Movie 129: The Wolf Man (1941)

Starring: Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Ballamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya.

Director: George Waggner.

I've never seen The Wolf Man which is kinda absurd considering how much I absolutely love Werewolves.  But we're going to remedy that problem right the hell now.  I'm looking forward to it.  I have a good feeling about it.

There's a lot of Lovecraftian influence in these Universal films: educated, aristocratic men are always at the center of the story.  There's such decadence to everything, big sprawling manor set pieces, roaring fires...there's some really nice crane moves within the space.  Apparently, Chaney is massive. He towers over the other actor in these scenes.  And his character, Larry Talbot, is an amateur astronomer.  Ha ha.  

Talbot is apparently a creep.  He sees a young Woman across the street in his telescope so he comes to hit on her...by demanding to buy the earrings he saw her putting on.  This is apparently charming. She gives a bunch of Werewolf exposition, smartly turns the moron down (three times), but he insists on seeing her anyway...the 1940s were a different time, apparently.  I will say there is some genuine charm when he does show up, mostly from Gwen and her friend, Jenny, who seem to be kind of mocking Larry.  It was an awkward set up, but Larry has managed to turn on some borish American charm.  Mostly, it seems that because Gwen likes him, even though she's engaged to another dude someplace.

Bela Lugosi is very different here than in Dracula.  It's a fun, hammy performance worthy of the legendary actor.  Jenny runs through the foggy Universal lot-it looks pretty great-and gets attacked by a dog.  Well, okay, it's obviously supposed to be a Wolf but, y'know.  Larry leaps into action trying to save her and gets himself bit.  Gwen comes to his aid, as does an old Gypsy Woman.

To Larry's credit, his first concern is suggesting someone go get Jenny.  Poor, expendable Jenny.  The local Police find Larry's cane at the scene of her murder, and then we cut to the next morning where a menacing tone is superimposed over pretty string instruments.  Pretty smart.  Larry is suspected of murdering Bela, who was the Werewolf.  Larry is pretty sure he killed a Wolf with the cane...Chaney Jr is giving a pretty fun performance, really.  He's kind of a doofus, which makes him kind of everyman-ish.  Too bad he's about to become a Werewolf and get pretty unhappy.

Aww, poor Gwen.  The local Women come into the antique store looking to blame Gwen.  Larry comes to the rescue, though, towering above everyone and bellowing with his American baritone.  It does the trick.  He is an imposing fellow, Chaney Jr.  Oh, we're finally meeting Gwen's fiance.  He seems like an even bigger dolt than Larry.  Gwen is pretty snippy with the guy, though.  I really like Gwen.  She's a smart, charming lady.

I keep riffing smart ass responses to Gwen's fiance, from both her and Larry.
"He's the gatekeeper for your Father's estate." Gwen says.
The guy walks over.
 "You're fired." I quip for Larry.

Larry shows some more charm as he gets really upset at the idea that he may have killed Bela.  Sure, some of it is that he is really irritated that everyone is telling him he's nuts, but half of Chaney's performance in the scenes is also half belief that maybe he really did kill a Werewolf...and now he is one, too.  He seems to be becoming more and more of a sympathetic protagonist, and an inevitably tragic one at that.  These performances are actually pretty nuanced.  Evelyn Ankers is excellent with her conflicting affections and belief systems.  Chaney is also giving a very layered performance, as I already said earlier.  Very stylish "vision of the future" montage, too.  Poor big, dumb oaf.

The transformation scene is actually pretty intense.  Poor Larry, he's so horrified to see his body changing as it does.  Lovely little lap dissolves, though...and then another excellent little reveal scene as the Werewolf wraps itself around a tree into frame. Then he strangles and bites a gravedigger.  Great vocal work by Chaney, too: his snarls and growls and groans sound very animal-like.  I love how Universal movies just say stuff instead of show: "Jugular is torn out!"  "Hey, animal tracks!"  Kind of like in Dracula: "There's a huge Wolf running through the yard!"

Lycanthropy is a scientific term?  Okay, movie.  There's some psycho babble about mental illness and good and evil and stuff...the locals are blaming Larry, which is funny because he IS responsible for the Grave Digger.  And Bela.  Too bad about Jenny being put on him, too, though.  The funeral scene is actually kinda rough.  Rare to see a man in a Forties movie with tears in his eyes.  The pain in Larry's face is very real, though.  Poor guy. 

I think I would have loved to see these movies on the big screen.  It must have been really fun.  I wonder if Werewolf-Larry getting caught in the bear trap would have elicited laughs from the audience.  I couldn't help but smile a bit.  The gypsy woman is great, too.  Her sympathy for the poor guy is actually quite nice.

Gwen's hair looks great for just getting out of bed.  Gwen is really sweet to want to run off with Larry.  They're a sympathetic couple.  Larry is really afraid for her, for himself...and then he sees the pentagram in her hand, signifying her as his next victim.  Chaney gives an incredibly frantic, terrified performance.  It's really something special.  The whole scene is actually rather touching.  The scene with his Father, not so much...except maybe for Larry's pleading with his Father to take the silver cane with him out into the hunt on the estate.  I mean, I suppose his Dad means well and all.  He does want to prove to Larry that he's projecting himself onto all of the chaos.

Oh, Gwen.  Shoulda gone with the gypsy Woman.  Your love and compassion for Larry is surely the most endearing thing in this movie.  Ankers really is great.  Larry attacks her out in the woods, again with that swirling mist and trees-it's a great set-and then tragically is killed by his Father.  Well, I mean, yeah it's tragic but it's also merciful.  Poor guy.  The gypsy says a nice prayer over his body, and Dad is really sad.  Once again, in excellent Universal fashion, the movie is over as soon as the monster is dead.

Final Thoughts: A charming and surprisingly affecting movie overall, it does suffer from some unfortunate dragging.  Not enough Wolf Man in the end, even though the tragedy of Larry Talbot and his doomed romance with Gwen is a mostly interesting and engaging.  Excellent performances, too, with much better drawn characters than you would expect.

Final Rating: Four Stars.