The Wolf Man

...reviewed October 1st

I
 think why The Wolf Man leaves such an impact on me is that poor everyman Larry Talbot represents the very symbol of a tortured soul and mind. The wolf manifests itself out of Larry and he can do nothing to stop it. His father (played by the great Claude Rains) believes the mind can cause a good man to fall prey to the evils of mental disease if such a vulnerable state allows it to overcome him. A father, in the best interest of his son (and obviously his own welfare) will have to use the silver wolfs-head cane in order to end his torment. There was a moment that always stays with me…the Talbot family groundskeeper, and fiancé of Larry’s love interest (played by Universal Studios character actress, Evelyn Ankers), mentions to her (Ankers) that there is “something tragic about that man”. It’s a feeling that is foreshadowing and true. Impeccable casting in The Wolf Man I always felt gave it a major advantage over several of the later films featuring Talbot’s battles with lychanthropy.

 

 

Rains and his sturdy resolve, always trying to console, advise, and motivate his son to shoo away the “nonsense” regarding werewolvery and the pentagram, deservedly headlines the cast. Ralph Bellamy as the village constable, opinionated, with a mocking tone regarding mental patients and their being plagued by possible lychanthropy,  making off-hand comments on a werewolf making a nice animal for mounting on one's fireplace, Ankers and her on-the-fence attraction and fondness for Larry while engaged to another man, Ouspenskaya as the wise, all-knowing gypsy who lost a son and understands that Larry has a dilemma certain to condemn him, a curse endangering himself and others thanks to what the werewolf bite has caused, and a brief but pivotal supporting part by Bela Lugosi as Bela, the gypsy fortuneteller accursed with the beast within. Always, besides Lon Chaney, Jr. as the burdened Larry Talbot, the star attraction to me is that foggy forest that parts between the Talbot estate and the nearby village…it is like the Moors in the Hound of the Baskervilles; not a place you want to be in the darkness of night. I have always enjoyed the way Universal Studios featured the wealthy and commoners in their fictitious village settings. Some sort of European village, I assume, but not completely real, more like something you’d visualize from the Brothers Grimm, with equal doses innocence and menace (although monsters and madmen have their place in these fairy tale places, often intruding upon the civilized, ordinary folk who sometimes simply can’t avoid the doom in their midst). I had read somewhere that it was reputed that Ankers and Chaney didn’t get along well at all, and this just astounds me because films they shared like The Wolf Man proved anything but…they really have a chemistry on screen; maybe that unrest between them was a sexual tension that provided fireworks on screen? All that said, they have some really nice moments in character and she is, besides Rains, his rock to lean on. And they flirt affectionately. Anyway, the werewolf get-up, and the way Chaney brings out the roar and growl, never get old to me, and the way he skulks about behind the bushes and within the fog, I understand all too well why The Wolf Man will remain a treasure to this gothic horror fan. It’s funny, but I do believe this is the first year of my “imdb horror board” October Challenge era that The Wolf Man made the watch list. Funnily enough, even, Werewolf of London has made the list for the last five or so, typically in the second or third day of the month, normally after Dracula’s Daughter. I had planned on watching this at Midnight, but in retrospect, I am glad to have saved it for the first night of the month instead. I anticipated it today, and looked forward to it. I have to rectify leaving it off the watch list in the future. This is just made for October.