The Wolf Man (1941)

"Whoever is bitten by a werewolf and lives becomes a werewolf himself."
"Ah, don't hand me that. You're just wasting your time."
"The wolf bit you, didn't he?"
"Yeah. Yeah he did!"

After eighteen years away, Larry Talbot (Chaney Jr.) returns to the family estate, to assist his father, Sir John (Rains).  He immediately falls for Gwen (Ankers), who runs the antique store, where he buys a cane with the image of a wolf.  Everyone in town is obsessed with the legend of the werewolf,

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.
 

On his first night, he accompanies Gwen and Jenny (Fay Helm) to have their fortunes read by gypsies.  But the gypsy, Bela (Bela Lugosi) turns into a werewolf and kills Jenny.  While trying to save Jenny, Larry is bitten by the wolf, which he is finally able to kill.  The next day everyone in town believes Larry killed Bela, who reverted to his human form, and Larry begins to believe the gypsy's (Ouspenskaya) tales.


With a running time of 70 minutes, this film does not mess around.  It introduces the characters, sets up the plot, right to the conflict, climax, and BAM it's over.  Why aren't movies like that any more?  There are many movies out there that could benefit from having a shorter running time.

With that being said, I have absolutely no desire to see the Benico del Toro's 2010 remake.  This film just works... Chaney is an o.k. actor, but he disappears into the character of the werewolf.  It seems like an interesting choice... making monster movies, especially since his father (Lon Chaney) was well-known for his ability to disappear into a monster character with grotesque makeup.  While I have yet to see any of Chaney's films (they are in my Netflix queue), I think Chaney Jr. worked well in this part.  And he must have enjoyed some aspect of being Talbot / Wolf Man because he is the only actor to appear as the Wolf Man in the 1940s films.  He also has the distinction of being the only actor to portray the most reputed movie monsters: the Wolf Man (5 times), Dracula (in Son of Dracula), Frankenstein (in The Ghost of Frankenstein), and the Mummy (in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse).

Monster maker Jack Pierce created the makeup for this film... making this his fourth monster for Universal (following Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy).  Once again Pierce created an interesting character concept, that continues to be the template for subsequent werewolf incarnations.

A decent monster movie, Frankenstein is still better (but perhaps I'm partial).  I am curious to see more Wolf Man movies.

The Wolf Man (1941) 70 minutes
Director: George Waggner
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man
Claude Rains as Sir John Talbot
Evelyn Ankers as Gwen Conliffe
Warren William as Dr. Lloyd
Ralph Bellamy as Colonel Montford
Patric Knowles as Frank Andrews
Maria Ouspenskaya as Maleva