“Even a man who is pure in heart….”

Our Halloween cover is homage to Long Chaney Jr’s portrayal of Larry Talbot in the classic horror film The Wolfman. It was released in December, 1941, as World War II menaced, with a modest budget of $180,000.

Directed by George Waggner, the movie was a success and raised Chaney’s rank as an actor, but continuing a family tradition. He was son of Lon Chaney (Sr), who was known for his stagecraft and called ‘the man of 1,000 faces’. Chaney Sr. was known as lead role in Phantom of the Opera. Audiences continue to be drawn to the drama of transformation, whether from masking, make-up, or digital.

As we line up to see Iron Man or Avatar, we are still fascinated by exploration (and exploitation) of the source and consequence of extra-ordinary physical or psychological change to otherwise ordinary individuals. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written in 1818, was among the first to be made into film in the silent era, and continues to influence and draw us, both as audience and creators.

The Wolf Man was not the earliest film to take on lycanthropy. The Werewolf of London (1935) from a story by Robert Harris was first and starred Henry Hull and co-starred Valerie Hobson, fresh from her role as the infamous doctor’s wife (The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935). Based on the 1933 novel, The Wolf of Paris by Guy Endore, it was adapted by French screen writer, Robert Florey, who was the first to use the term ‘wolfman.’

It was Curt Siodmark, a Jewish émigré, born in Dresden, 1902, who developed and created of the complexities of the wolfman character. Larry Talbot, though born into privilege and wealth, is transformed into a lycanthrope, having been fatefully bitten by the gypsy werewolf Bela (played by our Hungarian friend, and vampire extra-ordinaire, Bela Lugosi).

Talbot is increasingly confused by his black-outs, tries to resist, and then horrified by his response to those want to help. He snarls and turns on them like a trapped beast, beginning with the policeman who finds him in an alley, then his father (Claude Rains) who tells him it’s all in his mind, a superstitious fantasy. His girl-friend (Eveylyn Ankers) insists, despite his resigned protest, that she can save him.

Finally, he kills the woman he loves. In the moonlit mist, as Wolfman, he is shot by two rather suave, dispassionate hunters. He dies with the gypsy witch Maleva, beside him, enigmatically intoning a werewolf-be-good charm. Nature over nurture, it seems, is his unhappy ambiguous end.

Siodmark, a writer in Berlin, saw the coming Nazi juggernaut and decamped to London where he worked on the set of Metropolis. He then landed among the community of European talent that fled to the USA to contribute their skills to cinematic industry. Among them were Fritz Lang (Metropolis), Peter Lore (Maltese Falcon), James Wales and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), and his brother Robert Siodmark, a director.

By 1937 he became the Gene Roddenberry of his day, writing stories and screen plays for horror/sci-fi including: Black Friday, Donovan’s Brain (he wrote the novel), The Invisible Man Returns, Son of Dracula and many of the Frankenstein franchise films of the 40’s. In 1943 he co-wrote one of the classics of the genre: I Walked with Zombies. His career ended with Creature with the Atom Bomb (1956).

In a 1993 interview by Kevin Shnick and Terry Pace, published in genre fan magazine Scarlet Street, Siodmark explains, “…The Wolf Man represents the beast in all of us. His fate is both tragic and escapable. …I had borrowed from the basic structure of Greek tragedy. The hero cannot escape his fate…”

With a cast that includes Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Patrick Knowles, and the seemingly immortal Maria Ouspenskaya as Maleva, the gypsy witch who explains and tries to help him understand the curse. The Wolfman remains in distribution and is rated as high as the latest remake with Anthony Hopkins, and Del Torro in 2010.

From early years of Fritz Lang to James Whale to the fright films of the 1950’s, they all had were grounded in art and stage-craft, creating or putting to use new technology. Writing, production and special effects seem to be balanced in the making of these films, like any other art form. And, when the moon comes up in the fall of year, they still make good the goal entertainment.

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”