune read, Larry and Gwen go for a walk. This is the point where the other shoe drops as Gwen reveals that she is engaged to marry a man named Frank Andrews. Frank is the gamekeeper for the Talbot estate. I’m really not quite sure just what the fuck a gamekeeper is, but it sounds pretty impressive. Those wacky Welsh. While Larry’s chances of getting laid begin to dwindle, Jenny confers with Bela. Bela begins to read her palms but becomes terrified when he sees the sign of the pentagram appearing in her hand. Noticing that a full moon is out that night, he commands Jenny to leave. Jenny doesn’t seem to understand what the dirty gypsy is on about, but she leaves regardless. A short time later, a werewolf attacks Jenny and her throat is ripped open. Larry and Gwen hear her screams of pain and race over to help. Larry whoops the shit out of the wolf with the tip of his cane but they are too late to save poor Jenny. During the scuffle, Larry is bitten. The old gypsy Maleva comes upon Larry’s bleeding body.

The following day, we see Larry at home in bed recovering from his wounds. Chief constable Paul Montford stops by and states that Larry’s cane was found next to the dead body of Bela the Gypsy. Larry maintains his innocence and clarifies that it was a wolf that he killed and not a man. His claim appears dubious however as his wounds have nearly completely healed. The only thing left is a star shaped scar above his breast.

The following afternoon, the Gypsies attend Bela’s funeral. Larry visits the crypt where Bela’s body is laid to rest and sees Maleva. We discover that Maleva is Bela’s mother and she says a strange prayer over top of his casket.

That afternoon, Larry goes to visit Gwen. He meets her fiancé Frank Andrews but the two don’t hit it off that well. Hell, even Frank’s dog thinks Larry is an asshole. Frank tries to cover up his jealously by spinning some crock of shit about being saddened by the sight of such a tragic looking man. Gwen, dumb whore that she is, falls for this line.

That night, Gwen and Frank attend the Gypsy carnival. Finding Larry, Frank decides to play peacemaker. But after playing a few games, Larry meets up with Maleva. Maleva explains to him that her son Bela was a werewolf. She gives Larry a charm that will protect him. Larry doesn’t jibe much with superstitious nonsense so he gives the charm to Gwen. Gwen reciprocates the gift by giving Larry a big ole smoochie. By 1941 standards, that’s pretty much the same as if she were sucking his dick. Two-timing ho.

That night, the full moon rises and Larry transforms into a werewolf. He lumbers off into the woods until he comes upon a cemetery. The wolf man attacks a gravedigger named Richardson, killing him.

The following day, Larry has no memory of the event, but there is a set of bloody paw prints leading up to the Talbot estate. Everyone in town attends Richardson’s funeral. For being little more than a lowly gravedigger, it turns out to be a fairly large event. Larry begins to believe in the old Gypsy’s stories of werewolves. He talks to his father about the whole issue but Sir John thinks that his son is still unhinged from his encounter two nights prior.

That night, all of the rednecks of Llanwelly go hunting for the creature that killed poor Richardson. They set up bear traps all over the woods. Larry turns into the Wolf Man again and gets caught in one of the traps. Falling unconscious, he eventually turns back into Larry Talbot. His unconscious body is found by Maleva who takes him back to Talbot Castle.

That afternoon Larry visits Gwen. He is really going off the deep end and is convinced that he murdered both Bela and Richardson. He sees the image of the pentagram in Gwen’s palm and gets scared.

Returning home, Larry convinces his father that he may do something rash. John decides to humor him by strapping him down to a chair. Larry asks his father to carry his cane with him. John doesn’t quite understand the nature of the request but he agrees regardless. John then leaves Larry to re-join the hunt. The moon rises again and Larry transforms into the wolf man for the third time. He easily breaks free of the straps and lopes off into the woods.

The Wolf Man attacks Gwen and the other hunters hear her shrieks. Sir John is the first to come to her aid however and he begins beating the shit out of the werewolf with Larry’s cane. The two scuffle about but the wolf man finally dies under the numerous blows from the silver tipped weapon.

John learns to his horror that Larry was telling the truth and that he truly was a werewolf. Maleva arrives and says one final prayer over Larry’s body.

Acting/Dialogue: Claude Rains plays the part of Sir John. As he is one of my favorite silver screen actors I would have greatly preferred seeing him cast in the title role. Rains brings a charm and elegance to the screen in nearly everything he is in. Lon Chaney Jr. however really shows that he only landed this gig because of his theatrically famous father. Chaney fails to endear us to the character of Larry Talbot and he comes off as being little more than a selfish egomaniacal sanctimonious misogynist. (Add your own polysyllabic adjectives at your leisure.) The rest of the cast put forth performances typical of the time period. We also get to see Bela Lugosi in the role of Bela the werewolf. Despite the dirty makeup, jewelry and fake mustache, there is really no getting around the fact that this is Lugosi. However, its still neat to see the man who mastered the role of Dracula making a cameo appearance in this film. The dialogue is fairly cheesy throughout, but Claude Rains gets some pretty moments. I really wish he had been more involved in this film.

Gore: As this a 1941 Universal Classic, there is no gore. Even the wolf man attack scenes are pretty tame. It is mentioned that the werewolf rips his victims’ throat open, but all we really get to see is some clown in a wolf mask strangling the other actors.

Guilty Pleasures: Claude Rains beating the shit out of Lon (The Hack) Chaney Jr. Oh…if only I could have been there to help.

The Good: This film really isn’t all that great, but its still an old time favorite with great rewatchability potential. The Wolf Man really had all the cards stacked against him growing up as the little brother to Universal Horror siblings Dracula, Frankenstein and the Phantom of the Opera. It even found itself walking in the shadow of its own predecessor Werewolf of London. Whereas characters such as Franky, Drac and the Phantom all claimed heritage to infamous literary roots, the wolf man mythos really had nothing to go on. It was only loosely based on old Eastern European legends and there wasn’t a canonical resource by which to govern werewolf behavior.

Universal studios pretty much established the guide-lines for all other werewolf films with its two provincial wolf man movies. From here we learn that silver can kill a werewolf; be it in the form of a silver bullet or a silver knife or even a silver-headed walking stick. We also determine that a man will transform into a wolf on the nights of the full moon. And we also link lycanthropy to its more satanic elements by establishing that a werewolf will see the mark of the pentagram in the hand of his next victim.

But the Wolf Man doesn’t rely merely on old superstition to convey its point. Through the educated point of view of John Talbot we learn that a werewolf is also a metaphor for mental instability. In here it is referenced as Lycanthropia (Or Lycanthropy) a mental deviation of the brain that helps to explain the duality of man. Nearly every werewolf based movie made since the Wolf Man has tied itself in some way to one of these early principals.

Now even though most of the movie was filmed on a sound stage, director George Waggner, succeeded in bringing us a haunting eerie quality complete with fog shrouded moors, gothic churches, graveyards and a macabre snapshot into the lifestyle of Gypsy-Rom culture.

From a technological standpoint, the Wolf Man is probably the weakest of the cult classic monster films, but it still succeeds in being a bucket of jolly-good fun guaranteed to bring a smile to Halloween enthusiasts and small children across the world.

The Bad: The Wolf Man really is a tale of lost potential. It clearly lays down the groundwork for providing a psychological study in to the duality of man, but it fails to illustrate the internal dichotomy of the main character. We are given Larry Talbot, a pompous over-weight jackass who cares little for the welfare of his family or for the position that he holds within the community. If Larry were presented to us as a heart-warming likeable character, then it would be a lot easier for the audience to empathize with his affliction. But rather than analyze the internal workings of human nature, we are given a culture clash between the ancient traditions of a minority culture and the esteemed values of an aristocratic society. Now when addressing a film like the Wolf Man, no one is expecting Citizen Kane, but as I see it, it would have been very easy to use this movie as a platform for psychological study. It worked well enough with Robert Louise Stephenson’s Doctor Jeckyl character, so I really can’t imagine why lightning couldn’t strike twice.

Have you figured it out yet, that I’m not a big fan of Lon Chaney Jr.? At first I thought it was merely this character that he fumbled with, but as I have seen him in other things I’ve come to discover that this guy really is little more than a no talent hack who owes his career to the accolades of his chameleon-like father silent screen star Lon Chaney Sr. (Phantom of the Opera, Hunchback of Notre Dame, London After Midnight)

The actual mechanics used for the werewolf are kind of strange here to. Now in this version of the mythos, a man only partially transforms into a wolf. Which is to say his face gets really hairy and he grows claws and fangs. But for some reason, Larry needs to remove his shoes before transforming into a wolf. Are wolf man feet so anatomically different that they can’t fit into a pair of Air Jordans? And what’s up with Bela? When we see Larry clubbing the snot out of him, Bela is in the form of a full-bred wolf. He isn’t wearing his clothes and walking upright the way Larry is. I guess werewolf curses work differently on Gypsy folk.

As I said before, I actually enjoy this film quite a bit. I have seen it nearly a hundred times. With that in mind, it actually hurts that I have to give it such a low rating. But don’t be dissuaded from checking it out. If you like movies such as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon, then you owe it to yourself to watch George Waggner’s vision of a man who is cursed to where the shape of an animal.

Is that a pentagram in the palm of your hand or are you just happy to see me?

Great Lines:

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms. And the autumn moon is bright.” --An old Romanian poem. This line is repeated by Gwen Conliffe, Jenny Williams, Maleva and Sir John Talbot.

“All astronomers are amateurs. When it comes to the heavens, there's only one professional.” --Sir John talking to Larry about his telescope.

“The way you walk was thorny through no fault of your own, but as the rain enters the soil the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end. Your suffering is over. Now you will find peace for eternity.” --This was Maleva’s funky little prayer. She says it once over Bela’s body and twice over Larry’s body.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10 severed heads. (whimper)

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