The Wolf Man (1941) is a classic monster film starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, who returns home to his father in the wake of his brother's death and finds there's more going on in his home town than he remembers. Larry kills a ravenous wolf (only after being bitten) and finds himself suddenly the under suspicion for killing a man. Everyone suspects Larry is delusional or mistaken, but Larry knows he killed a wolf.
The story in The Wolf Man is actually really interesting, I can't think of many stories like this that that combine mystery with magical. The story plays out like a mystery but with fantastical elements and the horror of it actually comes from Larry Talbot's suffering and strife. I also liked how they work in some subtle but interesting statements on religion and class.
There are some odd plot holes or maybe not holes, so much as cracks that I saw. Primarily involving the pendant that the gypsy gives Larry. She says to "Always wear this over your heart," so what does Larry do? Larry looks to save the girl he think will be in danger and quickly gives this to her, which as a result will cause his own downfall. Now if this pendant (which ends up doing nothing in the film) actually could save the inflicted werewolf, why was the first werewolf a gypsy?! Did the Gypsy girl not want to give the pendant to the gypsy Bela for some reason? This really doesn't make sense at all. Then there's always the fact that the first werewolf Bela was actually a wolf (walking on four legs), and then for some reason he bites Larry who becomes a Wolf Man (that walks on two legs...?)
The other thing that bothered me was when the police are investigating Larry after the first incident, Larry's wound has healed magically and there's no dead wolf to be found, so they come to the conclusion he's crazy. But the investigator actually points out the fact that Larry came home he had a bloody jacket from a bite. I wouldn't have even thought of the physical evidence that would have left until the investigator actually points it out! After that, instead of checking the old clothes for proficient bleeding he just assumes that Larry imagined the whole thing! I...don't...understand!?
All in all I'm sad to report this is another film that hasn't weathered the ages of time too well. The beginning of the film spends a lot of time expelling tons of awkward exposition (note this is after the film opens on a page explaining what a werewolf is!) They say the poem of the werewolf, THREE TIMES. By the time they say it a third time it's just hilarious. That is not something easy to work in naturally. I found it interesting they try to work in a little bit of comedy like some of the other Universal horror films, with the assistant to the police being kind of a bumbling idiot. But unfortunately he has only two scenes and when they occur it's just kind of awkward in the midst of everything else that's going on. It's just so unnecessary. Also the film ends very abruptly, this isn't all necessarily bad it's just kind of awkward. Like the lead up wasn't fully paid off, it just seems like an old movie standard that just doesn't hold up today.
The acting in The Wolf Man is really something special. The cast is great with Claude Rains as the Senior Talbot, Maria Ouspenskaya as the gypsy Maleva, the wonderful Evelyn Ankers as the love interest Gwen and even Bela Lugosi in a small but memorable part as the gypsy werewolf who is fittingly named Bela. But above all the actor to see this film for is Lon Chaney Jr. Lon brings such a great range of emotion to the character Larry Talbot that there's no way you can not feel for his character. It's easy to remember his character as suffering and full of strife because he plays it so well but the film actually does an interesting thing by setting him up as a very happy skirt chaser without much care in the world, this make his transition even greater.
All in all The Wolf Man (1941) might seem a bit dated viewed today but the story is still good, the acting is amazing and the film just has a really nice charm to it. 3.5/5 stars.
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