The Wolf Man [Blu-ray]

Director: George Waggner George Waggner

Overview

"Even a man who is pure at heart/And says his prayers by night/May become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms/And the moon is full and bright." Upon first hearing these words, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) dismisses them as childish folderol. After all, this is the 20th Century; how can a human being turn into a werewolf? Talbot soon learns how when he attempts to rescue Jenny Williams (Fay Helm) from a nocturnal attack by a wolf. Collapsing, Talbot discovers upon reviving that Jenny is dead-and, lying by her side, is not the body of a beast, but of a gypsy named Bela (Bela Lugosi). The son of fortune teller Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), Bela was a lycanthrope, or "wolf man." And now that he has been bitten by Bela, Talbot is cursed to suffer the torments of the damned whenever the moon is full. Arguably the best of the "original" Universal horrors (original in the sense that it was not based on an existing literary property, a la Frankenstein, Dracula and The Invisible Man), The Wolf Man boasts one of the most stellar casts ever to grace a "B" picture: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Warren William, Patric Knowles, Maria Ouspenskaya and Bela Lugosi. The man-to-wolf transformation sequences -- one of which took a full 24 hours to film -- are thoroughly convincing, thanks to the cosmetic genius of Jack P. Pierce (Chaney had wanted to emulate his father by developing his own werewolf makeup, but existing union rules would not permit this). Alas, after this powerhouse opening volley, the Wolf Man character was relegated to a series of cheap sequels, teaming him with other Universal shock stars: Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945). The final ignominy was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1945), in which Lawrence Talbot (Chaney again), having been cured of lycanthropy in House of Dracula, reverts to his werewolf status -- and has to endure the one-liners of Lou Costello to boot!

Product Details

Release Date:	09/17/2013
UPC:	0025192178252
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:10:00
Sales rank:	29,098

Special Features

Monster by moonlight; The Wolf Man: From ancient curse to modern myth; Pure in Heart: The life and legacy of Lon Chaney Jr.; He Who Made Monsters: The life and art of Jack Pierce; The Wolf Man archives; Feature Commentary by film historian Tom Weaver; Trailer gallery; 100 years of Universal: The Lot

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Lon Chaney Jr.	Larry Talbot
Claude Rains	Sir John Talbot
Evelyn Ankers	Gwen Conliffe
Ralph Bellamy	Capt. Paul Montford
Warren William	Dr. Lloyd
Maria Ouspenskaya	Maleva
Bela Lugosi	Bela
Patric Knowles	Frank Andrews,Actor
Fay Helm	Jenny Williams
Leyland Hodgson	Kendall
Forrester Harvey	Victor Twiddle
J.M. Kerrigan	Charles Conliffe
Kurt Katch	Gypsy with Bear
Doris Lloyd	Mrs. Williams
Olaf Hytten	Villager
Harry Stubbs	Rev. Norman
Tom Stevenson	Richardson, the Graveyard Digger
Eric Wilton	Chauffeur
Harry Cording	Wykes
Ernie Stanton	Phillips
Ottola Nesmith	Mrs. Bally
Connie Leon	Mrs. Wykes
La Riana	Gypsy Dancer
Caroline Cooke	1st Woman
Margaret Fealy	2nd Woman
Jessie Arnold	Gypsy Woman
Eddie Polo	Churchgoer
Gibson Gowland	Villager
Martha Vickers	Actor
Lon Chaney Jr	Actor
Lon Chaney	Actor,Wolfman/Larry Talbot
Charles Previn	Composer
H.J. Salter	Composer
Frank Skinner	Composer

Technical Credits

Curt Siodmak

George Waggner	Director,Producer
Curt Siodmak	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The Wolf Man may no longer have the ability to frighten even the faint of heart but it remains a literate and quite adult fairy tale of love, lust and redemption, and with the story of the return of the prodigal son thrown in for good measure. And while George Waggner may not have been the most visually exciting of directors, the powers-at-be at Universal made the good choice of filming nearly the entire story on an eerily fog-bound sound stage, thus creating a strangely enticing and claustrophobic realm for their lycanthrope to roam. The sets compliment The Wolf Man's cast of characters, who may pretend to be British, or foreigners living in Britain, but are really the same villagers and bureaucrats that earlier occupied the mittel-European forests and mountains of Dracula and Frankenstein. While Universal far from overextended themselves with production values, the studio cast no less than six present or former leading men, an odd situation that goes a long way in explaining why leading lady Evelyn Ankers was forced to accept seventh billing. Lon Chaney, meanwhile, creates his one truly memorable horror character in Larry Talbot by adding a great dose of his Lennie of Of Mice and Men (1939) to Jack Pierce's standard Universal creature makeup.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein