October 21, 2025 • 7 mins
today i dive into the universal monster movie , the wolfman from 1941 , that defined everything you know about the werewolf
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Wolfman was released in nineteen forty one and was
universal second for eight into Werewolf's cinema, following the underpromoted
and underappreciated Worewolf of London from nineteen thirty five. Whilst
the earlier film faded into obscurity, The Wolfman cemented the
Wowolf as a staple of Universal's classic monster lineup. Larry
Talbot played by Lon Chaney Junior, returns to his ancestral
(00:23):
home in Wales after the death of his brother. Whilst
trying to reconnect with his strange father, Sir John Talbot,
Larry becomes romantically interested in Gwen Conlef, a local shopkeeper,
after spying on her with his telescope and wasting no
time all the peeping Tom heads over to the shop
to flirt with Gwen, and whilst he is a re
purchases a cane which is topped with a silver wolf's
(00:45):
head and a pentagon hetched into the side of it.
Larry tries to convince Gwen to meet him that night
at eight o'clock, but she refuses because she is engaged
to be married, but Larry just doesn't take no for
an answer. Despite Gwen being engaged to another Fellow, and
that night Larry meets up with Gwen and her friend
Jenny and they visit Dracula himself, Bella Lagosi, who wasn't
(01:06):
actually playing Dracula in this movie. He's playing a gypsy
fortune teller who is also called Bella. Jenny decides to
stay behind and have a palm read by Bellow, whilst
Gwen and Larry go for a nice romantic walk in
the spookiest forest you've ever seen. Whilst reading Jenny's palm,
Bella sees the sign of a pentagon upon her hand
and this really seems to freak him out and he
(01:26):
demands that Jenny leaves right away. And it turns out
that Bella, the gypsy, is actually a weir wolf and
off screen he transforms into a wolf, not a wolf man,
just an ordinary wolf. And from fact, this wolf that
you actually see on screen was played by Lon Cheney's
pet dog, who was a German shepherd called Moose. The
wolf attacks Jenny and Larry arrives and beats the wolf
(01:47):
with his silver cane, killing it, but not before himself
is bitten on the chest. Unfortunately, Jenny was killed by
the wolf and Larry is now suspected of murder after
the discovery of Bella, the gypsy's dead body, who now
of course turned back.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Into its human form.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Soon Larry learns that the creature that biting was actually
a wo wolf, and soon he will become one himself,
and as a transformation takes old, Larry struggles with his identity, guilt,
and the terrifying reality of his condition. The film builds
towards a tragic climax as Larry's monstrous side threatens.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Thows he loves now.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Unlike Dracula, who had Bramstoker's novel to define his law,
the were wolf lactically origin story, the Wolfman filled that gap,
introducing key elements that became staples of the genre. For example,
silver is a weakness. The idea that woolves could be
killed by silver, especially silver bullets, was popularized here.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And then we have the tragic duality of the weir wolf.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Ln Cheney Junior's portrayal of Learry Talbot gave us the
tortured soul, a man cursed to become a monster, struggling
with guilt and fear. And then, of course, there is
the full moon connection. And while not emphasized in this
particular film later entries in the same franchise with Lon
Cheney playing.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The same wolfman. Did so meant the full moon as
the trigger for the transformation.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So yeah, I'm going to include it here. The Wolfman
didn't just entertained, it defined the rules. Its legacy shaped
decades of Wowolf films, books, and folklore, given the creature
a tragic depth and a consistent mythology that hadn't existed before,
and it's still around to this very day. So we've
(03:23):
learned where the law of the Wowolf came from. Now
let's talk about the visual style. The makeup used to
transform Cheney from man to wolf took around five to
six hours to apply and an hour to remove, and
in more modern Wowolf movies, with the help of prosthetics
in CGI, you would probably see the full body transformation,
But in nineteen forty one they simply focused on Lan
(03:45):
Cheney's feet and then they did a simple crossfadeer where
Ln Cheney was wearing some simple rubber wolf like feet
what was covered in yakh and that was all we
got of the transformation, just focusing on the feet. And
then the next shot is of Cheney in full wolf
makeup as he prowls the fog filled forest looking for
his first kill. Now, He's an interesting fact. The makeup
(04:08):
used for Lon Cheney was initially designed for Henry Hull
in Wowolf of London, the wolf movie that we mentioned
earlier that came previous, but that makeup design wasn't used
in that movie and it was recycled for Lon Cheney
junior to we in this movie. The Wolfman is the
only Universal monster to be played by the same actor
in all of the upcoming movies four in Tall, But
(04:29):
in these movies he wasn't the star. The Wolfman never
actually got a direct sequel. He was simply just a
side character with other Universal monsters appearing in certain movies
such as Frankenstein Meets a Wolfman nineteen forty three, How
Sir Frankenstein nineteen forty four, House of Dracula nineteen forty five,
and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein nineteen forty eight, which
(04:52):
was actually a comedic film. And even though the Wolfman
was kind of like a guest star in these movies,
Lon Cheney always played the character. He was proud and
protective of the role, and he even referred to the
Wolfman as his baby.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And let's take a moment to talk about the sets.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
They were absolutely amazing, especially the fog drenched forest set
that the Wolfman liked to stalk his preying. It looked
haunted itself, like the forest was also a character in
this movie. It brought the atmosphere and it brought the chills,
and it inspired other horror fimed movies throughout the years,
such as American Wolf in London, for example, which saw
the main characters attacked by wolf on the fog filled Moores.
(05:35):
In twenty ten, Universal released a remake of the nineteen
forty one classic starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Unfortunately, this movie had a low box office return and
it was met with mixed reviews, which meant no sequel.
But in my opinion, The Wolfman twenty ten was actually
a pretty good movie, and I revisit it now and again,
and I was a massive fan of the practical effects
that was used in that movie. There was some CGI
here and there, but most of it was practical effects,
(06:05):
and I fully on board for that. I would much
rather see a movie using practical effects over CGI any
day of the week. And then, of course, there is
a more recent reboot of The Wolfman starring Christopher Abbotts,
which I thought was a really good horror movie. I
really did enjoy it, but it did not feel like
a Wolfman reboot at all. In any way, he didn't
(06:25):
even look like a were wolf, let alone a wolf man.
He looked more like one of the characters from the
Wrong Turn movies, whereas in the twenty ten movie it
was unmistakable that it was a Wolfman reboot. Since The
Wolfman was released in nineteen forty one, there have been
over one hundred and fifty movies made featuring the were wolf,
(06:46):
but in my mind, there's only a few that really
stand out, and The Wolfman from nineteen forty one is
most definitely one of them.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
This movie is just so important.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Just like a wirewolf transforms from a man to a beast,
a Wolfman transformed horror itself.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It shaped worldolf law.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
The film introduced a full moon curse, silver bullets and
the idea that a worolf bite passes the curse rules
that became genre staples. And I can confidently say that
nearly every werewolf movie Owes a debt to nineteen forty
one's The wolf Man. This movie is just so important.
The Wolfman was released in nineteen forty one and was
universal second for eight into Werewolf's cinema, following the underpromoted
and underappreciated Worewolf of London from nineteen thirty five. Whilst
the earlier film faded into obscurity, The Wolfman cemented the
Wowolf as a staple of Universal's classic monster lineup. Larry
Talbot played by Lon Chaney Junior, returns to his ancestral
(00:23):
home in Wales after the death of his brother. Whilst
trying to reconnect with his strange father, Sir John Talbot,
Larry becomes romantically interested in Gwen Conlef, a local shopkeeper,
after spying on her with his telescope and wasting no
time all the peeping Tom heads over to the shop
to flirt with Gwen, and whilst he is a re
purchases a cane which is topped with a silver wolf's
(00:45):
head and a pentagon hetched into the side of it.
Larry tries to convince Gwen to meet him that night
at eight o'clock, but she refuses because she is engaged
to be married, but Larry just doesn't take no for
an answer. Despite Gwen being engaged to another Fellow, and
that night Larry meets up with Gwen and her friend
Jenny and they visit Dracula himself, Bella Lagosi, who wasn't
(01:06):
actually playing Dracula in this movie. He's playing a gypsy
fortune teller who is also called Bella. Jenny decides to
stay behind and have a palm read by Bellow, whilst
Gwen and Larry go for a nice romantic walk in
the spookiest forest you've ever seen. Whilst reading Jenny's palm,
Bella sees the sign of a pentagon upon her hand
and this really seems to freak him out and he
(01:26):
demands that Jenny leaves right away. And it turns out
that Bella, the gypsy, is actually a weir wolf and
off screen he transforms into a wolf, not a wolf man,
just an ordinary wolf. And from fact, this wolf that
you actually see on screen was played by Lon Cheney's
pet dog, who was a German shepherd called Moose. The
wolf attacks Jenny and Larry arrives and beats the wolf
(01:47):
with his silver cane, killing it, but not before himself
is bitten on the chest. Unfortunately, Jenny was killed by
the wolf and Larry is now suspected of murder after
the discovery of Bella, the gypsy's dead body, who now
of course turned back.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Into its human form.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Soon Larry learns that the creature that biting was actually
a wo wolf, and soon he will become one himself,
and as a transformation takes old, Larry struggles with his identity, guilt,
and the terrifying reality of his condition. The film builds
towards a tragic climax as Larry's monstrous side threatens.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Thows he loves now.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Unlike Dracula, who had Bramstoker's novel to define his law,
the were wolf lactically origin story, the Wolfman filled that gap,
introducing key elements that became staples of the genre. For example,
silver is a weakness. The idea that woolves could be
killed by silver, especially silver bullets, was popularized here.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And then we have the tragic duality of the weir wolf.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Ln Cheney Junior's portrayal of Learry Talbot gave us the
tortured soul, a man cursed to become a monster, struggling
with guilt and fear. And then, of course, there is
the full moon connection. And while not emphasized in this
particular film later entries in the same franchise with Lon
Cheney playing.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The same wolfman. Did so meant the full moon as
the trigger for the transformation.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So yeah, I'm going to include it here. The Wolfman
didn't just entertained, it defined the rules. Its legacy shaped
decades of Wowolf films, books, and folklore, given the creature
a tragic depth and a consistent mythology that hadn't existed before,
and it's still around to this very day. So we've
(03:23):
learned where the law of the Wowolf came from. Now
let's talk about the visual style. The makeup used to
transform Cheney from man to wolf took around five to
six hours to apply and an hour to remove, and
in more modern Wowolf movies, with the help of prosthetics
in CGI, you would probably see the full body transformation,
But in nineteen forty one they simply focused on Lan
(03:45):
Cheney's feet and then they did a simple crossfadeer where
Ln Cheney was wearing some simple rubber wolf like feet
what was covered in yakh and that was all we
got of the transformation, just focusing on the feet. And
then the next shot is of Cheney in full wolf
makeup as he prowls the fog filled forest looking for
his first kill. Now, He's an interesting fact. The makeup
(04:08):
used for Lon Cheney was initially designed for Henry Hull
in Wowolf of London, the wolf movie that we mentioned
earlier that came previous, but that makeup design wasn't used
in that movie and it was recycled for Lon Cheney
junior to we in this movie. The Wolfman is the
only Universal monster to be played by the same actor
in all of the upcoming movies four in Tall, But
(04:29):
in these movies he wasn't the star. The Wolfman never
actually got a direct sequel. He was simply just a
side character with other Universal monsters appearing in certain movies
such as Frankenstein Meets a Wolfman nineteen forty three, How
Sir Frankenstein nineteen forty four, House of Dracula nineteen forty five,
and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein nineteen forty eight, which
(04:52):
was actually a comedic film. And even though the Wolfman
was kind of like a guest star in these movies,
Lon Cheney always played the character. He was proud and
protective of the role, and he even referred to the
Wolfman as his baby.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And let's take a moment to talk about the sets.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
They were absolutely amazing, especially the fog drenched forest set
that the Wolfman liked to stalk his preying. It looked
haunted itself, like the forest was also a character in
this movie. It brought the atmosphere and it brought the chills,
and it inspired other horror fimed movies throughout the years,
such as American Wolf in London, for example, which saw
the main characters attacked by wolf on the fog filled Moores.
(05:35):
In twenty ten, Universal released a remake of the nineteen
forty one classic starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Unfortunately, this movie had a low box office return and
it was met with mixed reviews, which meant no sequel.
But in my opinion, The Wolfman twenty ten was actually
a pretty good movie, and I revisit it now and again,
and I was a massive fan of the practical effects
that was used in that movie. There was some CGI
here and there, but most of it was practical effects,
(06:05):
and I fully on board for that. I would much
rather see a movie using practical effects over CGI any
day of the week. And then, of course, there is
a more recent reboot of The Wolfman starring Christopher Abbotts,
which I thought was a really good horror movie. I
really did enjoy it, but it did not feel like
a Wolfman reboot at all. In any way, he didn't
(06:25):
even look like a were wolf, let alone a wolf man.
He looked more like one of the characters from the
Wrong Turn movies, whereas in the twenty ten movie it
was unmistakable that it was a Wolfman reboot. Since The
Wolfman was released in nineteen forty one, there have been
over one hundred and fifty movies made featuring the were wolf,
(06:46):
but in my mind, there's only a few that really
stand out, and The Wolfman from nineteen forty one is
most definitely one of them.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
This movie is just so important.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Just like a wirewolf transforms from a man to a beast,
a Wolfman transformed horror itself.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It shaped worldolf law.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
The film introduced a full moon curse, silver bullets and
the idea that a worolf bite passes the curse rules
that became genre staples. And I can confidently say that
nearly every werewolf movie Owes a debt to nineteen forty
one's The wolf Man. This movie is just so important.
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