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When we viewed this WEREWOLF OF London (Universal Pictures, 1935) recently, it was the very first time since maybe the old days. The "old days" in this case being during that time immediately following Universal Picture's release of their "Shock Theatre" package to Television.
That would be the grouping of virtually all of their classic horror tales into one Horrific, Blockbuster of a movie series. Included were the originals of FRANKENSTEIN, Dracula, THE MUMMY, THE WOLFMAN and all of their sequels. They also had added to the mix some of those Universal "B" Series pictures. Those included series like the adapted from radio series like The Inner Sanctum stories.
Those were the days (in 1957-59) when just about every local TV market of any size had their Horror Host Personality to introduce the pictures and crack wise during commercial breaks. It was during this time that we had guys like John Zacherly in Philly, then New York and Marvin (Terry Bennett) in Chicago to guide a new generation through the frights and shrikes of the Black & White gems from the 1930's & '40's.
OUR STORY
..On an expedition to the remote Himalayan Mountains in Tibet, distinguished London Research Botanist, Dr. Glendon (Henry Hull) leads a quest for a rare, moonlight sensitive & night blooming flower. The legendary blooms are legendary for having potent medicating properties, including that for treating Lycanthropy.
As he spots and approaches a specimen, he is attacked by some sort of beast, leaving his arm badly scarred. He does manage to get his sample and returns to London and his own home and laboratory. His new main objective is to cultivate and propagate the strange moonlight sensitive bloomer and to conduct research on any potential curative properties it may possess.
He receives a visitor at his house, a Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland) from the Orient, Tibet to be exact. In addition to being "smarter than the average Tibetan", Dr.Yogami displays great interest in Glendon's work and is seemingly most intuitive concerning Dr. Glendon's health; discovering the still healing wound on his arm by touch.
The Lunar Cycle continues on its way to its climax as a full Moon and Dr. Glendon has his first post-adolescent experience of bodily function change. As the full moon rises, the good scientist undergoes rapid and extreme bodily changes. His hair increases all over the body. His voice deepens to a gruff growl. And he gets powerful physical desires that he cannot be controlled. He has been transformed into an uncontrollable man-beast of the night.
The cure or at least the temporary antidote lies in the exotic moon blooming flower. When a mature blossom is cut and placed into the bloodstream, the fluid of the plant can act to stop the violent, physical wolf-like changes that the light of the silvery, Full Moon causes.* To complicate matters, we find out that Dr. Yogami is also a Werewolf, and even the same furry creature that attacked Dr. Glendon back in the Tibetan mountains. A climax occurs when the two face down each other over who will use the last blossom in their veins.
Perhaps it is a case of familiarity breeding contempt, but the Werewolf as presented here in this 1935 film is much more frightening and monstrous than the one as presented in THE WOLF MAN (Universal, 1941). Please, Lon Chaney, Jr. is still tops. This is not meant as a knock on his portrayal, the '41 make-up job nor the film itself. ** It's just that we saw so much of Chaney, Jr. in THE WOLF MAN and four subsequent films, culminating with ABBOT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (Universal 1948).
All of the above and one other element enters into this attitude about the picture. Namely, it is Writer/Director Curt Siodimak's assembling of all of the Werewolf Mythology, according to Universal Pictures. You know what I mean; the Wolf Bane, the Pentagram, Silver Bullets and the shear poetry of "
..Even a Man Who's Pure of Heart, etc., etc.,". Our 1935 film is not shackled with that quasi-mythology to follow, and though it served Universal and the movie goers well in those 5 pictures, the 1935 follows a different path. It's one never repeated.
NOTE: * Ancient belief that the cycle of the Moon affected behaviour, we have words like Lunatic, Lunacy and even the wild water fowl, the Loon.
NOTE ** Please Dear Reader, we're not trying to demean Chaney Jr.'s THE WOLF MAN, nor any of those monster crossover sequels. Because we enjoyed every monster film from Universal, we included that bunch of multi-terror productions like: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945) and the ultimate Comedy-Horror crossover, Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
score 9/10
redryan64 1 December 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1773292/ |
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25-2-2021 06:05:35