THE WOLF MAN (1941)

Lon Chaney Jr. was overshadowed by his famous father Lon Chaney Sr, star of the silent era, who was well known for his shocking transformations of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) & THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925). But the apple didn't all far from the tree, like father, like son, Lon Chaney Jr would follow in his father's footsteps into the movie monster genre. Chaney Jr would be transformed into many famous universal monsters throughout his career, including The Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein in their sequels. The role of The Wolf Man is how Chaney Jr would be best remembered. But Chaney Jr. would never achieve or surpass his father's fame.

By the 1950's, Chaney primarily appeared in low budgets horror films such as  INDESTRUCTABLE MAN (1956), BRIDE OF THE GORILLA (1951) and ALLIGATOR PEOPLE (1959). However, Chaney Jr was able to be a supporting player in two films that are now regarded as classics which are HIGH NOON (1952) and THE DEFIANT ONES (1958). Eventually, Chaney Jr gave up his dream of becoming more famous than his father. Years of heavy drinking and heavy smoking would take it toll on Chaney Jr's health. He battled throat cancer and chronic heart disease among other ailments that would plague his life. Unfortunately, Chaney Jr's swan song would not be in a grand universal horror film production, but that of a low budget variety called FRANKENSTEIN VS. DRACULA (1971) as Dr. Frankenstein's deaf-mute henchman.

Our film opens with a homecoming of the prodigal son, Larry Talbot ( Lon Chaney Jr) of Sir John Talbot ( Claude Rains) returning to his childhood home, Talbot Castle. Larry had been estranged for eighteen years, after learning that his older brother would be the sole heir to the family castle. Unfortunately, it would take the death of his brother, who was killed in a hunting accident to return him back to his father's estate. Now, reacquainted Sir John and Larry decide to put the past behind them and focus on the future. Sir John wastes no time in trying to groom Larry to be the heir of Talbot Castle. 

While repairing his father's telescope, Larry catches a glimpse of a local beauty in her boudoir, who lives above an antique shop. Larry decides to go down to the village to take in the local color. Inside the antique shop, Larry immediately put the moves on the counter girl, who happens to be the same one, he saw through the telescope. He learns that her name is Gwen Conliffe ( Evelyn Ankers) and her father owns the shop. Larry continues to flirt with Gwen while rummaging through some canes. He selects a silver-topped cane with werewolf's head and pentagram. Gwen recites the legend of the werewolf to Larry, telling him that every werewolf is marked with pentagram and see it's in his next victim's hand. Larry decides to purchase the cane.

Now, outside the shop, Larry is still trying to coax Gwen on a date, who had followed him out. Then a wagon rolls by with a couple gypsies. Gwen tells Larry that they are fortune tellers and they come every year at this time.  Larry then informs Gwen that they are going to get their fortune read. Gwen declines his offer. But Larry doesn't take no for answer, telling her that he will pick her up at eight and walks away.

When Larry returns to pick up Gwen for their date, he finds that three is definitely a crowd. Gwen had asked her best friend Jenny Williams (Fay Helm) to join them. On foot, the three make their way through the woods towards the gypsy camp.  Jenny discovers some wolfbane along the way and delivers the werewolf poem ...."Even a man who is pure in heart, and say his prayers by night; may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

Once at the gypsy camp, Jenny wants to be the first to have her future read by Bela, the fortune teller (Bela Lugosi). Originally the Wolf man was to be played Lugosi.  Unfortunately, by the time the project was greenlighted, Lugosi was considered to old for the role at the age of 58. As a consolation, Lugosi was given a smaller part as the werewolf who turns Larry Talbot into a wolf. Back to the synopsis, While reading Jenny 's palm, Bela sees the pentagram. He immediately sends Jenny away refusing to read any more about her future, because he knows that she is his next victim. Jenny flees from the wagon, looking for Gwen and Larry who took a stroll. Suddenly, the still of the night is disrupted by the howling sound of a wolf. Immediately it was followed by the shrieking scream from Jenny. Larry instructs Gwen to stay behind, while he investigates the situation. When Larry came to Jenny's aide, he saw that she was being attacked by a large wolf.  He tried to get the wolf away from her. The wolf leaps up and bit him in the chest. Larry defended himself with new silver-topped cane and beat the wolf to death.

Gwen finds Larry seriously injured by being bitten by the wolf. Thankfully, Bela's mother Maleva ( Maria Ouspenkaya) was just passing by, helps Gwen bring Larry back to Talbot's Castle. News gets out that Jenny William's body is discovered in the woods and that she had been murdered. Jenny's throat had been savagely ripped open.  It appears to be afflicted by a wild animal like a wolf. Then another body is discovered, that of Bela, the Fortune Teller. But Bela's cause of death is quite different than Jenny's. His skull had smashed by cane with a heavy silver topper of the wolf, which was found alongside the dead body.

There are some unexplained questions that need some answers on what happened the night Jenny Williams was killed. The next morning Sir John receives some uninvited guests to the Talbot Castle, who are there to question his son. Colonel Montford ( Ralph Bellamy) and Dr. Lloyd ( Warren William) show Larry a cane and ask if it belongs to him. Larry in turn, say that the cane does belong to him and that he had just purchased at the antique shop that very night. Larry learns that Bela, the Fortune Teller was murdered with his cane. Larry insists that he killed a WOLF, not a MAN !! Speculations are that maybe Larry and Bela, both ran to Jenny's rescue, but were confused in the fog. Larry tries to prove that he did kill a WOLF, by showing them his wolf bite. But his confirmation seemed to be fruitless because his wound magically healed.

Maleva confirms the fact to Larry, that he did kill a wolf. But the wolf was her son Bela, who was a werewolf. She continued to state that a werewolf can only be killed by a silver bullet, silver knife, or a stick with a silver handle. Larry doesn't want to believe it.  He would rather believe the old gypsy woman is insane, instead of him killing a man instead of a wolf. Maleva offers Larry a charm of the pentagram of the wolf that will break the evil spell. She also adds "Whoever is bitten by a werewolf... and lives becomes a werewolf himself." Larry takes the charm and gives it to Gwen for protection against him.

Larry races back to Talbot's castle to his bedroom. There he discovers after taking off his shoes and sock, that his legs and feet are growing hair. Then the transformation is complete, sending Larry outside into the moonlight looking for prey. He immediately comes upon a gravedigger and kills him. The next morning, Larry awakens back in the bedroom.  He notices that he has the sign of the pentagram. As he climbs out of a bed, he sees muddy wolf tracks leading to the window sill. He quickly tries to wipe them away. From the window, Larry could see Colonel Montford had been following the wolf tracks to the castle. Larry learns from his father that the gravedigger was killed last night and that animal tracks lead to their house. Larry asks his father about the folklore of The Werewolf, which scientific name is Lycanthropia. Sir John tells his son that he does not believe that man can turn into a werewolf. But he believes that anything can happen inside a man's mind.

The very next night, Larry as the Wolf Man finds himself caught in a bear trap set by the frantic villagers. The Wolf Man bear laid helpless, until Maleva discovers him. She immediately crept down beside the monster, reciting the same poem she did for her son Bela in his casket..."The way you walk is thorny, through no fault of your own. But as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to a predestined end. Find peace for a moment, my son." The Wolf Man transforms back to Larry Talbot, who is aware of why he is caught in a trap. The sounds of yapping dogs and men could be heard trekking the woods, Maleva quickly helps Larry out of the trap. Larry makes a break only to be discovered by two of the townsmen. When asked why he was out in the woods. Larry answered the same reason you are hunting. But Larry is not carrying any weapons. Larry makes his way to the antique shop to tell Gwen that he is going away. Gwen wants to go with him, but Larry refuses because he saw the pentagram in her hand .

Larry returns to Talbot Castle to pack. But his father won't let him go. Sir John refuses to believe that his son is a werewolf. To appease his son's outlandish testimonial that he is the werewolf, Sir John strapped Larry to a chair in his bedroom. All windows have been locked, the door has been bolted for nothing can come in or out. Sir John is out to prove that the evil thing is only in his son's mind. Instead, of staying with Larry and helping fight this battle, Sir John joins the others in the woods to find the wolf. But before he went, Larry insisted that his father take his cane with silver handle with him.

Larry makes his final appearance as the werewolf dodging bullets, as he wanders through the woods. Also, in the woods wandering is Gwen looking for Larry. She should have heeded to Maleva's warning and stay with her in the wagon. Now. Gwen about finds herself to be Larry's next victim as foretold by the pentagram he saw in her hand. The Werewolf sees her. He slowly closing in on his prey. The werewolf manages to get ahead of Gwen so that she meets up to him. The werewolf jumped into plain sight for that his victim could see him. Gwen's eyes widened as he came closer, then attacked her. Gwen piercing screams could be heard throughout the woods.

Sir John was the first one to come to Gwen's rescue. Sir John could not believe his eyes that a werewolf stood before him. The werewolf releases Gwen, then he turns his sights on Sir John attacking him. Sir John protects himself with his son's cane, striking the werewolf over and over until it was dead. Maleva comes onto the scene, to recite her werewolf poem which transforms him back to Larry Talbot. Sir John could not believe his eyes, his son was telling the truth. The finale ends with Colonel Montford stating that Larry was a hero, who was killed by the wolf saving Gwen's life.

                                      FILM FACTS

Bela Lugosi was the original choice to play The Wolf Man, but at the age of 58 Lugosi was regarded to old for the role, when the film went into production. Universal decided to use a much younger actor  Lon Chaney Jr, who was only 33 years old at the time. As a consolation prize, Lugosi was able to play the werewolf who turned Chaney Jr. into The Wolf Man.

Maria Ouspenskaya would reprise her role as Maleva, two years later in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943).

Claude Rains made three Universal Monster movies through his very impressive acting career which include THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), THE WOLF MAN (1941), and THE PHANTOM OF THE  OPERA (1943).

According to Actress Evelyn Ankers. she was constantly being PRANKED on by Lon Chaney Jr while making THE WOLF MAN. Chaney Jr apparently resented Ankers for taking his dressing room, when the studio gave it to her after Chaney Jr . had vandalized studio property while drunk. Ankers added that he would call her SHANKERS too irritate her, sneak up behind her in full monster makeup and scare her. It was just a countless array of childish pranks one after another through the production.

Evelyn Ankers was Universal's scream queen with several horror movies in her filmography which includes  THE WOLF MAN (1941), THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943), SON OF DRACULA (1943), THE MAD GHOUL (1943), JUNGLE WOMAN (1944), WIERD WOMAN (1944), THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE (1944) and THE FROZEN GHOST (1945).

Lon Chaney Jr. was  honored in one of U.S. Postage series in 1997.

                    IMMORTAL DIALOGUE

"Even a Man who is PURE at heart, and says his prayers by night; may become a WOLF when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

" The way you walk is thorny, through no fault of your own. But as the rain enters the soil, the river enters the sea, so tears run to the predestined end."

                      FABRICATED DIALOGUE

"Hey Mack, do ya think after you're done fooling around with my fur. Can you give me a manicure ?"

     "I told you that I get a little CRAZY during the FULL MOON."

          " Didn't I tell you there's was going to be a SEQUEL"

" I guess I should WARN you what happened to my last BARBER who gave me a BAD haircut."

MY BOTTOM LINE IS ...

THE WOLF MAN (1941) is not only an iconic Universal Monster but well-regarded horror film from heydays of Universal Studios. The picture succeeds as first-rate storytelling with superior acting. Claude Rains gives another tour de force performance, this time, not the lead as he was in THE INVISIBLE MAN (1931) but in a co-starring role as Sir John. Rains would go on ironically to play his co-star Chaney's Jr 's famous father's role PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Lon Chaney Jr was not the first werewolf to appear on the silver screen, But its Chaney Jr's performance, which leads to the role to become iconic. I do highly recommend this film to those who enjoy classic horror films and are fans of the Universal Monsters. Today's generation may find it tame compared to today's standards. The special effects are dated and the body count in the film may be low for some horror fans. But for my generation who grew who watching UHF channels on television, this film is a classic masterpiece.

                                 Artwork By Alex Ross