Avengers: Infinity War. But in 1941, audiences didn’t have the assurance of a contractually obligated sequel to reanimate their dead hero.
Of course, Universal Studios still obliged them with Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, all starring the Wolf Man, magically revived from the last installment!
The Plot in Brief: Jaunty American Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral home in England for the funeral of his brother. He reconciles with his estranged father Sir John (Claude Rains) and meets beautiful Gwen (Evelyn Ankers). While flirting with Gwen in her antiques shop, Larry buys a cane with a silver wolf’s head handle. Gwen tells Larry about the local legend of the werewolf.
Of course, Universal Studios still obliged them with Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, all starring the Wolf Man, magically revived from the last installment!
The Plot in Brief: Jaunty American Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral home in England for the funeral of his brother. He reconciles with his estranged father Sir John (Claude Rains) and meets beautiful Gwen (Evelyn Ankers). While flirting with Gwen in her antiques shop, Larry buys a cane with a silver wolf’s head handle. Gwen tells Larry about the local legend of the werewolf.
The Invisible Man; he’s one year away from playing wily Captain Renault in Casablanca and only two years from playing the title role in Universal’s remake of The Phantom of the Opera.
I would say that Rains gives the performance of the film, if it were not for Maria Ouspenskaya’s performance as Maleva. In much the same way that Bela Lugosi’s performance as Dracula and Boris Karloff’s performance as Frankenstein’s Monster quickly became iconic cultural touchstones, so too did Ouspenskaya’s. In movies, television, theater, and the routines of countless stand-up comedians in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s (including, but not limited to, the great Lenny Bruce), her gypsy woman became THE gypsy woman, and no wonder. She brings such a realism and depth of feeling to the role, it’s a little acting class in miniature. Years ago, I learned that Maria Ouspenskaya (I spent my teenage years mispronouncing her name.) supplemented her acting income by teaching acting classes that were considered without peer.
And of course, there’s Bela.
Bela Lugosi is in The Wolf Man, though only in a cameo role. Bela brings it, as he always did, and I would argue that his troubled gypsy character is argument alone against modern critics who insist that all of Lugosi’s performances were merely variations of his famous Count. Good Lord! We’ve got Bela the gypsy, Igor in Son of Frankenstein, and the “Sayer of the Law” in Island of Lost Souls… that’s range, baby. If Universal Studios really wanted to make some money in the early 1940s, they should have produced a prequel to The Wolf Man starring Bela Lugosi and featuring his character’s backstory… they could have called it Wolf Man: The Early Years, or The Phantom Wolf Man Menace, or Wolf Man Origins: WOLFERINE.
The Wolf Man is the complete package for us fevered Monster Kids. Sweeping drama, cool monsters, tragic romance, silver wolf’s head canes, and Bela Lugosi… this film has it all. There is but one week of Scary Movie Month left. We all had better watch The Wolf Man again before next Wednesday… and say our prayers by night.
I would say that Rains gives the performance of the film, if it were not for Maria Ouspenskaya’s performance as Maleva. In much the same way that Bela Lugosi’s performance as Dracula and Boris Karloff’s performance as Frankenstein’s Monster quickly became iconic cultural touchstones, so too did Ouspenskaya’s. In movies, television, theater, and the routines of countless stand-up comedians in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s (including, but not limited to, the great Lenny Bruce), her gypsy woman became THE gypsy woman, and no wonder. She brings such a realism and depth of feeling to the role, it’s a little acting class in miniature. Years ago, I learned that Maria Ouspenskaya (I spent my teenage years mispronouncing her name.) supplemented her acting income by teaching acting classes that were considered without peer.
And of course, there’s Bela.
The Wolf Man is the complete package for us fevered Monster Kids. Sweeping drama, cool monsters, tragic romance, silver wolf’s head canes, and Bela Lugosi… this film has it all. There is but one week of Scary Movie Month left. We all had better watch The Wolf Man again before next Wednesday… and say our prayers by night.
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