Movie Review – The Wolf Man (1941)

“Even a man who is pure in heart,

and says his prayers by night;

may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,

and the autumn moon is bright.”

According to the local villagers, that’s the poem you’re supposed to recite whenever there’s talk about werewolves.  But werewolves are just the stuff of legends, right?

While werewolves have been part of European folklore for over a thousand years, it wasn’t until 1941′s horror film The Wolf Man brought the creature to the big screen and gave American audiences a hair-raising experience.

The Wolf Man was directed by George Waggner.  The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man.  Co-Starring in the film are Evelyn Ankers as Gwen Conliffe, Claude Rains as Sir John Talbot, Warren William as Dr. Lloyd, Ralph Bellamy as Colonel Montford, Patric Knowles as Frank Andrews, and Bela Lugosi as a gypsy called Bela.

The Wolf Man begins with a definition of the word lycanthropy — werewolfism.  Apparently this is a disease of the mind where human beings believe that they are wolf-men.  According to an old legend, the victims actually assume the physical characteristics of the supernatural animals.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

The film then shows Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returning to Talbot Castle, his old home.  He’s greeted by Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains), his father, along with Colonel Montford (Ralph Bellamy) of the local police force.  News of his brother’s death in a hunting accident has brought Larry back to his father’s residence.  His father has severely taken note of Larry’s absence as Larry was the younger of his sons and saw resentment towards his brother’s inheritance of the Tablot estate.

In the upper part of Tablot Castle, Larry repairs his father’s telescope.  He then uses the optical device to catch glimpses of ordinary life in the town.  Larry spies a beautiful woman who works for an antique store, and he decides to pay her a visit.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry enters the antique shop and meets Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers).  He woos the local woman while selecting a cane.  It turns out that the cane he selects has a silver wolf’s head along with a pentagram, the sign of the werewolf.  Gwen explains that a werewolf who is a human being who at certain times of the year turns into a wolf.  Every werewolf is marked with the pentagram and he sees it in the palm of his next victim’s hand.  Larry purchases the cane and repeatedly tries to ask Gwen out on a date, but she refuses.

Outside the store, Larry and Gwen see a couple of gypsies arrive in town.  She explains that the gypsies are fortune tellers and they arrive every autumn.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry returns to the antique shop just as he promised, and he convinces Gwen to go with him to the gypsies.  Gwen finally agrees but brings along her friend Jenny Williams (Fay Helm) as an escort.  While walking to the gypsy’s camp, Jenny spies some wolfbane plants and recites the werewolf poem.  She picks some of the plant and carries it with her.

The three of them arrive at the camp and meet Bela (Bela Lugosi), one of the gypsy fortune tellers.  Jenny wants to be the first person to have her fortune told, so she follows Bela into the private carriage.  Larry and Gwen take a way through the woods while Jenny has her session with Bela.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

The session with Bela doesn’t go well for Jenny.  After asking her to cut the cards, Bela notices the wolfbane and removes it from the table.  We then see that he has a pentagram scar on his forehead.  When Bela takes Jenny’s right hand to see her future, he sees an image of a pentagram.  Bela refuses to tell Jenny what he saw in her hand.  He becomes irritated and insists that Jenny leaves immediately.  She leaves behind the wolfbane and flees into the woods.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry and Gwen suddenly hear a wolf howling.  When they ask each other what they heard, Jenny’s piercing scream fills the air.  Larry tells Gwen to remain behind as he rushes to help Jenny.  He discovers a large wolf attacking Jenny.  Larry wrestles with the creature before using his cane to beat it to death.  The wolf only bit Larry on the chest, but Jenny was killed.

Gwen rushes to Larry’s side while he’s sickened from the wolf’s bite.  She flags down the gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya).  Maleva takes a look at Larry and decides that he needs to be sent home.  They take Larry back to the castle.  Just after arriving and startling Sir John and Colonel Montford, a local villager reports to Montford that Jenny Williams was discovered to have been murdered.  Her body was found out in the woods.  Her throat had been viciously cut.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

At the crime scene, Dr. Lloyd (Warren William) conducts an examination of Jenny Williams’ body while one of the policeman takes notes of the details.  It’s revealed that Jenny was attacked by a large animal, and a bite of powerful teeth cut her neck.  The men then discover the body of Bela, one of the gypsies who passed through town earlier.  Unlike Jenny’s attack, Bela’s skull was crushed by a heavy instrument.  In addition to that, his feet are also bare.  Larry’s cane with the wolf’s head is then found at the scene of the crime, making it the probable weapon used in the murder.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

When Larry Talbot awakens in his bed the next morning, he’s greeted by his father, Colonel Montford, and Dr. Lloyd.  When Montford presents the cane, Larry recognizes it and claims that he used it to kill a wolf the previous night.  Sir John informs his son that Bela the gypsy was found dead last night, and his cane was discovered by the man’s body.  Larry insists that he killed a wolf last night, but when he tries to show Dr. Lloyd his bite mark, the evidence has mysteriously vanished.

Outside of the bedroom, Sir John, Montford and Dr. Lloyd try to piece together the puzzle of what really happened last night.  They know that Jenny was killed by a large animal, and wolf tracks discovered in the area help solve that part of the case.  But as far as Bela’s death and why he was barefooted at the time, that still remains a mystery.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

In town, Bela’s casket is carried through the streets and to the cemetery.  Larry Talbot sneaks his way into the cemetery and finds the casket in the crypt.  Just as he opens the casket, he hears some people approaching and hides behind a column.  It’s Maleva and the local minister.  The minister is horrified that the gypsy way of honoring the dead is by throwing a lavish celebration, a party.

At her home, Gwen’s father reminds the woman that she didn’t do anything wrong the other night when Jenny was killed.  A group of women arrive in the antique store and demand to see Gwen.  They’re certain that she was behind the attack that killed Jenny Williams.  The women stop their accusations when Larry arrives at the antique shop while carrying his cane with the silver wolf’s head.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

While Larry and Gwen try to remember the events that happened in the woods, one of Gwen’s old friends, Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles), arrives in the shop.  Frank’s dog immediately starts barking at Larry, and he’s forced to take the dog outside.  Larry decides to leave after receiving a rude greeting from Frank.  Afterwards, we learn that Frank is very suspicious of Larry Talbot and that cane that he carries.

The gypsies hold their massive party in honor of Bela, and many of the townspeople arrive.  Frank and Gwen spy Larry walking through the crowds, and he has Larry join them.  They head over to a shooting booth and test their aim against a variety of animal targets.  Larry’s shots are right on the mark until the wolf target pops up.  He cannot bring himself to shoot the wolf target and Frank uses his rifle to hit it.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry walks away and runs into Maleva out in the woods.  She informs him that although Larry killed a wolf, he also killed Bela.  Bela became a wolf and he attacked Jenny.  He’s then told that a werewolf can only be killed with a silver bullet, a silver knife, or a stick with a silver handle (Larry’s cane).  He doesn’t want to believe this and tries to leave, but Maleva tells him that whomever is bitten by a werewolf and lives will become a werewolf himself.

Maleva knows that Larry was bitten by the werewolf.  She gives him a charm with a pentagram and has him wear it over his heart.  Allegedly that charm will break the spell and prevent him from transforming into a werewolf.  She then sends him away.

Colonel Montford watches as Larry leaves Maleva’s tent.  He then sees the woman whisper something into another gypsy’s ear, and that gypsy quickly spreads the message to other gypsies.  Everybody is suddenly packing up their gear and preparing to leave.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry runs into Gwen, and the two of them head over to a quiet spot.  Larry gives her the pendent, claiming that it’ll protect her from himself.  He doesn’t explain why, but she accepts his gift.  They’re disturbed by the gypsies and their flurry of activity.  Gwen runs away and one of the gypsies warns Larry that there’s a werewolf in the camp.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

When Larry returns to Talbot Castle, he goes through a frightening transformation from a man into a werewolf.  He becomes the Wolf Man.  The Wolf Man then creeps back into the woods.  He lets out a howl and then attacks and kills a gravedigger at the cemetery.

The villagers are alerted to the wolf’s howl.  The police force heads out and discovers the body of the gravedigger.  Sure enough, he was killed in the same manner of Jenny Williams.  Wolf tracks are also found in the immediate area.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry Talbot awakens the next morning back at Talbot Castle.  We see that there are muddy animal prints leading from the open window to his bed.  Larry feels something strange on his chest, and when he opens his shirt, there’s a scar in the shape of a pentagram.  It’s just as Gwen warned him when they first met.

When Larry meets his father, Sir John informs him that the gravedigger was murdered last night.  The tracks from the killer lead right up to the house.  They’re not ordinary footprints but rather wolf tracks.  Larry then asks his father about the legend involving werewolves.  It’s something that relates to the good and evil in every man’s soul, and as Sir John explains, in this case the evil takes the form of a wolf.

But when Sir John continues with his thoughts about werewolves, Larry begins to wonder if the whole thing is just part of his mind.  Did he really see a wolf kill Jenny?  Did he really transform into a wolf and kill the local gravedigger?  Is it really just a disorder in his mind?

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Church bells sound and the villagers head towards the holy building.  We hear them talk about the terrors of werewolves and how they no longer feel safe in their town.  When Larry Talbot enters the church, he discovers that he cannot take a seat with the rest of the people.  Everybody turns around notices this, staring at him.  He’s shunned out of the building and back to the town’s streets.

Later, the men gather at Talbot Castle and Larry questions Dr. Lloyd about his true feelings towards werewolves.  Like Sir John, Dr. Lloyd believes that werewolves are fictional and merely part of a person’s imagination.  With proper treatment, a person believes that he’s a werewolf can be cured.

Still, there’s the problem of a large wolf terrorizing the town’s people.  Enough evidence proves at least that much for some of the killings.  Colonel Montford has his men set a series of concealed bear traps throughout the woods.  Hopefully they can snag and catch the deadly creature before it kills again.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

That night the Wolf Man is walking through the woods when he steps onto one of the traps.  It snags his foot and he’s trapped.  Off in the distance, hunters with dogs are slowly approaching his position.

Maleva arrives and finds the Wolf Man trapped by the foot clamp.  She chants a spell and we watch as the Wolf Man transforms back into Larry Talbot.  She helps Larry free his foot from the trap.  As the hunters and dogs approach, Larry flees the scene.  He’s soon stopped by two of the hunters, but Larry gives them an excuse and then goes on his way.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Larry enters the town and wakes Gwen from her sleep.  He tells her that he’s leaving the town, leaving by himself.  He confesses to killing Bela and the gravedigger.  Larry then sees a pentagram appear on Gwen’s palm, indicating that she’s going to be his next victim.  He then flees from the antique shop so that he won’t hurt Gwen.

In Talbot Castle, Larry confesses these same things to his father.  He tells him that he saw the pendant in Gwen’s palm and fears that he’s going to kill the woman.  Sir John still believes that Larry is suffering from some sort of mental disorder, and he needs to find treatment.  This is confirmed when Sir John learns that his son learned much of this talk about werewolves from the gypsy woman, and Larry is simply letting his fear of a superstitious creature grow inside of him.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

Seeing that Larry is desperate for any kind of help, Sir John ties him to a chair so that he won’t go roaming through the woods and killing people.  Sir John has to leave to go help the villagers, so Larry begs for him to take his silver wolf’s head cane with him, for protection.

Out in the woods, the men have set a trap for the werewolf.  Sir John informs them that Larry has been tied to a chair, and hopefully that will prove his innocence and that his son’s problems are all in his mind.  He then wanders away and runs into Maleva while still in the woods.  As he’s talking to the gypsy woman, they both hear some gunshots nearby.

Colonel Montford and Frank claim to have both hit the creature with their bullets, but it’s still alive and on the move.  Dr. Lloyd reminds them that they need silver bullets to kill a werewolf.

Gwen is also running through the woods.  She finds Maleva, but she warns Gwen not to go running through the woods.  She ignores the gypsy woman’s advice and heads deeper into the woods, searching for Larry.

The Wolf Man (1941) – (c) Universal Pictures

The Wolf Man spots Gwen in the trees.  He quietly sneaks after the woman, chasing and closing the distance to her.  He cuts around a cluster of trees and finally attacks Gwen.  The woman screams in fear and then faints.  Her cry for help alerts everybody in the woods.  Sir John is the first one there.  The Wolf Man spots him and attacks the man, but Sir John fights back with Larry’s cane.  He fights and uses the cane as a club against the Wolf Man, striking him repeatedly until the werewolf is dead.

Maleva arrives as Sir John looks down at the werewolf’s body.  He watches in horror as the Wolf Man transforms back into the human form of Larry Talbot.  It was all true.

The Wolf Man ends as the hunters arrive to find Sir John and his dead son.  Colonel Montford believes that the werewolf attacked Gwen and Larry came to the rescue, but he died trying to fight off the creature.

So is The Wolf Man a good movie?

When it comes to superstition and folklore, The Wolf Man is a great movie with one of Universal Studios’ classic monsters.

Here we have an English tale of a man who is bitten by a werewolf, and he transforms into that very creature.  When he walks the Earth as a werewolf, he’s unable to control his emotions or think clearly.  He becomes a killing machine immune to attacks unless it’s from a silver bullet, silver knife, or a wooden stick with a silver attachment.

The Wolf Man‘s version of the tale has a human being who transforms into a werewolf during the autumn nights when wolfbane blooms and the moon is bright.  Later werewolf films would change this to where the creature could emerge on full moon nights at any time throughout the year.  Here this is an autumn event, but the werewolf can appear during several phases of the moon as long as part of it is brightly shining.

I like how it’s the gypsies who actually brought the werewolf into town as the creature was actually Bela.  One would have to assume that Bela never attacked Maleva as she knew enough about charms and protection spells to keep herself safe from the creature, even with it being her son.

It’s also interesting how at certain points in the film, you question whether Larry Talbot really was a werewolf, or if he was acting out his vivid imagination.  Could it have also been affecting his father, Sir John, as well?  Did Sir John really see a werewolf when he killed it at the end of the movie, or was he also hallucinating?

This is probably one of the earliest examples of a film that messes with your mind, making you question what you really saw in the movie.  Was Larry Talbot really a werewolf, or did he have a mental disease convince him that he was one?  If so, did that also have an effect on Gwen and Larry’s father?  Did the gypsy woman play into people’s fears?

As far as this being a horror film, The Wolf Man is on the tame side of the scale.  Two people are killed by the werewolves, both werewolves are killed, and we really don’t see that much of the terrifying creature until the last third of this movie.  Nor is there much of a creepy or sinister element in this film.

The Wolf Man (1941) – movie trailer

Where The Wolf Man succeeds is its really good story along with some great acting.  This is a classic film that can easily be enjoyed by fans of the Universal Studios monsters as well as vintage horror films.

Sir John Talbot – “Larry, Bela the gypsy was killed last night. Your walking stick was found next to the body.”
Larry Talbot – “You mean, Bela the fortune teller? But… I only saw a wolf.”

———————-

Larry Talbot – “Don’t try to make me believe that I killed a man when I know that I killed a wolf!”
Doctor Lloyd – [patronizing Larry] “Yes, yes. We’re all a little bit confused.”

———————-

Doctor Lloyd – “I believe a man lost in the mazes of his own mind may imagine that he’s anything.”

———————-

Larry Talbot – “You’re insane! I tell you, I killed a wolf! A PLAIN, ORDINARY WOLF!”

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Sir John Talbot – “Gypsy woman? Now we’re getting down to it. She’s been filling your mind with this gibberish. This talk of werewolves and pentagrams. You’re not a child Larry, you’re a grown man and you believe in the superstitions of a gypsy woman!”