HAPPY 80TH, WOLF MAN

There are few films as multilayered as George Waggner's 1941 character study, The Wolf Man, thanks in no small part to Curt Siodmak's engrossing, folklore-bolstering script and Lon Chaney Jr's iconic performance as Lawrence (Larry) Talbot, a man cursed with lycanthropy.

In one sense, The Wolf Man is a grand, atmospheric monster movie carved in the best Universal form; in another, it's an amazing, psychological thriller that draws one into its nuanced tiers. (One fears the monster, but one cares for the human behind the ravenous marauder and make his heartbreaking journey one's own cross to bear.) 

There are few werewolf yarns since that haven't been influenced by The Wolf Man, which redefined the werewolf concept in an unshakable way. In fact, Paul Naschy's entire Waldemar Daninsky series sprung from The Wolf Man's impact. Other productions owe The Wolf Man a mountain of debt: Cure of the Werewolf, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Universal's 2010 remake with Benicio Del Toro.

As Talbot, Chaney flawlessly churns a sense of yearning and guilt throughout his nuanced portrayal. However, when transformed, he moves like a stealthy beast (the ideal, hairy Hyde), a stark contrast to his woeful, gentlemanly antithesis, thus establishing one of the most memorable movie monsters of all time. 

In lovely contrast, Evelyn Ankers is excellent as the gorgeous Gwen, the apple of Talbot's eye (i.e the symbolic prize that he can't possess). Maria Ouspenskaya is equally effective as the maternal gypsy, Maleva, with Bela Lugosi in a celebrated cameo as her afflicted son. Comprising the rest of the prime cast is Patric Knowles, Ralph Bellamy and the great Claude (Invisible Man/Phantom of the Opera) as Talbot's confounded father, Sir John. 

To cradle to the movie's saturating mood, Hans J. Salter's score fills one ears while driving one's pulse. It set the standard for the Universal horror scores that followed.

From a cultural vantage, Siomak's script introduced the "Even a man who is pure in heart" proverb and the use of silver as a means to slay a werewolf. On a further cultural note, The Wolf Man's symbolic pentagram (as perceived by Talbot to convey his prophesied victims) epitomizes the stigmatic labeling that stained Nazi-reigned Germany at the time of the movie's release, empowering to the fable's identifiable air of terror.  

Jack Piece's make-up is also a substantial feature of the film, rendered with the same, unique logic that defined his design for Boris Karloff's Frankenstein Monster. (Pierce also applied the make-up for Henry Hull's Werewolf of London a few years prior, though that character dynamic ultimately required a more subdued approach, whereas The Wolf Man exudes pure, focused ferocity.) 

There's so much to gnaw upon in The Wolf Man. In truth, if one doesn't comprehend its haunting content, one is incapable of understanding what makes a movie a classic. 

(Re)visit The Wolf Man today. This hair-raiser is fated to mesmerize, whether one engages it for the first or the hundredth view.