Werewolf of London (1935) Review

Tagline: “Beware! Terror strikes in the night!”

Werewolf of London (1935) Review

 

Many horror fans misremember who the original werewolf was. It was not Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man, though he would go on to star in sequels and end up on the Mount Rushmore of Classic Universal Monsters. The actual original werewolf, in the first werewolf movie ever, was, in fact, Werewolf of London, which bears one of the hallmarks The Wolf Man lacked: it’s specifically the full moon that turns this man into a beast.  

The story doesn’t even begin in London, it begins in Tibet, where Dr. Wilfred Glendon seeks a plant rumoured to only flower during a full moon. He finds it, but also finds a monster that’s part man, part wolf, and brings not just the flowers home with him, but a curse that can only be held at bay by the plant’s sap. This “lycanthrophobia” (they hadn’t quite worked out the terminology yet) is researched by Glendon in his London laboratory where he builds a machine that can actually simulate moonlight, which makes this story more of a sci-fi/supernatural combo, and the lab setting gives it more of a Frankenstein flavour, to compare it with one of the most popular monsters of that era. Despite that initial originality, it’s pretty clear to see how many later werewolf tales were influenced by this one, from its premise to its geographic location. However, at no point does he get a big dish of beef chow mein…

In some ways, Werewolf of London is actually even better than The Wolf Man. There’s an effective build up of suspense and horror, despite knowing Glendon has been turned into a werewolf very early on. On that note, you don’t have to wait long for the horror to start: Glendon is attacked by a werewolf in the first ten minutes! The first time he fully transforms it looks pretty good for 1935, with the actor passing in front of columns and becoming more wolf-like with each blended transition. Even if the twist that the mysterious Dr. Yogami is also a werewolf seems obvious, it still thickens the plot a bit more, and the romantic drama intertwined with Glendon’s descent into werewolfery raises the stakes, as well. It seems the original Wolf Man took inspiration from the latter. Werewolf of London, similarly, has some pretty quotable dialogue. Dr. Yogami: “The werewolf is neither man nor wolf, but a Satanic creature with the worst qualities of both.”   

It’s interesting that the 2010 Wolfman remake actually lifted two big plot elements from this movie rather than the one it bears the name of; the reveal that there are actually two werewolves, and the curse comes to England from a far away land. The makeup is a little simpler than the Wolf Man (also created by Jack Pierce), but I actually prefer this look, with a sleeker receding hairline instead of the poofy afro. Dr. Glendon is more humanistic post-transformation, going so far as to grab a hat and a coat before heading out for his evening of murder. There are some shots of the hands up close where the fur and makeup looks caked on, but generally, he looks pretty ferocious, and this look obviously influenced later werewolves, such as Hammer Studios’ own take, The Curse of the Werewolf.

For as many things as it does better than The Wolf Man, Werewolf of London still lacks in a couple areas, mainly in its atmosphere. That’s not to say it doesn’t make effective use of shadows, gloom, and the titular monster, but the settings are not nearly as iconic as the foggy forests of The Wolf Man. Henry Hull is also not as desperate or as charming of a lead. His mission to unravel the mystery of his affliction lacks urgency at times, and his performance makes me wonder how different this era of horror would have turned out had Boris Karloff been in the role as originally intended—but, had it gone that way, then we probably would have never had The Wolf Man six years later.

Werewolf of London is stodgier in tone and less refined in its lycanthropic lore than later werewolf films, but considering it was the first of its kind, it’s pretty impressive, and it’s kind of a shame it ended up getting so overshadowed by The Wolf Man, but one of the main reasons is clear to me: Dr. Glendon is no Larry Talbot, and by extension, Henry Hull is no Lon Chaney Jr.