The Wolf Man is a 1941 horror film directed by George Waggner. The film starred Lon Chaney Jr, Evelyn Ankers, and Claude Rains. It is part of the “Universal Monsters” line of films.
Director: George Waggner
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Bela Lugosi, Maria Ouspenskaya
Box Office: Unknown
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: Horror
Release Date: December 12, 1941
Plot Summary: After living in America for eighteen years, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) comes back home to his father Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains) in Wales. Larry meets Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), the daughter of a local antique store owner. While visiting a Gypsy carnival with Gwen, Larry is attacked and bitten by a werewolf, really a gypsy fortune-teller named Bela (Bela Lugosi). This leaves Larry cursed, and he is forced to transform into a mindless Werewolf at night!
Production: In 1935, Universal released a horror film titled Werewolf of London about a man who is bitten by a werewolf and transforms into one. At the time, it received somewhat negative reviews and was not successful; however, Universal executives were still interested in the concept of a werewolf film. The studio had planned to create a werewolf film for Boris Karloff to start in, but that project never got off the ground. In the early 1940s, Universal hired Curt Siodmak to write a screenplay for a werewolf film, given the working title “Destiny” and later renamed The Wolf Man. Siodmak’s original concept for the film was that it would be more of a psychological thriller, rather than a horror film. The film was not going to actually show the Wolf Man, and would instead leave it ambiguous whether Larry actually turned into the beast, or if it was all happening in his mind. Universal realized that Talbot literally turning into a werewolf would be more appealing to the audience so they changed the script. George Waggner was chosen to direct the project.
Actor Bela Lugosi originally wanted to play the lead role of Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man. It had been a few years since Lugosi had played the lead role in one of Universal’s horror films, so the studio decided to instead cast him in a supporting role as Bela, the gypsy fortune teller who gives Larry Talbot the curse. Universal decided to cast Lon Chaney Jr as the character. Chaney was the son of the late, silent horror film star Lon Chaney Sr, and he had his breakout role in the drama film Of Mice and Men (1939). Chaney Jr was a physically imposing man, but also had a sympathetic demeanor, so casting him as the dual-personality title character seemed like a natural choice. Evelyn Ankers played the leading female role Gwen Conliffe. Ankers had difficulty working with Chaney. Chaney held a grudge against her because Universal gave her his dressing room (due to his bad behavior) so he would try to annoy her and would sometimes sneak up to her in full werewolf makeup and scare her.
The makeup used to bring the Wolf Man to life was created by famed makeup artist Jack Pierce. Pierce was the head of Universal’s makeup department and designed (and applied) the makeup used for many of the studio’s iconic monsters, including the Mummy and Frankenstein’s Monster. Pierce had originally designed the Wolf Man’s makeup for Werewolf of London, but his design was refused in favor of a more simplistic version. Fortunately, Pierce was finally able to use his original werewolf design for The Wolf Man, which involved yak hair, a rubber snout, dark greasepaint, and hairy gloves and slippers, which were applied with spirit gum. The makeup originally took about six hours to apply and about one hour to remove. Chaney hated the makeup process as he had to sit still for long periods of time and his hands and legs needed to stay motionless during the time-lapse transformation scenes.
As it was a low budget horror film, The Wolf Man was shot entirely on sets at Universal studios. The church that Larry and Sir John (Claude Rains) attend in the film was portrayed by Universal’s pre-existing cathedral set. This set had been created for Universal’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), which starred Lon Chaney Sr. The Wolf Man also prominently featured Universal’s “European Village” set, the village set used in a number of their other horror films at the time, such as Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931).
Fun Facts and Trivia: Even though Maria Ouspenskaya (Maleva) played the mother of Bela Lugosi’s character, she was only six years older than him in real-life. In the scene where Larry is attacked by Bela in his wolf form, the “wolf” was actually portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr.’s pet German Shepard. The final time-lapse transformation sequence close up of Larry Talbot’s face where he slowly changes from werewolf back to human takes less than thirty seconds. In real life, the process took about ten hours to film, as Chaney had to go back and forth from the set to the makeup room as new layers of makeup were continuously applied to show the transformation in progress.
The Wolf Man was originally going to include a scene where Larry wrestles a bear at the gypsy carnival and wins. The scene was intended to show how Larry was getting stronger due to having been bitten by a werewolf, but it was cut because Universal realized that the scene made Larry (as opposed to the Wolf Man) look unsympathetic. The bear was trained, but still somewhat uncooperative, it tried to escape and at one point it chased poor Evelyn Ankers who had to climb a ladder to escape!
Reception: Universal released The Wolf Man on December 12, 1941. The studio had initially planned to release it as part of a double billing with fellow horror film The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942), but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Universal thought that audiences would avoid an all-horror bill, and would want something lighter. The Wolf Man became financially successful for Universal, and they decided to have the character reappear in several other horror films, starting with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Lon Chaney Jr played the character in five films for Universal, and the Wolf Man is the only major recurring Universal Monster to have been played by the same actor in all of his appearances.
When it was first released The Wolf Man received a mixed response from critics. Theodore Strauss of The New York Times gave the film a negative review. He was unimpressed with the makeup used to bring the Wolf Man to life, and thought that the film didn’t do enough to build up anticipation for the character. On the other hand, Variety gave the film a positive review and praised the director and the performances of the actors. The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review.
The Wolf Man, like many of the other Universal Monsters films, achieved greater fame and appreciation over time by being shown on television in the 1960s and 1970s. This introduced the film to a new generation of fans, and it is more popular today than it was in 1941. Most modern reviews for The Wolf Man are very positive, and the film is regarded as one of Universal’s best classic horror films. Leonard Maltin gave the film a strongly positive review. He called it, “one of the finest horror films ever made,” and he praised Jack Pierce’s makeup work, the film’s atmospheric music, and the performance of Chaney. In 2001, The Wolf Man was one of the 400 films nominated for the American Film Institutes’ list of the top 100 most thrilling American films.
Why You Should See It: The Wolf Man is a good 1940s horror film. Despite the film’s low budget, director George Waggner does a great job giving the film a creepy atmosphere. The cinematography, the music, and the use of fog on set all work together to create an eerie tone and atmosphere. As to be expected, Claude Rains gives an excellent performance in his supporting role. Lon Chaney Jr. also does a good job. He add sympathy to the role of Larry Talbot and is also frightening as the Wolf Man. Pierce’s makeup work in the film is fantastic and still holds up today.