The Wolf Man came out when monster movies where becoming B movies, no longer where they high class productions like Dracula or Frankenstein. The Wolf Man however is actually treated very much like Dracula or Frankenstein, it feels well made and its got the same love and care from Director George Waggner... its just a shame it doesn't quite reach the heights of those films.
What do I love about The Wolf Man?, Lon Chaney Jr., thats the main reason. The man gives such an honest portrayal of a man going mad with having to come to terms with, not becoming a werewolf, but the fact he has killed several innocent people without even knowing it. His change from kind, caring son to a scared, worried shell of his former self is fascinating to watch and manages to upstage the performance of the 'star' Claude Rains. The make-up by Jack Pierces is also fantastic, not as iconic or maybe as interesting as the Frankenstein monster but still very good. Claude Rains gives the film its high quality feel. Just like John Saxon in A Nightmare On Elm Street, Rains gives the film some much appreciated star power (Rains also portrayed The Invisible Man in the 1933 film of the same name). The atmosphere is also really nicely created. Lots of fog, desolate woods and tons of shadows, every scene in the woods has an ominous vibe which works so well.
What I don't love however is that we never get to see a full transformation sequence, we get to see him go from wolf to man but not man to wolf, the only thing we see is his feet change which although could have set up a brilliant reveal, he is shown 10 seconds later peaking out from behind a tree. There's also no full moon shot either which I would have liked to see. Evelyn Ankers as Grace, Talbots love interest, is bland and uninteresting, not bringing anything to the role and in her scenes with Chaney it seems like he's doing most of the work to portray some on screen chemistry.
Overall, flawed and not what I was expecting, however its still a very well made film and the performances of Rains and Chaney make the worth the watch.
What do I love about The Wolf Man?, Lon Chaney Jr., thats the main reason. The man gives such an honest portrayal of a man going mad with having to come to terms with, not becoming a werewolf, but the fact he has killed several innocent people without even knowing it. His change from kind, caring son to a scared, worried shell of his former self is fascinating to watch and manages to upstage the performance of the 'star' Claude Rains. The make-up by Jack Pierces is also fantastic, not as iconic or maybe as interesting as the Frankenstein monster but still very good. Claude Rains gives the film its high quality feel. Just like John Saxon in A Nightmare On Elm Street, Rains gives the film some much appreciated star power (Rains also portrayed The Invisible Man in the 1933 film of the same name). The atmosphere is also really nicely created. Lots of fog, desolate woods and tons of shadows, every scene in the woods has an ominous vibe which works so well.
What I don't love however is that we never get to see a full transformation sequence, we get to see him go from wolf to man but not man to wolf, the only thing we see is his feet change which although could have set up a brilliant reveal, he is shown 10 seconds later peaking out from behind a tree. There's also no full moon shot either which I would have liked to see. Evelyn Ankers as Grace, Talbots love interest, is bland and uninteresting, not bringing anything to the role and in her scenes with Chaney it seems like he's doing most of the work to portray some on screen chemistry.
Overall, flawed and not what I was expecting, however its still a very well made film and the performances of Rains and Chaney make the worth the watch.