Review of The Wolf Man (1941) by Braden A — 27 Jun 2006

Well, to say this movie lived up to its legendary status would be somewhat of a lie...I actually found it quite underwhelming, and the writing seemed very weak to me. The entire relationship between Larry Talbot and Gwen Conliffe was very...well...strange. She doesn't seem to be put off at all by the fact that he is stalking her...in fact she seems to find it quite charming. That there really got me, because we all know that the last thing a girl who's being stalked and watched with a telescope through her bedroom window is going to do is go on a date with the guy.

There was also far too little of the actual Wolf Man. He only came out twice, and both sections of the film were quite short.

I understand that this is one of the monster films that is supposed to be more about the writing and the concepts than the actual monster at hand. Was he realy a werewolf, or did the superstition and coincidences of the situations lead him to believe it? Even though it's pretty obvious that he [i]was[/i] a werewolf, these are the questions that the film raises. Also some stuff in there about he inherent good and evil in man, but it's reduced to about one line of dialogue.

Anyways, all I can say is that I was greatly disappointed. It was still an enjoyable film with some interesting scenes and a great cast, but I expected and wanted a helluva lot more.

6.5.