Werewolf of London

You are foolish...but without fools there'd be no wisdom.


It's easy to compare Universal werewolf movies because Jack Pierce worked on the make-up, but the comparisons are few, to tell you the truth. I'm not even sure really why else there would be a debate. The storylines and characters are certainly different. Henry Hull's world famous botanist, a very austere workaholic who is dedicated to his profession, not particularly sociable (the botanist society celebration for his find of the moon flower has his Dr. Glendon really antsy and unexcited about having to attend such a function, attempting unsuccessfully to avoid busy-talkers, and busybodies, like Miss Ettie Coombes (Spring Byington)), is in a marriage to a younger woman who is right the opposite in personality and thrill for life.

This werewolf movie is like a ton of the Universal Studios horrors in that it has the budding romance with Glendon missus, Lisa (Valerie Hobson; Frankenstein's wife in Bride of Frankstein) and her former beau, famous pilot, Paul (Lester Matthews) and comedy relief (Ettie is the unflappable mainstay in the social circle Lisa and Paul inhabit, often saying things better left concealed, so drunk at her own party that she is put to bed by her friends as not to further embarrass herself; there's also two barmaids who competitively rent out cheap rooms located near the local pub, both on the verge of coronaries thanks to Glendon in werewolf form).

 There are some things it is better not to bother with.


I am first to admit that when I watched Werewolf of London initially, I couldn't really respond to Glendon because I found him so cold and colorless. But you know, when watching all that he goes through, it is easy to sympathize. He's an introverted, private man who truly loved his wife. He isn't the kind to successfully articulate his feelings and Lisa needs companionship and warmth and appreciation. She's a young woman desiring attention, an active personality, an adventurer, someone like Paul. We learn they were once an item with wedding plans, but the love affair ended sourly, although we can see that the flame hasn't died out. Glendon can also see it, and he doesn't hide his jealousy well. Tensions rise, and Glendon finds himself a werewolf losing his woman, killing innocent people he encounters as the hairy beast on London's Goose Lane, and suffering the loss of the flower that serves as antidote thanks to a desperate man named Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland), the very one that bit the botanist in Tibet where he found the mariphasa lumina lupina.

 
He seems to have a secret sorrow.

While I didn't care for the furry hands Hull was costumed, I did find some of the make-up rather effective, especially the fangs. Not sure what to think about the suit and hat Hull in werewolf form was wearing in certain scenes, certainly unusual, quite a memorable image at any rate. Hobson's feisty wife just seems rather odd with Hull, very off-kilter couple. I can see why the film goes out of its way to splinter the married couple and allow Paul to move in and get the girl. The "werewolfery" is just a means to an end. Warner Oland is a rather odd duck whose appearance, rather secretive and careful, not exactly integrating himself within the social circle, but so needing the flower that he will gather amongst the folks, not talkative and obviously uncomfortable...kind of like Glendon. Oland has that great moment where he tries to tell Scotland Yard head, Sir Thomas Forsythe (Lawrence Grant), that the werewolf is real and responsible for the murders plaguing London, also given the most quotable of the dialogue.

What is that?
A lost soul, perhaps...

The mariphasa lumina lupina, the moon flower that can actually cull the werewolf curse, fascinating idea, I thought. It certainly sets this film apart from other werewolf movies. We see the flower put to use as the tip embedded in the arm of those afflicted can cause the beast to return to its cave, metaphorically speaking. Speaking of the clothes, this kind of reminded of Return of the Vampire, with Lugosi's forced servant, actually causing him to turn into a vampire, also a werewolf, except he's in a suit!

But, remember this, Dr. Glendon, the werewolf instinctively seeks to kill the thing it loves best.

This is another addition that is a little different to other werewolf films, in that the lycanthrope, for some reason, is urged by the beast within to pursue and kill the person he most cares for. Of course, the werewolf kills about anyone who enters his sights...a book on lycanthropy does read that in order to not permanently become a werewolf, you must at least kill one person during the full moon.