Review of “The Wolf Man” (1941)

    “Even a man who is pure in heart
    and says his prayers by night,
    May become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms,
    and the autumn moon is bright.”

    So goes the poem about the wolf man legend that is featured prominently in this film.
    In 1941, Universal started shooting “The Wolf Man”  Unlike “Dracula”, Frankenstein”, and “The Invisible Man”, “The Wolf Man” was not a screen adaptation of a novel.  It was rather based on werewolf legends, with some “new legends” thought up by screenwriter Curt Siodmak - including the poem at the beginning of this post.  Lon Chaney Jr. (birth name Creighton Chaney), son of famous silent horror actor Lon Chaney, got the part of Larry Talbot.  Makeup artist Jack Pierce did the wolf man makeup.
    Instead of just names, the credits at the beginning of “The Wolf Man” show pictures of main characters along with the actor or actress’s names and the roles they played.  Following this are the credits for screenplay, directors and so on.  The film opens with a shot of a row of encyclopedias.  One is taken and opened, and we see an entry on “LYCANTHROPY”.  In the nest scene, Larry Talbot is being chauffeured to Talbot Castle.  Upon arrival he is greeted by Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains).  Larry is Sir John’s son, returned from America after the death of his older brother.
    Later, up in the observatory, Larry works on a telescope.  He looks through the telescope at the town, and focuses in on an open window through which a pretty girl can be seen.  The girl puts on an earring.  Seeing that the window is above an antique shop, Larry goes into town and visits the shop.  The girl, Gwen Conliffe (played by Evelyn Ankers), is behind the counter. Larry says that he is looking for a gift.  He describes to her the earring she was wearing (which she no longer has on), and after she replies that they haven’t any like that, he responds “Oh yes you have, don’t you remember?  On your dressing table, up in your room.”  Mystified, Gwen tells him they aren’t for sale.  Larry goes on to look at canes.  He takes one out with a handle in the shape of a wolf, and a five pointed star on it.  Gwen explains that the pentagram is the sign of the werewolf, and that every werewolf sees it in the palm of his next victim’s hand.  Larry buys the cane.  Gwen, still curious about the earring incident, asks him if he has ever seen her before.  He replies “Of course”, but before telling her where and how, wants her to agree to take a walk with him that night.  She says no, and walks with him to the door.  They see gypsies driving past outside.
    Later, Larry and Sir John briefly discuss the werewolf legend.  In the next scene, we see the door to the antique shop, at night, from which Gwen emerges.  Larry, waiting in a nearby doorway, walks up to her.  She is wearing the earrings he liked, and he has the cane.  Gwen calls to a friend, Jenny, who wants to come with them to the gypsy camp and have her fortune told.  Jenny and Gwen laugh at Larry’s chagrin, and the three set off together.  On the way, they see wolf bane, and Jenny picks some.  Jenny goes in to have her fortune told first.  Larry and Gwen take a walk in the fog shrouded woods.  Larry explains about the telescope.  Gwen tells him that she is engaged.  Larry, however, does not seem terribly discouraged by the announcement.  In the gypsy tent, Bela (played by Bela Lugosi) tosses Jenny’s wolf bane off the table.  When he looks at her palm, he sees a pentagram.  He is visibly upset and tells her to go.  She leaves, and goes running through the woods.  Larry and Gwen hear a wolf howling and then a scream.  Larry runs off to see what is happening and finds Jenny being mauled by a wolf.  Larry struggles with the wolf - which bites him on the chest - and finally kills it with the cane.  Gwen finds Larry on the ground.  A gypsy woman (played by Maria Ouspenskaya) comes along with her cart.  She and Gwen take Larry to Talbot Castle.
    Men go to look at Jenny’s body, and they find the body of Bela the gypsy nearby, and Larry’s cane.  The next day, the constable and a doctor go to see Larry.  He admits to owning the stick and asserts that he killed the wolf with it.  Sir John informs Larry that Bela was killed and his stick was found by the body.  Larry goes to show the wound he received, but it is gone.  Sir John tells Larry that Paul (the constable) wants to ask him some questions.
    “Yeah, go ahead.  But don’t try to make me believe that I killed a man when I know that I killed a wolf!” exclaims Larry.
    Will they believe him?  Will he too become a werewolf?
    Well, I doubt there will be many of my readers who don’t already know the answer to that last question. :) 
    Larry Talbot - who may, from what I’ve written, sound like a creepy, voyeuristic stalker - was played with a gentleness and sweetness by Lon Chaney Jr.  Lon Jr. had something of a childlike quality about him - which served him especially well in his portrayal of Lennie in the film adaptation of “Of Mice and Men”.  In addition to Lon Jr. in “The Wolf Man”, we get performances from Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains, as well as Maria Ouspenskaya and Evelyn Ankers.  Quite the horror roster.
    I have a soft spot for “The Wolf Man”, probably in part because it was, as I recall, my first classic horror film (other than horror comedies, that is).  But I also appreciate it allegorically - it reminds me of the duality within us, of the battle between the flesh and the spirit in the Christian.
    To choose a “most sympathetic monster” from Universal’s roster would be a difficult and probably quite subjective task.  But for me, it might be the wolf man.  After all, who else became a monster apparently as a result of trying to save someone’s life?