THE WOLF MAN – 1941

@triggerwarningillustration (link: https://goo.su/HNvjN)

THE WOLF MAN (1941)

by Eric Lindbom

Rave warning:  I’m rabid about 1941’s THE WOLF MAN — he leers up at me from my coffee-stained mouse pad as I write this, and a plastic action figure graced my wedding cake. I saw it at age 10, sneaking to my best friend’s house since Mom didn’t let me watch monster movies until I got older. Though its producer/director, George Waggner, isn’t an auteur figure like Universal’s James Whale, Tod Browning, or Karl Freund no matter. THE WOLF MAN has shown ‘thorny’ legs over time. It first wowed audiences a week after Pearl Harbor and regularly graced local TV in the pre-VHS era.

Easily the high point of Universal’s ‘40s horror cycle, it’s my numero uno werewolf flick. Sure, Joe Dante’s THE HOWLING and John Landis’ AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON are kinetic, witty blasts with eye-popping transformation scenes. Yet THE WOLF MAN transcends them due to many legendary elements:

LON CHANEY JR: The son of Lon Senior, the silent era’s PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Chaney dropped the junior as Universal’s ‘40s monster lead. Bruising not Gothic, he did heavy lifting as a serviceable Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the SON OF DRACULA. He rightly named The Wolf Man “his baby.” This trademark role tapped his two actorly strengths: brute force – on display in numerous Westerns — and a gift at earning audience sympathy first honed as Lenny in OF MICE OF MEN. His Larry Talbot turned beast after a werewolf attack (from Chaney’s German Shepherd!). After he learned his fate, Chaney’s desperation and guilt as Talbot was matched by a feral ferocity while in full moon attack mode.

He reprised the role four times, memorably in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN and HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (where he killed his love interest!). To gorehounds’ dismay, a scientist temporarily cured him in HOUSE OF DRACULA. Chaney resented his final go-around in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN; after he recited his customary speech about the full moon turning him into a wolf, Lou Costello quipped, “Yeah, you and twenty million other guys.”

CURT SIODMAK: “Even a man who’s pure in heart/and says his prayers by night/may become a wolf/when the wolf bane blooms/and the autumn moon bright.” This tantalizing folk poetry was penned by Curt Siodmak, who invented some now-accepted lore – the silver bullet (and, in this case, a silver cane) as werewolf Kryptonite. The Dresden-born Jewish novelist and screenwriter fled Nazi Germany, and his experiences of anti-Semitism fueled his trenchant script. The pentagram seen in the hands of the werewolf’s impending victim was inspired by the Star of David symbols Nazis forced Jews to wear as scarlet letter identifiers.

Siodmak, brother of master noir director Robert, wrote a popular sci-fi novel, DONOVAN’S BRAIN. He also churned out several efficient Universal horrors when the studio pivoted from its elegant, mysterious ‘30s fare towards slicker, fast action. Short on classics, the ‘40s films are still loads of fun due to atmosphere, craft (those B-films look anything but) and beloved icons like Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, and Lionel Atwill going through their paces. Thanks to Siodmak’s words, THE WOLF MAN has tragic power and a depth of character development that none of these matinee movies can touch.

THE SUPPORTING CAST: Evelyn Ankers, who even we kids wary of girl germs couldn’t resist, clicked with Lon on-screen — but they couldn’t stand each other off. Claude Rains, who never jobbed it, brought gravitas as Larry’s father, who believed his son’s lycanthropy was in his mind. Hungarian stage actress Maria Ouspenskaya’s gypsy woman Maleva, who warned Larry of his curse, had a haunting, wizened presence. Lugosi shined as the anguished werewolf who put the bite on Talbot and dashing Patric Knowles joined Ralph Bellamy, and Warren William in a gold-plated cast.

THE MAKE UP:  Maestro Jack Pierce, who devised the look of Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster and Mummy, outdid his striking, minimal WEREWOLF OF LONDON here.  He used a curling iron to glue yak hair all over Chaney’s face, arms, and legs. Pierce’s hirsute Wolf Man set the stage for the fuzzy descendants in THE WEREWOLF, WEREWOLF IN A GIRL’S DORMITORY, and I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF.

THE MUSIC:  Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner composed a rousing score that propelled Chaney’s attacks while also created yearning sounds during scenes in the gypsy camp.

THE SETS: Designers of Wolf Man models decades later couldn’t resist showing Chaney lurking behind clumps of trees. The fog-shrouded sets amplified the mood but came at a coughing cost. In MONSTERS: A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSICS FROM UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, fanboy John Landis recalled cornering his TRADING PLACES co-star Bellamy, who played a constable in THE WOLF MAN, for any backstage trivia. “All Ralph really recalled about that show was how awful it was to work in the smoke effects that was used back then for fog.”  Landis also rendered the final verdict. “After countless werewolf movies made since, Larry Talbot remains the classic Wolf Man.”