The Wolf Man

The Wolf Man is a 1941 horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner, starring Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patrick Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. It introduced a character that stands alongside Frankenstein and Dracula as the most recognized Universal Studios monsters and has had a great deal of influence on Hollywood's depictions of the legend of the werewolf.

Related Topics:
1941 - Horror film - Curt Siodmak - George Waggner - Lon Chaney Jr - Claude Rains - Evelyn Ankers - Ralph Bellamy - Patrick Knowles - Bela Lugosi - Maria Ouspenskaya - Frankenstein - Dracula - Universal Studios - Monster - Hollywood - Werewolf

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Lawrence "Larry" Talbot (Chaney) returns to his ancestral home in Llanwelly, Wales to reconcile with his father, Sir John Talbot (Rains). While there Larry becomes romantically interested in a local girl named Gwen Conliffe (Ankers). On a night of a full moon, he attempts to rescue her from what he thinks is a wolf. He kills the beast with a silver-headed walking stick, but is bitten in the process. He soon discovers that it wasn’t just a wolf; it was a werewolf, and now Talbot has become one. A Roma fortuneteller named Maleva (Ouspenskaya) reveals to Larry that the animal which bit him was actually her son Bela (Lugosi) in the form of a wolf. Bela had been a werewolf for years and now the curse of lycanthropy has been passed to Larry. Throughout the film Larry is told by Maleva:

Related Topics:
Wales - Moon - Wolf - Silver - Walking stick - Roma - Fortuneteller - Curse - Lycanthropy

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Even a man who is pure in heart

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and says his prayers by night

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may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

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and the Autumn moon is bright.

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(Contrary to popular belief, this poem was not an ancient legend, but was in fact an invention of screenwriter Siodmak.)

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Sure enough, Talbot prowls the countryside in the form of a two-legged wolf, struggling to overcome the curse, until he is bludgeoned to death by his own walking stick wielded by his father. As he dies, he returns to human form.

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