THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
If there is something people seem to not notice is that the most different monsters are those who never intended to be.
PLOT
The Wolf Man follows aristocrat Larry Talbot return to his ancestry home in Wales to bury his recently deceased brother. Shortly after reconciling with his father Sir John, he falls for local antique owner Gwen Conliffe. As an excuse to talk to her, he buys a cane decorated with a silver head of a wolf on it that she explains to represent a werewolf, a man that turns into a wolf at full moon. Although she remains persistent in his proposals for a date, she goes out with him one night with the company of her friend Jenny Williams (Fay Helm), so they can all have their fortunes told by the local fortune teller Bela (Bela Lugosi). Bela would tell Jenny’s fortune and ends up seeing a pentagram on her hand, which is bad news since it is an omen implying she’s a future werewolf victim. Just as Gwen reveals to Larry she’s engaged with another man, a wolf nearby attacks Jenny just as Bela feared. Larry intervenes by killing the beast with his cane, but gets bit in the process. When the police investigate the scene, they find Jenny’s throat torn apart and Bela battered to death with Larry’s cane left behind. Talbot is questioned about what happened and although he remembers defending himself from an animal, the suspicion is only enhanced due to his wound healing overnight. The neighborhood even suspects foul play due to the fact he and Gwen were not with Jenny when the attack happened, but Jenny’s fiance Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles) is sure of their innocence. Nearby a carnival, Larry meets Bela’s mother Maleva who reveals Bela was the wolf he killed and due to his bite, he will be the next werewolf. He is then given a charm to prevent the transformation, but gives it to Gwen for her own protection when feeling uncertain if it’ll work. By the time he returns to his estate, he begins transforming and ends up killing a gravedigger. As he’s completely become a wolf, his howl alerts the town at night. He turns back to human by sunrise and has no recollection of his actions, which now has the town be sure there is an animal on the loose and organize a hunting party. Larry turns again by the next night and does get caught in a planted trap, but is thankfully saved by Maleva who briefly uses a spell to free him. With this aid, he’s able to avoid suspicion by local hunters. Within the same night, he tells Gwen his intent to leave town to protect everyone. Seeing a pentagram on her hand, he leaves her behind and tells his dad about it. However, John doesn’t believe him and chooses to tie him to a chair to prove his point. Once alone, Larry turns again by another night and breaks free. He goes out to accuse Maleva of taking advantage of his son, but dismisses the accusation just when hearing gunshots nearby, in which he follows. Midway, the gypsy finds Gwen who’s still looking for Larry who ends up chasing her in wolf form. Upon pouncing, John bludgeons his son with his silver cane and the film ends with him realizing what he did until his body transforms back to human self, leaving everyone in shock. THOUGHTS
With past Universal Monsters being adapted from previous novels, it was refreshing for the studio tackle an original story that would fit into the mold at the time and boy was it a treat. Writer Curt Siodmak & director George Waggner were able to make a whole new monster out of werewolves and the makeup by Jack Pierce to give it all the life needed to surprise us ages well to this day. Like vampires, the first impression on a werewolf is calling it the stuff that nightmares are made of, yet the newfound lore and rules at the time on how this beast functions remains intriguing ever since that you can't stop thinking about it. I mean when you hear the name of such a creature, it's hard to not catch an interest. To me, this movie remains so compelling decades later because it expresses the constant battle with inner evil, how uncontrollable it can be when trying to keep it at bay and it will eventually emerge when you least expect it. This is the dilemma Larry Talbot goes through and thanks to a raw performance by Lon Chaney Jr., he has us hooked in seeing him go from a confident guy to a rightfully paranoid one afraid of the beast inside. The whole time, he's good to everyone and doesn't have any animosity in him but his curse destroys him slowly until being put out of misery. Although not everyone listened to his fears, it was a good thing he was surrounded by people who cared. In a certain case, you can call Sir John quite dense because Claude Rains shows him as a guy who doesn't seem to broaden any possibility that comes his way, but he still acted as a loving son when he wanted to prove his point in thinking he's just unwell. Him unknowingly killing his son with his own cane was quite ironic, yet saddening to know it all could've been avoided had he been truly heard. You can definitely give a shoutout to Maria Ouspenskaya making Maleva a reliable acquaintance who wanted to do right by Larry when she couldn't for her son, but the one woman Larry will admire most is Gwen. He was mad for her due to the beauty as well as the way she presents herself to firm with how she feels, thanks to a strong performance by Evelyn Ankers. She came around with him despite never making it official because she respected how determined to get what his heart desired. Had she not been engaged, they totally would've hit it off much better. Larry's death will forever be sad because of how his curse was bound to create his downfall no matter how hard anyone tried to avoid it. With him ending the trail though since he didn't bite anyone to pass it on, it is a relief to say the future trauma is over for the town which makes it not in vain. In short, The Wolf Man is a riveting horror flick for being an essential shake up to the genre itself at its time. If you are fascinated with the diea of werewolves, here's the root of it all.
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