By WALLACE McBRIDE
THE WOLF MAN isn't an especially good movie.
That's not to say there isn't a lot to love about the film. It's an iron-clad concept, a myth so profoundly resonant that it takes an utter dimwit to totally botch it. But werewolves also create major dramatic hurtles that few directors fully clear, because the idea forces a movie's protagonist to disappear whenever things get interesting. It's a problem that's been compounded in recent years by CGI, which replaces flesh and blood actors and stuntmen with cartoons, and turns your drama into a WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? homage with a quickness. Just ask The Hulk how long it took audiences to fully connect with his problems (Spoiler: three movies.)
While it isn't a great example of film making, THE WOLF MAN is an imperfectly realized film, and far from terrible.It's the most damply atmospheric film this side of James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN, stars one of Universal's few "human" monsters and is rarely ever boring. But it is also hobbled by the kinds of bizarre creative decisions that continue to plague Hollywood movies.
The Story: Following the death of his brother, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns home to Wales from America. While trying to bury the hatchet with his estranged father (the always amazing Claude Rains) Talbot romances a young antique shop owner and stumbles into the path of a werewolf. After surviving the attack, Talbot finds he's inherited the curse, and some bad shit happens.
THE WOLF MAN's most misguided creative decision is also the most obvious: Casting Lon Chaney Jr. in the role of a Welsh aristocrat. Chaney's a towering physical presence in this movie, a guy who looks like he'd be more at home in a saloon than in the conservatory of a stately British mansion. His California drawl and "aw shucks" attitude are also alarmingly out of place. Had a car salesman from Burbank wandered off the street and into the studio lot, he would have looked more at home here than Chaney. And he would have made you a deal on a '39 Chrysler Imperial, too.
The movie also toys around with a lot of ideas that it never fully explores. There's a lot of talk about the moon, stars, astrology and astronomy that never pays off in a meaningful way. If I had to guess, the screenplay was trying to make a point about destiny and damnation, but that doesn't really explain a really gross scene where Chaney spies on his love interest with a telescope and then brags to her about it. As far as "meet cutes" go, it's right up there with Sharon Stone and Billy Baldwin in SLIVER.
It would be easy to write-off THE WOLF MAN as nothing more than a gothic pastry, a movie that's all sizzle and no steak (Note to self: try not to write when you're hungry.) But, as Harlan Ellison once pointed out, there were much better movies released in 1941 than THE WOLF MAN. It's a year that also produced CITIZEN KANE, DUMBO, HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, THE MALTESE FALCON, SERGEANT YORK ... hell, click this link and read the list for yourself. It was a great fucking year for movies. With that kind of competition, why the hell are we still talking about THE WOLF MAN? In fact, why are you even reading this?
Truthfully, there might not be a rational explanation for the unusually long lifespan of THE WOLF MAN. Like Larry Talbot's own darker impulses, the movie has taken on a life of its own, and it's probably wise to just stay out of its way. It's a better movie than it has any right to be and a shining example of a film that is worth more than the sum of its parts. And many of Lon Chaney Jr.'s shortcomings in this film become strengths in the Wolf Man's later appearances ... but those are columns for another day.
THE WOLF MAN isn't an especially good movie.
That's not to say there isn't a lot to love about the film. It's an iron-clad concept, a myth so profoundly resonant that it takes an utter dimwit to totally botch it. But werewolves also create major dramatic hurtles that few directors fully clear, because the idea forces a movie's protagonist to disappear whenever things get interesting. It's a problem that's been compounded in recent years by CGI, which replaces flesh and blood actors and stuntmen with cartoons, and turns your drama into a WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? homage with a quickness. Just ask The Hulk how long it took audiences to fully connect with his problems (Spoiler: three movies.)
While it isn't a great example of film making, THE WOLF MAN is an imperfectly realized film, and far from terrible.It's the most damply atmospheric film this side of James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN, stars one of Universal's few "human" monsters and is rarely ever boring. But it is also hobbled by the kinds of bizarre creative decisions that continue to plague Hollywood movies.
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| Wolfmen are vulnerable to silver, wolfsbane and +3 Canes of Pimping. |
THE WOLF MAN's most misguided creative decision is also the most obvious: Casting Lon Chaney Jr. in the role of a Welsh aristocrat. Chaney's a towering physical presence in this movie, a guy who looks like he'd be more at home in a saloon than in the conservatory of a stately British mansion. His California drawl and "aw shucks" attitude are also alarmingly out of place. Had a car salesman from Burbank wandered off the street and into the studio lot, he would have looked more at home here than Chaney. And he would have made you a deal on a '39 Chrysler Imperial, too.
The movie also toys around with a lot of ideas that it never fully explores. There's a lot of talk about the moon, stars, astrology and astronomy that never pays off in a meaningful way. If I had to guess, the screenplay was trying to make a point about destiny and damnation, but that doesn't really explain a really gross scene where Chaney spies on his love interest with a telescope and then brags to her about it. As far as "meet cutes" go, it's right up there with Sharon Stone and Billy Baldwin in SLIVER.
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| "That's lovely underwear I saw you put on this morning." |
Truthfully, there might not be a rational explanation for the unusually long lifespan of THE WOLF MAN. Like Larry Talbot's own darker impulses, the movie has taken on a life of its own, and it's probably wise to just stay out of its way. It's a better movie than it has any right to be and a shining example of a film that is worth more than the sum of its parts. And many of Lon Chaney Jr.'s shortcomings in this film become strengths in the Wolf Man's later appearances ... but those are columns for another day.
Sweet new blog, Cuz! These were the movies that connected me to Dark Shadows...or maybe it was the other way around. Great job!
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