The Wolf Man

Year of Release:  1941
Director:  George Waggner
Screenplay:  Curt Siodmak
Starring:  Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Warren Williams, Ralph Bellamy, Maria Ouspenskaya, Evelyn Ankers, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi
Running Time:  70 minutes
Genre:  Horror

Larry Talbot (Chaney Jr.), the prodigal son of Sir John Talbot (Rains), returns to his ancestral home to reconcile with his estranged father.  He soon befriends Gwen Conliffe (Ankers), the daughter of a local antiques dealer.  One night in the woods, Larry attempts to save Gwen's friend Jenny (Fay Helm) from an attack by a large wolf.  Jenny is killed and Larry is bitten, but he does seemingly succeed in killing the wolf, but the corpse  is not a wolf but a man (Lugosi).  Larry's wounds miraculously heal by the next day, and he becomes increasingly obsessed with the village's local legend of a werewolf (a human who turns into a wolf at "certain times of year").

This is not the first werewolf movie, but it is one of the most influential, and one of the best films in  the "Universal Monster" cycle.  It benefits from a  poetic, literate script from writer Curt Siodmak, and striking photography with evocative, shadowy, mist-shrouded forests and iconic make-up from Jack Pierce (who created the look of Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein (1931)).  Lon Chaney Jr. turns in a great performance as the tortured Larry Talbot, both in his guilt-ridden human form and  monster form, he brings a powerful physicality and agility to the role.  He creates a sympathetic, tragic character.  Claude Rains is also a standout as the unbelieving Sir John, who refuses even to entertain the idea that his son might have anything wrong with him, either physical or mental as the bodycount rises.  The film is almost more of a psychological drama at times than a monster movie, Chaney only appears in the full "Wolf Man" makeup fairly late in the film, and only quite briefly.  His doctor, naturally enough, is convinced that Talbot is mentally ill, and there is a lot of discussion about psychology and folklore. 
While the movie has aged a lot better than many of the other films of it's time, it still shows it's age.  Evelyn Ankers has very little to do except be rescued, and a lot of the supposedly Welsh or English  characters are obviously Americans, the transformation sequences (which focus on Talbot's feet) are not particularly impressive  and the famous werewolf poem is recited no less than three times throughout the short film.  By the way, some people believe that it is a traditional old poem, but it was written by Curt Siodmak
However it retains it's power and, despite it's flaws is one of horror cinema's finest moments.  It's been followed by several sequels and was remade in 2010 with Anthony Hopkins and Benecio del Toro.

"Even a man who is pure at heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf
When the wolfsbane blooms
And the Autumn moon is bright."

Things are getting hairy for Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man