Monster-of-the-Week: …another classic selection: Lon Chaney, Jr. in his signature role of the hapless Larry Talbot…
…in 1941’s The Wolf Man, a man who is pure in heart & says his prayers by night, but still turns into a half-lupine maniac when the moon is full. There isn’t much good one can say about last year’s remake The Wolfman, with Benicio del Toro, but it did at least show, by comparison, the excellence of the original, which plays on Monday, October 10, at 6 p.m. (MST).
We watched a bit of that the other night, and I was surprised at how clunky it was - overacting, and obvious, clumsy exposition. That damn verse gets repeated so many times, I understand now why I've known it by heart since I was a kid, even though it had been about 35 years since I last saw the film.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Larry Talbot is so creepy, he doesn't get any worse when the lycanthropy kicks in.
Can't agree--I watched it, I think, about a year ago, & was struck at how well I thought it held up; it's not on the level of the first Frankensteins, I'll admit, but I still think it's one of the best of the Universals, & that Chaney, though not on he level of Karloff or Lugosi's iconic performances a few years earlier, is poignant as Talbot. Also, that Claude Rains is quite good as the old man, though 'll grant you that no one in he picture seems very Welsh. Maleva belongs to another era of drama (I think I read once that Ouspenskaya had acted with Stanislavki at the Moscow Art Theatre), but I still enjoy the hokum of her performance. Mostly, thouiugh, I just enjoy the richness of the atmosphere--I think it gets across the autumnal chill.
ReplyDeleteJohn Landis pointed out once in sme documentary, though, that it's odd that The Wolf Man kills by strangling people. I guess tearing hem with tooth & claw was just too gruesome for the tastes of the period.
Have you ever seen The Werewolf of London, Universal's earlier atempt at a werewolf movie, with Henry Hull & Waner Oland? It's pretty great.
I have seen The Werewolf of London, but it's been decades since I saw it. I remember I liked it, but I remembered The Wolf Man as being better than I now think it is.
ReplyDeleteThe worst werewolf movie ever made, though, has to be The Moon of The Wolf. Poor Bradford Dillman, having to jump around in a wolf mask and furry gloves, with his nice clothes not even messed up.
Ah, if you truly think "Moon of the Wolf" is the worst werewolf movie ever made, you must never have seen "Werewolf of Woodstock" with Tige Andrews (produced by Dick Clark!) or "Werewolf of Washington," with poor Dean Stockwell in the title role, both of which make "Moon of the Wolf" look like the werewolf Citizen Kane. MOTW, by the way, is based on a novel by Lelsie Whitten that's actually quite good.
ReplyDeleteYou can watch Werewolf of Washington online. The guy who plays the President is awesome:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6988712692738042328#
I'll watch that tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI read the Whitten novel, at your recommendation a few years ago, and quite liked it.