It’s probably an ancient explanation of the dual personality in each of us. – The Wolf Man (1941)
The Wolf Man (1941)
This film is one of the greatest films of the Classic Universal Horror era. Released only days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entering World War II, this film presented a cautionary tail that mirrored the nazzies rise in Germany. With a mostly sympathetic monster, the movie shows how a good man can easily be transformed into a deadly monster.
The effects were relatively simple but were filmed and edited in a way that produced maximum impact. This movie was the progenitor of many horror films featuring the same monster. However, much of the lore around this creature was created by this film.
Even a man who is pure at heart,
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the
wolfbane blooms and the
autumn moon is bright.
Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on The Wolf Man (1941).
This beautiful little poem, recited several times in The Wolf Man (1941), is said to have Eastern European folk roots. However, famed director Curt Siodmak wrote it for this film, and it has joined the werewolf lore and many other elements in this movie. The poem, be it somewhat changed, was quoted in Van Helsing (2004) as well as in every Universal film Wolf Man appearance.
This film is rated, a much too low, 7.2 on iMDB.com com.[1] On Rottentomatoes.com, the film has a much more realistic 91 percent on the Tomatometer and an 80 percent audience score.[2] Film critic Leonard Maltin called The Wolf Man (1941) “one of the finest horror films ever made.”[3]
Actors – The Wolf Man (1941)
Returning
The Wolf Man had an all-star cast by any standard. Patric Knowles, known for The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Wolf Man (1941), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and the unrequited love in Auntie Mame (1958) was Gwen’s fiancé, Frank Andrews. Rosalind Russell is fabulous in this movie and takes you on an emotional roller coaster while making you laugh at the same time. But whatever you do, don’t watch the Mame (1974) starring Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur. Remember that once the time is lost, you can never get it back. Knowles was briefly covered in the Chisum (1970) episode, where he was in the role of Henry Tunstall.
Warren William played the role of Dr. Lloyd. He was first covered in Satan Met a Lady (1936). This film was an early version of The Maltese Falcon (1941). William played a quirky version of the role that Humphrey Bogart would later make famous.
New
Lon Chaney, Jr. played the role of Lawrence Talbot, also known as Larry and as the Wolf Man. I have always enjoyed Chaney Jr.’s acting, going back to the 3:00pm after-school horror films that were shown on the local television network. I know Chaney Jr. had a lot of personal troubles, and this seemed to show in his acting.
Chaney Jr. was the son of legendary actor Lon Chaney, of such films as The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and about another 160 movies. Junior was born in 1906 in Oklahoma City while his family was on a theatrical tour. He began appearing on stage at a very early age. Junior worked odd jobs and tried to make it into acting without using his family connections. He eventually tried stage work and did okay. In 1935, his name was changed to Lon Chaney, Jr. He was on his way even though he never cared for being called Junior.
Although he began appearing in films in 1922, Juniors is best known for Union Pacific (1939), playing Lennie in Of Mice and Men (1939), The Wolf Man (1941), The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), Son of Dracula (1943) where I gave him grief for playing a vampire, but in retrospect, he was pretty good, The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), House of Frankenstein (1944), The Mummy’s Curse (1944), House of Dracula (1945), Pillow of Death (1945), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), High Noon (1952), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), and televisions “The Monkees” 1966 as Lenny. Junior died in 1973.
Perhaps the greatest actor in this film was Claude Rains, who played Sir John Talbot, the father of Larry, AKA the Wolf Man. Rains was born in London in 1889 to an acting father. Rains began acting on stage at the age of 11. He moved to America in 1913 for theater work. However, when World War I broke out, he returned to England to serve in a Scottish regiment. After the war, he stayed in England and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He became a stage actor and even taught at the Royal Academy.
Rains’ first film was in 1920, but his second wasn’t until 1933. Of course, it was the fantastic Univeral Horror Class with the highest body count, The Invisible Man (1933), with Rains’ in the title role. His other roles include Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Prince and the Pauper (1937).
In The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940), Rains plays a couple of real slimy roles. In Robin Hood, he is so slippery that you want to go to the backyard and start practicing your bow skills. Between the two previously mentioned roles, he was a leading character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). As good as Mr. Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart, was Rains, playing Senator Joseph Paine as is evil. He is evil, but he was good and maybe could be again.
He continued with Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), The Wolf Man (1941), Rains may be most commonly known from the movie Casablanca (1942), where he utters the lines “Major Strassers’ been shot, round-up the usual suspects” and “I’m shocked, shocked to find out gambling is going on in here” as he is handed his winnings. He was also the principal of Humphrey Bogart’s line, “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
His body of work continued with Phantom of the Opera (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), and Mr. Skeffington (1944). Though this last film is not my favorite genre, it is an excellent love story. Rains was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work on this movie. He was great in the epic tights and fights film Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). In what I believe was his best performance, Rains played a nazzie agent opposite his co-stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious (1946), a spy thriller set in Rio De Janeiro during WWII with lots of nazzies and other unsavory characters. Rains and the others burned up the screen.
He appeared in the fantasy Angel on My Shoulder (1946) and in the Jurassic adventure The Lost World (1960) accompanied by a woman in pink pants. His next important role was in the epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962). It’s long but basically worth the time. His final film was The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Rains died in 1967.
Veteran actor Ralph Bellamy played Colonel Paul Montford, the local chief constable. This American actor seemed out of place here. They invented an explanation of why Larry had an English father and spoke with an American accent. Nothing for Montford.
Maria Ouspenskaya was cast as Maleva, the gypsy, and mother of Bela. Ouspenskaya was a 90-pound dynamo who was born and trained in Russia. She had a great stage career and only started doing movies to keep her drama school going. She was a devout astrologer and, in many ways, echoed the part she played. Ouspenskaya was only six years older than Bela Lugosi, who played her son.
Two other actors helped carry the storyline of this movie. They are Bela Lugosi as Bela (very creative) and the beauty Evelyn Ankers as Lawrence Talbot’s love interest, Gwen Conliffe. Because of the roles she took on, Ankers was known as “the Queen of the Screamers” way before Jamie Lee Curtis but after Fay Wray.
Story – The Wolf Man (1941)
The credits roll over a fog-shrouded forest, all in black and white. Then, a hand opens an encyclopedia to a listing of Lycanthropy, AKA Werewolfism. The legend states it is a disease of the mind. However, others, including those living near Talbot Castle, believe that a man takes the form of a wolf and violently kills. It also states that the sign of the werewolf is the pentagram, a five-pointed star. One thing that the movie does not cover is that Wer is an old English word for man, so werewolf literally means manwolf. Larry is never referred to as a wolfman in this movie.
Lawrence/ Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is being driven to Talbot Castle in Llanwelly, Wales, his once home. That castle is really a large estate and not a true castle. He is greeted at the estate by his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). Sir John introduces Larry to Paul Montford (Ralph Bellamy), who is the area’s chief constable. Larry and Montford were childhood friends.
The mood darkens as Larry looks at a portrait of his recently deceased brother, John. Sir Talbot is saddened and talks of not being close to Larry as John was the elder son. He then says John, who looks exactly like Larry, was killed in a hunting accident. Larry has been away from home for eighteen years. As they talk of reconciliation, the staff brings in a new part for Sir Talbot’s observatory.
Sir Talboit and Larry go up to the observatory, where a large telescope is housed in a glass room to allow observation. Larry goes to work installing the new part. Larry tells his father that he worked in an optical company in America and spent a large amount of time working at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. This explains why the son of a Welshman has an American accent. In the original version of the script, writer Curt Siodmak had Larry come to Talbot Castle to repair the telescope, but he was not related to Sir Talbot.
Sir Talbot leaves the observatory, and Larry begins looking through the telescope. His gaze lands on a lovely young woman, Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), in her bedroom trying on jewelry. Conliffe is an Anglo-Saxon name that means “War love[4].” This also plays on the dualist nature of the wolf man, being at war with himself and with the ones he loves.
Gwen tries on quarter moon earrings with spangles. This seems to foretell a peaceful time without the full moon, and the spangles may be the foretelling of the arrival of the gypsies. Larry dresses and goes to the story where Gwen works. When he tells her that he is looking for the earrings that are in her room, the conversation gets a little tense. Larry changes the subject to buying a cane when Gwen says she is going to get her father.
Larry calms her by telling her that he is psychic about the earrings. She offers him a cane with a dog head. Again, I believe this shows the contrast between a nice puppy and a mean old wolf. Larry picks a cane with a large silver wolf and the mark of a pentagram. Gwen explains that it is the mark of a werewolf. She tells that a werewolf changes forms a number of times a year.
Larry comes back with what big eyes you have, grandma. Gwen replies that Little Red Riding Hood is also a werewolf story. She then recites the werewolf poem. Gwen continues that the werewolf sees the mark of the pentagram in the palm of his next victim’s hand. Larry buys the cane and asks Gwen for a date. She flatly refuses.
Gwen and Larry hear the gypsys arriving and go outside to look. Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), who is driving a two-wheeled cart, looks to be as old as the hills. She was around 65. Her son Bela (Bela Lugosi) is driving a wagon. That is a very creative name for Bela. Bela was around 59 at the time of the film, just six years younger than the woman playing his mother.
Gypsys are itinerant entertainers believed to have migrated from the Indian sub-continent about 1000 years ago and settled in the Balkans in the 13th or 14 century. The name gypsy may be derived from a shortening of Egyptian. However, they are now properly called Romani, reflecting their recent habitation in Romania.[5] Is it odd that they come from the same place as Dracula?
Gwen tells Larry that the gypsys are fortune tells. Larry says he will be by to pick her up at 8. She says no a second time.
Larry returns home and meets with Sir Talbot. Sir Talbot confirms the story and says there is probably some truth to the legend. Sir Talbot then recites the poem. Sir Talbot encourages Larry to get to know the people as he will be the town overlord one day.
The night is shrouded with fog. Gwen comes out of her shop at 8:00 pm, and Larry is waiting. She has on the earrings, and Larry has the cane. He begs her to go to the gypsy camp with him. She consents but then reveals her friend, Jenny (Fay Helm), who will be going along with the couple.
The trio head into the dark woods. The fog is hanging low to the ground. Jenny picks some Wolfbane and recites the werewolf poem. They arrive at the camp and are greeted by Bela. Maleva is moving around in the background. Jenny goes to get her fortune told while Larry cons Gwen into going for a lonely walk. He confesses about the telescope. She takes it reasonably well. Gwen tells that she is engaged to be married.
Bela’s reading for Jenny goes bad as Bela stops and begins rubbing his head. He has a pentagram on his forehead. Bela sees the pentagram in Jenny’s palm. He tells her to come back the next night. He scares Jenny, and she runs away.
Maleva watches from her tent as Bela begins to transform. The horses are freaking out. Jenny is shown running through the woods, and the werewolf’s howl is heard for the first time. Gwen and Larry hear the howl and Jenny’s scream. He tells Gwen to wait alone while he investigates. No, uhuh, not gonna happen.
A wolf is shown attacking Jenny, and Larry runs in, striking the animal with his silver-tipped cane. The “wolf” that Larry fights is the actor’s own German Shepherd. Larry kills the wolf but is bitten in the process. He staggers away and is found by Gwen.
Just a little comment here. Maleva and Bela knew he was a werewolf. Wouldn’t it have been a good idea to delay their arrival by one day?
Maleva arrives with her two-wheeled cart. Gwen tells that Larry was bitten by a wolf. Maleva helps Larry get home. Sir Talbot and Constable Montford are drinking at the estate when the wounded Larry is brought inside. Maleva ducks out. Larry remembers Jenny, and at the same time, a man arrives to tell Constable Montford that Jenny has been murdered.
The Constable, Dr. Lloyd (Warren William), and some other villagers find Jenny in the woods, and Dr. Lloyd determines that she was bitten in the jugular by a large animal. They soon find Bela in human form. The doctor determines that Bela was beaten to death with a heavy object. He notes that Bela isn’t wearing shoes. At last, they find Larry’s silver-tipped werewolf cane. Wolf tracks are found near the bodies.
Larry wakes in bed and is soon disturbed by the arrival of Sir Talbot, Constable Montford, and Dr. Lloyd. They have Larry’s cane and want to know if it is his. Larry identifies the cane as the one he killed the wolf with. Sir Talbot tells that the cane was found by Bela’s dead body. Larry replies that he fought a wolf, not a man. He opens his robe to show the wound, but he is completely healed. They decide they will interview Larry later. Rich privilege!
Sir Talbot thinks Larry killed Bela by accident. Dr. Lloyd thinks Larry might be mentally shocked by the event.
Bela’s cast is shown being transported through town. Larry watches as locals begin to speculate about Larry killing him. The casket is taken into a church nave adjacent to the cemetery. Larry opens the coffin but shuts it quickly when he hears voices.
Maleva tells the priest that no prayers should be performed at Bela’s burial. The priest is very concerned that what the gypsys want is a pagan ceremony. Maleva goes to the casket for viewing and talks cryptically about Bela’s cursed life. Larry stays hidden until Maleva leaves.
Gwen discusses the night’s events with her father. She is very upset. Jenny’s mother and some church come in and rage at Gwen’s father because Gwen left Jenny alone. Larry busts in, and the ladies retreat. Larry apologized and said nothing wrong was done by the pair. Larry and Gwen talk, and he gives his version of the night and the possible killing of Bela.
Gwen’s fiancé, Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles), arrives, but he is not very happy. Frank’s dog barks at Larry. Frank is Sir Talbot’s gamekeeper. Larry leaves. Frank alludes to tragedy being associated with the Talbot family line.
On another night, Gwen and Frank visit the gypsy camp. It is booming with throngs of gypsys and villagers. There is dancing and music, and the tone is different from Gwen and Larry’s visit. Larry is also in attendance, with his silver cane in hand. Larry leaves when he sees the pair. However, Frank asks Larry to join the couple.
The trio goes to a shooting gallery, and everything is fine until a wolf target pops up. Frank says shoot before he bites you. Larry, now visibly shaken, misses the shot. Frank easily shoots the wolf target. Is this foreshadowing?
Larry heads away alone. But encounters Maleva near a wagon. She takes Larry into her tent and tells him he killed a wolf, and that wolf was her son Bela in werewolf form. She explained that werewolves can be killed with silver, which is why the cane worked. She gives him a pentagram chain that she says can break the curse.
Larry doesn’t want to believe and heads out. Maleva calmly states that whoever is bitten by a werewolf and lives will become a werewolf. She warns Larry to wear the charm over his heart. She tells him to go and says that may heaven help him. Constable Montford has been watching the goings on from a distance. Maleva tells another gypsys about Larry. As the word spreads through the camp, they all start packing to leave.
Frank gets angry and leaves, so Gwen is alone. Gwen and Larry meet, and she asks about the charm Larry is wearing. She is surprised to see the pentagram on the charm and is shocked when Larry tells Maleva that he is a werewolf. He gives Gwen the charm for her protection. He gives her a kiss, but they are disturbed by the gypsys packing. Larry asks a man why they are leaving, and the man says a werewolf is in camp. Gwen runs away, and Larry has a dream sequence of the recent event. Larry runs home to his room and checks for hair growth. His feet and legs are the first parts to turn hairy as he begins the transformation. This is a very good trivia question. It then cuts to Larry fully transformed into a werewolf. He howls and then kills a nighttime grave digger. The people in the village are awakened by the howling.
Constable Montford and Dr. Lloyd meet in the cemetery. The grave digger was killed in the same manner as Jenny. They also find wolf tracks in the dirt. In the morning, muddy wolf tracks are leading into Larry’s room. Larry has a pentagram mark where he was bitten. He tries to wipe away the track but sees Constable Montford following the tracks toward his room.
Larry tries to play cool with his father about the tracks. Larry asks about the werewolf lore. Sir Talbot explains that the myth exists in almost every country and that it is a type of schizophrenia where the evil in a man’s soul takes on the form of an animal. Sir Talbot believes that these actions take place in the mind and there is no physical form of an animal.
They decide to go to church. However, the church steps seem much too large for a small town. This was actually shot on a Universal set created for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), in which Lon Chaney Sr. played Quasimodo. The villagers are really spreading the tea. Larry and Sir Talbot have an awkward encounter with Gwen and her father on the steps of the church. The entire congregation looks at Larry as he stands in the back before ducking out.
Sir Talbot, Constable Montford, Frank, and Dr. Lloyd are at Castle Talbot discussing the killings when Larry arrives. Larry says that it is not a wolf but a true werewolf. Constable Montford mocks Larry by calling for a werewolf hunt. Dr. Lloyd thinks the killings are a result of mental problems. When the others leave, Dr. Lloyd tells Sir Talbot that Larry should be confined to a mental hospital for rest.
Frank and Constable Montford have men set out steel traps around the area. At night, the werewolf howl is heard again. Werewolf feet are shown walking through the woods. The werewolf steps into one of the traps and is caught. Men and dogs are coming through the woods in the monster’s direction. The dogs lose the trail. Maleva arrives in her two-wheeled cart. She says words over the werewolf, and he reverts back to Larry. Larry flees but is stopped by a couple of searchers. He bluffs his way out, but Constable Montford is on the trail.
Larry goes to Gwen’s store and wakes her by throwing rocks against the window. She lets Larry inside the store. He says he is going away and can’t take her along. Gwen is in love with Larry, but he sees the pentagram mark on her palm.
Larry goes home and tells Sir Talbot that he is a werewolf. They hear the dogs and men hunting in the woods. Larry begins to realize that the only way out is to die. Sir Talbot ties Larry to a chair so he can’t go out to the hunters. Sir Talbot has to leave Larry to meet with the hunters. Larry has him take the silver cane.
Constable Montford, Frank, and Dr. Lloyd are waiting in the woods with rifles. Sir Talbot leaves the other men but soon runs into Maleva, who tells Sir Talbot he is protected by the cane. They hear shooting, and Sir Talbot runs back to the hunting stand. Larry is moving around as a full werewolf. Gwen talks to Maleva but refuses to go with the gypsy and runs into the woods.
Larry attacks Gwen. Her screams are heard by the hunters. Sir Talbot arrives and fights the werewolf with the silver cane. Eventually, Sir Talbot kills the werewolf, and it slowly transforms into Larry. Maleva says a chant over Larry and says he will have peace. Sir Talbot can’t believe what he is seeing. The hunters arrive and are shocked to see Larry dead. Constable Montford says the wolf must have attacked Gwen, and Larry saved her.
Conclusion – The Wolf Man (1941)
The Werewolf of London (1935) is the first movie made about werewolfs. There is a link in the description. In this film, a man is bitten by a Tibetan werewolf and thus becomes a werewolf. The effects can be held off by a night-glowing flower found only in Tibet. However, most werewolf lore came from today’s movie, The Wolf Man (1941)
Both films have been bitten by a werewolf and living as the way to become a werewolf. But they diverge greatly after this point. In Werewolf of London (1935), a werewolf is killed by a regular bullet. The Wolf Man (1941) introduces silver as the killing agent for werewolves, although there may be some historical presidents. The pentagram in the palm of the next victim was from today’s movie. Also, in this movie, the moon causes the werewolf to transform.
However, what makes this movie great is that Larry was sympathetically portrayed. He was not a heartless killer but a man who found himself in a bad fix. This represents humans’ struggle with their internal good and evil.
More importantly, this film calls out the damn nazzies, as in how they could take a man that was basically good and turn him into an evil killer. I am referring to the foot soldiers here and not the leaders. The pentagram is very similar to the Star of David that Jewish people in nazzie-occupied areas were required to wear, pointing them out to be killed. Spooky right?
Jack Pierce was the makeup artist for this film and made the werewolf transformation one of the scariest things I ever saw as a youth. Pierce worked on Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), White Zombie (1932), and The Mummy (1932). So, I will credit this great makeup artist and the main contributor to any fever dreams I ever had.
In The Wolf Man (1941), Pierce created new makeup techniques and prosthetics to create the werewolf. The director used repeated close-ups during the transformation, including 17 continuous face shots. Pierce was nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar.
Silent film actor Gibson Gowland appeared in The Wolf Man (1941) as a villager and was present at the death of the Wolf Man (Junior). He had also been in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and saw the death scene of the Phantom (Senior). He was the only actor to appear in death scenes performed by both Lon Chaney and Lon Chaney, Jr. The film was primarily shot on the Universal Studios lot in Southern California.[6]
During this final scene, Gwen faints and lies in the smoke. When they finished the scene, the actress Anker was found passed out in the fog.
World-Famous Short Summary – A rich boy returns to the country and falls for a girl. Things end badly for the boy.
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Beware the moors.
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[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034398/
[2] The Wolf Man | Rotten Tomatoes
[3] The Wolf Man (1941 film) – Wikipedia
[4] https://www.houseofnames.com/conliffe-family-crest
[6] 33 Facts about the movie The Wolf Man – Facts.net
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