The Wolf Man (1941)

Directed by: George Waggner | 68 minutes | drama, horror, fantasy | Actors: Lon Chaney, Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, Maria Auspenskaya, Evelyn Ankers, Fay Helm

In 1941 Universal Studios came up with this film adaptation of the werewolf: a human who takes on the physical form of a wolf at full moon. This film adaptation was such a success that several sequels with Lon Chaney were made. Chaney plays Larry Talbott in this film, who is infected by the werewolf’s curse.

Despite his large stature (a big difference with his film father, by the way), Larry comes across as a vulnerable person, which is also recognized early before his own werewolf troubles occur (there’s something tragic about that man.). As the victim of circumstances, Chaney is well on his way to expressing his feelings and therefore evokes sympathy during the stages he goes through. His guilt after Bela’s death, his uncertainty about whether he is going mad or whether he is infected, and his despair and horror when he later realizes that he has indeed become a werewolf. This produces what in ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ (1931) was all but missing: the mental despair and despair when the protagonist realizes that his own personality can be taken over by another he detests and over whom he has no control.

Another notable role is that of Claude Rains as Larry’s father John Talbott. He too is exposed to psychological pressure when he slowly comes to realize that his son could be a werewolf after all. He’s the type of notable who explains everything as rationally as possible, even down to the unmistakable pentagram (a five-pointed star, the sign of the werewolf) on Larry’s chest (that scar could be made by almost any animal) . In the end, he too cannot ignore the facts and his conflict between his rationalism and his concern for his son is evident. He continues to come up with rational explanations (self hypnotism, this evil thing.is only in your mind), but also proceeds to superstitious behavior to limit the effects of the curse as much as possible. Rains manages to portray his mental struggle in such a way that he too evokes sympathy and it becomes clear that he is, in other and more ways, also a victim of the werewolf’s curse, as is also clear after his eventual personal confrontation with the werewolf.

The villagers stand out for their gossip and backbiting. They think Larry is a murderer without proof. They unconsciously but aptly make a link to the fact that he is a werewolf (you should have seen the way he looked at melike a wild animal, with murder in his eyes…). Things get to the point where local beauty Gwen who hangs out with Larry and her father also fall prey to their slander and innuendo. Gwen is even held responsible for the death of a villager (she’s to blame. I always knew that innocent little face was just a) and her father also gets the necessary insults (…there’s a fine father for you, ..how dare you permit her to walk out with other men when shes engaged. ). This is a striking illustration of how, in a small community, various feelings of dissatisfaction with fellow villagers can slumber for years and be spouted out in crisis situations, although the points of dissatisfaction cited have nothing to do with the actual problem.

The environment is classic and atmospheric: a small village in the middle of the Moors, where the werewolf roams at night according to good practice and can satisfy its hunger with the local game. According to tradition, the heath is an extremely atmosphere-enhancing mist-rich environment, which may or may not be bare trees and shrubs, whereby the mist also extends into the village during the nighttime hours. Its size is not entirely according to tradition: instead of being an immense area where one can wander or get lost for hours without meeting a living soul, the heath here seems to have only a rather small area where one can occasionally seem to have to make an effort to avoid each other.

As usual, there are some shortcomings here too: unlike Bela, Larry doesn’t look like a wolf after his transformation, but retains his human form. He also has no specific wolf head or jaws, and just walks upright, which makes the title wolf man instead of werewolf appropriate. During his first transformation, he wears a white shirt, but then a dark shirt as a wolf. As mentioned in the film, the village has had many experiences with werewolves and superstitions prevail (everyone knows all about werewolves), but the possibility of werewolves is now rejected outright, even after several telling events and after Larry changes his own convictions. has voiced

One of the best horror classics. The pace is fast, and horror, tension and action are highly present, even without the extensive transformations and gory effects seen in later films. There is a high degree of empathy for various characters and the reactions of themselves and those around them to the curse of the werewolf keeps the curiosity in it. The shortcomings in this film are quickly forgotten. Within the horror and werewolf genre, a film that should not be missed.