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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Universal Studios
Salesrank: 7655
Released: November 2, 1999 |
| Our Price: $7.62 |
| Used Price: $6.97 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
he original horror classic that introduced one of the screen's most infamous monsters! Lon Chaney, Jr. portrays Larry Talbot, who returns to his father's (Claude Rains) castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman (Evelyn Ankers). One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where Jenny's fate is revealed by a mysterious gypsy fortune teller. The dreamlike atmospheres and elaborate settings combined with a chilling musical score make The World Man a masterpiece not only of the genre, but for all time!
Description of The Wolf Man (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection):
Even a man who is pure in heart,
And says his prayers by night,
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright.
If you haven't heard this piece of horror-movie doggerel before, you'll never forget it after seeing The Wolf Man for two reasons: it's a spooky piece of rhyme and nearly everybody in the picture recites it at one time or another. Set in a fog-bound studio-built Wales, The Wolf Man tells the doom-laden tale of Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who returns to the estate of his wealthy father (Claude Rains). (Yes, Chaney's American, but the movie explains this, awkwardly.) Bitten by a werewolf, Talbot suffers the classic fate of the victims of lycanthropy: at the full moon, he turns into a werewolf, a transformation ingeniously devised by makeup maestro Jack Pierce. Pierce was the man who turned Boris Karloff into the Frankenstein monster, and his werewolf makeup became equally famous, with its canine snout and bushy hairdo--and, of course, seriously sharp dental work. The Wolf Man was a smash hit, giving Universal Pictures a new monster for their already crowded stable, and Chaney found himself following in the footsteps (or paw prints) of his father, who had essayed a monster or two in the silent era. This is a classy horror outing, with strong atmosphere and a thoughtful script by Curt Siodmak--well, except for the stiff romantic bits between Chaney and Evelyn Ankers. It's also got Bela Lugosi (briefly) and Maria Ouspenskaya, the prunelike Russian actress who foretells doom like nobody's business. --Robert Horton
The Wolf Man (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection) Reviews:
It stands the test of time (for the most part) 
2009-12-02 - The film starts out strong with good character development. The cinematography and script are good but there a few places when the movie gets too melodramatic. I wish Bela Lugosi had a larger part in the movie, and Claude Rains. The fight scene at the end was very well done for its time. I am really looking forward to seeing the remake with Benicio Del Toro, and interested to see how faithful it is to the original movie.
Wolfbane and silver
2009-11-15 - "Even a man who is pure in heart/And says his prayers by night/May become a wolf/When the wolfbane blooms/And the autumn moon is bright..."
Sure, Dracula gave a face and a mythology to the vampire in the 1800s, but the werewolf didn't get similar treatment for quite some time. It was only with "The Wolfman" that the werewolf got his due, creating the template for lycanthropes everywhere -- a haunting, atmospheric story about a mildly creepy man who (through no fault of his own) turns into an unholy mixture of man and beast.
Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) returns to his ancestral Welsh home after many years away, to reconcile with his estranged dad who looks nothing like him (Claude Rains). He immediately starts acquainting himself with his old home, including being rather creepy towards a lovely woman named Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), who is working at her dad's antique store. He even accompanies Gwen and her friend Jenny to a local gypsy camp to have their fortunes told.
But after having her fortune told, Jenny is horribly killed by a wolf; Larry beats it to death with his silver-topped cane, but not before being bitten. You can probably guess what happens next -- the wolf turns out to be the gypsy fortuneteller (Bela Lugosi), and Larry's bite mysteriously heals overnight. And after being warned by an aged gypsy woman (Maria Ouspenskaya) that he has now contracted the curse of the werewolf, Larry finds himself undergoing a terrible transformation at night... and killing.
It's a sign of how good "The Wolfman" is that its dated special effects (hello, lap dissolve!) and prosthetics don't hamper it as a story -- it's an intelligent, slowly-unfolding story about an ordinary man whose good deed backfires in a big way. It's also less "boo! Scary!" horror than psychological horror -- Larry is left wondering if the dead gypsy passed on his horrific curse, or if all the talk of werewolves has given him clinical lycanthropy. In other words -- is he cursed, or is he insane? Not a fun choice.
And George Waggner wraps the movie in suitable atmosphere -- lots of misty forests, quaint rural villages, shadowy chapels and the occasional outbursts of shrieking and offscreen violence. The beginning is a little awkward (enough canned father-son "reunion" conversations!) but kicks into gear when the characters go wandering off to see the gypsies -- and after that, it's a slow bloody build as all the scientifically impossible things come true, and Larry finds himself increasingly trapped.
And while some of the werewolf stuff (including the famous rhyme) was made up for the movie, it adds a note of mythological creepiness, as well as some lovely incantations ("The way you walked was thorny, through no fault of your own...").
And Lon Chaney Jr. did an excellent job bringing a sympathetic edge to the werewolf, turning convincingly from a jovial engineer/aristocrat to a man haunted by his horrific change. The one problem: he isn't very sympathetic at the beginning, since he basically stalks Gwen (looking in her window with a telescope?) and won't get lost when she tells him to. Ankers gives a good performance as a local love interest, and Ouspenskaya gives a spectacular performance as the old gypsy lady -- eerie, sympathetic to Larry's plight, and with a dry sense of humor.
Despite a slightly creepy lead character, "The Wolfman" is still an enduring classic -- it's no longer exactly scary, but it is deliciously spooky. Definitely a must-see.
THE WOLF..STILL THE BEST 
2009-07-07 - I CANT EVEN DESCRIBE LON CHANEY! BRILLIANT,ALL CHARACTERS WERE GREAT!!!! THIS IS WHAT IS MISSING NOW A DAYS IN THE MOVIES,GOOD OLD FASHION PLOTS AND GREAT ACTION AND ACTORS,GET IT YOU WONT SURELY REGRET IT,THIS IS AN AMERICAN CLASSIC!! I USE TO WAIT UNTILL IT COMES ON,NOW I OWN IT AND IM GLAD!!!!
Tedious and clumsy 
2009-06-10 - The Bottom Line:
One of those movies that's labelled a classic even though it's a dated and mediocre film, The Wolf Man feels long even while clocking in at a scant 70 minutes and largely consists of Lon Cheney running around in a ridiculous bear costume; I recognize how significant this movie was (our entire pop cultural idea of the werewolf was pretty much hammered out by this film and its sequels) but it pales in comparison to anything James Whale did in the same time period.
2/4
Lon Chaney at his best
2009-03-07 - One of my all time favorite horror movies. Lon Chaney at his best as Larry Talbott/Wolf Man. I was so glad to see that this great classic was on DVD that I purchased immediately, even though it's on VHS, since eventually there will be no more VCR's. Great old wonderful actors and actresses like Marie Ouspenskaya, Claude Rains as Lon Chaney's father. Too bad these wonderful actors are gone. I think Elena Verdugo is the only one left from this great movie. A must buy and see.
