Knowing it is the film that introduced one of horror filmdom's most iconic figures, I watched "The Wolf Man" ready to give it every break. So it was disappointing to discover it both sloppy in its construction and sluggard in its execution.
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns home to Talbot Castle after 16 years in America, ready to assume the mantle of heir after the untimely death of his elder brother. The neighboring village offers attractions, like Gwen (Evelyn Ankers) who works at an antique store. But it also holds dangers, like the much-discussed legend of a man who turns into a wolf and attacks people. Larry discovers the truth behind this legend one evening while walking with Gwen.
"There's something very tragic about that man, and I'm sure nothing but harm will come to you through him," Gwen is told, accurately enough as things turn out.
Having seen Chaney play the role in two other films ("Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" and "Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein"), I was expecting a much better performance from him than I got. Especially in his scenes with Ankers and with Claude Rains playing his father, Chaney is awkward and unconvincing, creepy when he should be sympathetic and boring when he should be scary.
The film creates a potentially riveting situation and does next to nothing with it. Whether it's the mystery of the dead older brother or the presence of Bela Lugosi as a tense gypsy, the film is full of ideas that are either dropped entirely or else underdeveloped. I'd complain about the downer ending, too, except I felt nothing but relief when "The End" came up.
Director George Waggner has no sense of pace. His central concept, the Wolf Man, takes more than half the movie's short running time to get going, and is then over with too quickly. Meanwhile, too much time is spent on dull scene-setting, including a bit of folk verse regarding the wolf-man legend ("Even a man who is pure in heart...") uttered three times in the first 15 minutes. The supporting players seem out to sea, especially Ralph Bellamy, sporting a pipe in place of an accent, and Ankers, whose real-life dislike for Chaney is palpable.
Even the much-heralded transformation scenes are not much to watch. The first time, we only see Larry's feet become paws in a series of obvious lap dissolves. Once later we get a close-up of Larry's face in the process, but it hardly seems worth the legendary labor of Jack Pierce. As Tom Weaver says in the DVD commentary track, he looks more at times like Don King than a credible wolf-man.
What's good about "The Wolf Man" is the murky ambiance consistent with the Universal monster movies and Rains' solid performance as the stern but caring father. Even when saddled with some howler lines, like urging his son "fight his way out" of his wolf-man delusion or hypothesizing that the werewolf idea is "probably an ancient explanation of the dual personality in each of us," Rains carries off his scenes with aplomb. He's my pick for the Doe Avedon "Best Performance In A Bad Film" award for 1941.
The Wolf Man concept deserves some positive notice; it's been used in some very good films. Just not this one.
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns home to Talbot Castle after 16 years in America, ready to assume the mantle of heir after the untimely death of his elder brother. The neighboring village offers attractions, like Gwen (Evelyn Ankers) who works at an antique store. But it also holds dangers, like the much-discussed legend of a man who turns into a wolf and attacks people. Larry discovers the truth behind this legend one evening while walking with Gwen.
"There's something very tragic about that man, and I'm sure nothing but harm will come to you through him," Gwen is told, accurately enough as things turn out.
Having seen Chaney play the role in two other films ("Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" and "Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein"), I was expecting a much better performance from him than I got. Especially in his scenes with Ankers and with Claude Rains playing his father, Chaney is awkward and unconvincing, creepy when he should be sympathetic and boring when he should be scary.
The film creates a potentially riveting situation and does next to nothing with it. Whether it's the mystery of the dead older brother or the presence of Bela Lugosi as a tense gypsy, the film is full of ideas that are either dropped entirely or else underdeveloped. I'd complain about the downer ending, too, except I felt nothing but relief when "The End" came up.
Director George Waggner has no sense of pace. His central concept, the Wolf Man, takes more than half the movie's short running time to get going, and is then over with too quickly. Meanwhile, too much time is spent on dull scene-setting, including a bit of folk verse regarding the wolf-man legend ("Even a man who is pure in heart...") uttered three times in the first 15 minutes. The supporting players seem out to sea, especially Ralph Bellamy, sporting a pipe in place of an accent, and Ankers, whose real-life dislike for Chaney is palpable.
Even the much-heralded transformation scenes are not much to watch. The first time, we only see Larry's feet become paws in a series of obvious lap dissolves. Once later we get a close-up of Larry's face in the process, but it hardly seems worth the legendary labor of Jack Pierce. As Tom Weaver says in the DVD commentary track, he looks more at times like Don King than a credible wolf-man.
What's good about "The Wolf Man" is the murky ambiance consistent with the Universal monster movies and Rains' solid performance as the stern but caring father. Even when saddled with some howler lines, like urging his son "fight his way out" of his wolf-man delusion or hypothesizing that the werewolf idea is "probably an ancient explanation of the dual personality in each of us," Rains carries off his scenes with aplomb. He's my pick for the Doe Avedon "Best Performance In A Bad Film" award for 1941.
The Wolf Man concept deserves some positive notice; it's been used in some very good films. Just not this one.