Werewolf of London

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Classic Horror Special

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In the realm of Universal Monsters, I have probably always found the wolf man to be one of the most relatable. So, I was looking forward to getting to these titles; this being, not the first werewolf film, but Hollywood's first mainstream werewolf film. It was here that a lot of the common werewolf clichés come from. I'd probably venture to say that werewolf films have this to thank for perpetual material much like zombie films have 'Night of the Living Dead' to thank for their subgenre.

A renowned botanist named Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) travels to Tibet in search of an elusive plant called the mariphasa. He succeeds in locating it, but on is journey is bitten by a werewolf. After heading back to London, he is approached by fellow botanist, Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland), who claims to have met him in Tibet while he was on the same quest for the same plant. He further explains that the mariphasa plant is the only thing that can stave off the effects of "werewolfery" (otherwise known as lycanthropy).

Glendon passes it all off as superstition, but soon finds out that he should have listened when he sees fur starting to grow on his hands under a moon lamp. That night, he experiences the full effects of lycanthropy. But while he's able to hold things off on the first night, he may experience some competition with the mysterious Dr. Yogami, who the audience can pretty much figure out right away is another werewolf. It may not have been quite as predictable at the time of the film's release, but nowadays things are pretty obvious, based on the first conversation Glendon and Yogami. Further to all of that, Glendon's human side also wants to protect his wife, Lisa (Valerie Hobson). It's all pretty standard stuff nowadays

Today, it's probably a bit dated and cliche, but it doesn't stop it from being a pretty solid story. Monsters from this era are fascinating, as they all have some sort of strong humanistic side to them. Dracula is a hopeless romantic, Frankenstein's monster wants a friend and is misunderstood, The Mummy is.... stuck in the past? I've always seen the werewolf as something closer to Jekyll and Hyde. It's a personal fight with one's more animalistic side, often representing things like the effects of alcohol or drug abuse, or perhaps just one's angry and violent side. There is something a bit more classy about these monsters than the 80s slashers I love so much. Jason may be the only one that's at least a little sympathetic - the rest are pretty much serial killers.

Back to the film at hand, however, I have to say that to effects are pretty great for their time. The makeup is a bit more subtle here than what we're used to, and it adds more to the human side of things when the creature isn't just full wolf. I've always actually preferred the two-legged classic werewolf for that as opposed to the complete change (think 'The Wolfman' vs 'Twilight' - I've seen the trailers at least). At the end of the day, it's a good classic monster movie for that Halloween list, although I may prefer and recommend 1941's 'The Wolf Man' a bit more.

3/5

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