Best Horror Movies

The Wolf Man (1941) was Hollywood’s first breakthrough in theatrical make-up dealing with latex appliances and tremendous amounts of hair. Legendary make-up artist Jack Pierce had not enabled Boris Karloff to achieve a wide variety of emotion, and the feelings of the monster were difficult to read. However, the excellent actor Lon Chaney, Jr. was able to project and deliver exactly what the Wolf Man felt and was doing with his face. The film was not only a breakthrough in make-up; it was the inspiration for many werewolf films to come in appearace, signs, and weaknesses of a werewolf. Even sci-fi channel’s Project Metalbest featured a werewolf weakened by silver.

The film begins in Lanwelly Village, Wales, England. Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral home, where his father Sir John Talbot (Claude Reins) waits for him. John Jr., “Larry’s” brother had recently died, and Sir John has asked his son to be the inheritant of the Talbot estate. After working with his father’s telescope, Larry sees Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), the young daughter of an antique shop owner. Larry stops by to ask Gwen to go with him to a gypsy carnival, and purchases a silver cane with a wolf’s head. Gwen tells Larry a poem that would be repeated even in the cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks meet the Wolfman:

Even a man who is pure at heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms
and the autum moon is bright.

At the gypsy carnival, Gwen, Larry, and Gwen’s friend Jenny go to the fortune tellers Maleva and her son Bela (Bela Lugosi). Bela tells Jenny to run quickly, and Larry sees her killed by a wolf. He beats it to death, but in the process is bitten. The next morning, Larry meets Gwen’s fiance` Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles) and the gypsy Maleva, who warns him he is a werewolf. This fact is revealed that night, when Larry transforms.

Larry Talbot is a very sympathetic character. He wishes to do good, but is forced to do evil. Sir John, Larry’s father, must lose his son, and I can feel very sorry for the Wolf Man. This is an ideal family horror film. It is an undisputed classic, and Universal made 1 million dollars from it.