Movie review - "The Wolf Man" (1941) ****

Excellent werewolf film with a top notch script from Curt Siodmark, that is beautifully structured and invented some werewolf mumbo jumbo that has since been taken as lore (esp the poem that is recited through the movie). Universal provided perhaps their best ever cast for a horror film: Lon Chaney Jnr, coming off Of Mice and Men, was being launched as a horror star and he is excellent as Larry Talbot, the kindly (if a bit lecherous and forceful when it comes to pursuing Evelyn Ankers) American who turns into the title character.

The great appeal of the story is that it is a tragedy, Chaney is a good man who gets bitten because he is brave (i.e. trying to rescue someone from a wolf attack), it's not his fault and there's nothing he can do about it - and Chaney's miserable, haunted face is perfect for the role. Claude Rains isn't believable for one second as Chaney's father, but he has class and presence to spare, and his acting is very good, and at the end very moving.

Ankers is lovely and makes a real character out of potentially a thankless role - in the looks dept she's totally out of Chaney's league but she makes her attraction to him believable (enough) (I think what's behind it is she's engaged to handsome but bland Patric Knowles and along comes this new interesting American with these haunted eyes and she likes the drama of it - even if he has the looks of, well, Lon Chaney Jnr).

Ralph Bellamy, Warren William and Knowles have little to do in their roles but offer more class; Bela Lugosi is highly effective in his one scene, and Maria Ouspensaka is the definitive creepy gypsy woman. There's not an ounce of fat on this - Chaney arrives, meets Ankers, is bitten, turns werewolf, meets a tragic end - it's beautifully done.

Well, mostly: why is Knowles cool with Chaney in one scene but friendly in the very next one? Why is Lugosi working as a fortune teller on the night of a full moon when he knows he's a werewolf? (Even if he doesn't know, his mum does). Why does Lugosi become a proper wolf but Chaney a man with makeup? And they might have been better hiding the make up instead of revealing it from the get go (it does make you laugh at times). But it looks great, is very well made and deservedly confirmed Chaney Jnr as a horror star.