Has this film been made by Universal Studios andor starred one of the horror holy trinity (Bela/Boris/Lon Jnr) I can imagine it would have entered th classic cannon – as it is, it’s reputation has increased in recently years, partly due to the rise in the reputation of its director, John Brahm.
It is a well-directed werewolf tale, with pleasing period detail (its set around the turn of the century) and excellent photography by Lucien Ballard. The actors lack a little in the charisma department – the biggest name is John Howard, of Bulldog Drummond fame – but they acquit themselves well enough and there are some lovely touches, such as the fact the scientific detective hero as a female sidekick (some sort of first in horror movies? – she cops a few sexist cracks from her hero boss but she’s still a key member of the team)
Unlike the best known werewolf films, the story is told from the point of view of detectives and victims – we’re not even sure it involves a werewolf until towards the end. This does mean that the feeling of tragedy found in most werewolf films is missing and there is only a limited amount of werewolf action (it's closer to Hound of the Baskervilles in that respect). Also the romantic plot is undeveloped. Still an engrossing film – and it runs just over an hour, too.
NB The original source material can be read here.
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