Classic Horror 

 

The Wolf Man (1941)

Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is called back to his ancestral home after the accidental death of his brother.  While attempting to find his way as the heir to the estate, he is attacked by a wolf and finds himself changing into a monster.

Quick Review: My favorite of the Universal creature features of the '30s and '40s and THE werewolf film, the story suffers only from being too brief.  Lon Chaney Jr. plays an everyman, clever but not too clever, impetuous, emotional, and a little noble, who finds himself out of place back on his father's estate.  Sir John Talbot, played by Claude Rains, perhaps the most underrated actor of all time, is a good man, like his son, but is too proud and set in his ways.  This is a setup for tragedy in the best of circumstances.  Add in a too rapid romance and a werewolf, and The Wolf Man becomes an emotional ride.  Scriptwriter Curt Siodmak used the werewolf as a metaphor for Nazi Germany, which he experienced first hand—otherwise good people became monsters and the world no longer made sense.

There are few deaths, but unlike in most modern horror films, each is important and felt.  The rest of the supporting cast is excellent (Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Warren William, Patric Knowles, Maria Ouspenskaya, Evelyn Ankers), and the atmospheric music was used again and again in later films.  Made as a B-film, a tight meaningful script, superb performances, and precise directing put it well into "A" territory.

Lon Chaney (he dumped the ".Jr" in later years) returned three times as Larry Talbot: Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943), and House of Frankenstein (1944), and House of Dracula (1945).

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