Quick Rating:  ***

Universal's werewolf classic, the Wolf Man, also supplies Lon Chaney Jr with his defining role.  He is Larry Talbot, who after 18 years in America has returned home to England after a hunting accident left his older brother dead.  While fixing his father's telescope, Larry starts using it to peep on women in their houses.  Well, to be fair, only one woman... but it was still peeping!  Anyway, he is taken aback by her beauty and visits the antigue store above which she lives.  As he harrasses Gwen, attempting to woo her, they discuss werewolf legends.  And he buys an expensive cane with a silver wolf's head as the handle.  Then, the travelling gypsies pass by, and he offers to take her to have her fortune told.  She says no, but she ends up going with him that night.

Bela the gypsy (Lugosi, in a cameo), has an afflication, and the moon's light caused him to transform.  He, as a wolf, attacks Gwen's friend, and Larry comes to the rescue, beating the wolf to death with his silver headed cane, but not before being bitten by the wolf.  However, the next morning, the police find Bela's body beaten, not a wolf's.  Larry's sanity is called into question, and he starts doubting himself as well.  The old gypsy lady tells him he's a werewolf now, and Larry can't believe it.  The rest of the movie consists of him struggling with the truth, and everyone else struggling to find the killer.

This, again, was Lon's defining role, and he does a great job depicting the tormented Larry.  But I didn't really care for the pre-bite Larry.  And having Claude Rains as his father didn't seem to fit either.  Physically, there's a great deal of difference, and in age, there wasn't much.  Claude and Bela are great in their roles, and most of the supporting characters are well done, too.  The script is a little cheesy, with all the werewolf talk before the actual werewolf appears.  But, the sets and imagery are up to par with many of the other Universal classics.  The Wolfman makeup was well done, but the transformation scenes are definitely dated.  Overall, a good werewolf movie, but not great.


 
 
 

Quality: 6.0  Visuals: 6.5  Intensity: 6.5 
OVERALL RATING: 6.3