The Wolf Man
Rating: 5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
Werewolves are one of the most common recognizable characters in horror films or during the halloween season. While "Werewolf of London" brought the hairy creature onto the big screen for the first time, it was really George Waggner's 1941 film, The Wolf Man, that made this creature so iconic. With Lon Chaney Jr. donning the iconic costume of the werewolf to Claude Rains playing his father to Bela Lugosi playing the gypsy that makes the events of this film possible, this film was destined to be a major hit. Thankfully, and rightfully so, it is one of the most important Universal Monsters films, providing a basis for not only the next generation of monsters after the iconic portrayals from Lugosi and Boris Karloff, but inspiring a lasting legacy of werewolf films that will undoubtedly continue until the end of time.
Chaney plays the role of Larry Talbot, an aristocrat who returns home to reunite with his estranged father John (Claude Rains) to bury his brother after his recent death. Sir John is hoping Larry will stay and start to take over the family business, which starts to become appealing to Larry when he meets a local girl named Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers). Larry falls in love with her quickly, despite her being engaged to another man in town. However, that doesn't stop her from meeting with Larry late at night for a little rendezvous.
What they decide to do that night is go into the woods and have their fortune read by a traveling gypsy (Lugosi). While there, Larry sees Gwen's friend Jenny (Fay Helm) get attacked by a wolf-like creature, prompting him to fight it off, being bit in the chest during the struggle. While Larry doesn't think much of the wound as it seemingly heals perfectly overnight, strange things start happening to him, and more people keep dying around town with his involvement, even though he doesn't remember it happening.
Chaney, who's dad played classic Universal Monsters like the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, perfectly fits himself in the Universal Monsters franchise, playing this iconic werewolf character that is still relevant to this day. He continues on his father's legacy of playing these somewhat terrifying characters, and donning these beautifully haunting costumes to play them on screen. While he does such a fantastic job playing this Wolf Man character, and conveying the sheer horror of what is going on to him, he is also so wonderfully charming and charismatic that he sweeps the audience off of their feet.
At the same time, you have two huge heavyweights in the Universal Monsters franchise come in to play supporting characters complimenting Chaney's performance. Rains, who we know as the psychotic Invisible Man plays a more calm and mild-mannered gentleman here, one that is in the role of a more emotionally sympathetic and mature character compared to the role he played in 1933. We also have Lugosi playing the gypsy Bela, which is a major departure from the suave and scarily seductive character of Dracula that he played to kick off this iconic franchise. He plays a character similar to this in Son of Frankenstein, showcasing the range the talented character actor truly has. These two performances, even though they are brief throughout the movie, do a great job of complimenting Chaney's role, and are seemingly ushering Chaney into this franchise.
What I really enjoy about this movie is the sympathetic character of Larry. The Universal Monsters, in their own regard, are very sympathetic characters. In a way. they are not the bad guys of this movie (well, besides Dracula perhaps), but rather are placed in unfortunate circumstances where they are viewed as monsters. We have Frankenstein's Monster, who was an abomination put together that didn't even ask to be. We have the Mummy, who is simply looking for the love of his life after she was unjustly taken away from him. Here, we have Larry, who just wanted to live his life, marry a beautiful girl, and take over his father's empire. But, he was unfairly given this disastrous curse that he never asked for, nor did he warrant having. The filmmakers really take their time exploring the character of Larry and showing who he is as a person, and why this effect on him is so much more depressing that we would have imagined if they immediately jumped into scenes of him as the werewolf.
The werewolf sequences here work really well, and the transformation scene is absolutely fantastic. From the effects to the way Chaney seems absolutely terrified about what is going on with him, it all works incredibly well. Then, when we finally start to see the Wolf Man come out and play in this movie, they do so in such a way that doesn't show too much, but also doesn't show too little. They perfectly capture the essence and brutality of the horror effects here while also leaving the audience with their imagination to play out the gruesome sequences in their heads for themselves.
The Wolf Man paved the way for new and exciting werewolf movies and stories to be told in different forms of mediums, and this movie still truly holds up in this day and age. From the amazing effects to the fantastic performances from the entire cast, and the complex story to the emotion the movie garners from the audience, this picture works on every single level. Not only does the Wolf Man prove to be a worthy inclusion in this long-running franchise, but cement Lon Chaney Jr. as an icon of not only this horror series, but in the horror genre as a whole.
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