The Wolf Man (1941) in Universal Horrors Forum

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The Wolf Man (1941)

Author	Comment
Ted Newsom	The Wolf Man (1941)	Lead	[-]
Jan 3 12 11:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just went through this entire topic and couldn't find one thread actually devoted to this movie. Just doesn't seem right. I'll start with Larry Talbot's first reaction to Tabanga.
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Ted Newsom		#1	[-]
Jan 3 12 11:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	And to jump start the proceedings, some assorted tangential ephemera.
rvoyttbots		#2	[-]
Jan 4 12 12:45 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Lady Creighton...
Joe Karlosi		#3	[-]
Jan 4 12 7:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think some other WOLF MAN threads ought to be attached to this one. There were others, just titled differently. (Like THE WOLF MAN - THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMMM). "Guy named Squeamy got thrown from the fifth floor. He's deader'n a mackerel."
HalLane		#4	[-]
Jan 4 12 9:17 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I hate complicated catch-all threads. I think this one barks for itself quite nicely.
Ted Newsom		#5	[-]
Jan 4 12 10:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I get a kick out of the cheats in the film where Claude Rains and George Waggner try to modify how short Rains is compared to Chaney. It's really masterfully done. In their first long scene together, for instance, Rains stands at the fireplace, which has a three or four inch higher level than the floor. The following scene, at the telescope, is a nice juggle of positions so that the two of them are seldom standing together on the same plane. It's not a slam at Rains or Chaney, just an observation on how they nicely minimized an obvious problem. I'll bet the couple of offhand lines ("He's a big boy," "Yes, I wish we had him on the football team" or whatever) were added after the fact to help polish the rough edges.
Friend of Daniel		#6	[-]
Jan 4 12 10:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	There's the story that Hitchcock had a little ramp made for Rains to walk up when he approaches Ingrid Bergman in NOTORIOUS.
Wich2		#7	[-]
Jan 4 12 12:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	And supposedly, the height difference was no problem for ol' Claude in - "extracurricular" - horizontal activities! (The dawg!)
telegonus		#8	[-]
Jan 4 12 12:52 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's about time there was a thread dedicated to just The Wolf Man, that excellent film, sadly overshadowed by the early talkie Uni classics.. Thanks, Ted. I saw A & C Meet Frankenstein over the weekend and the Lonster played it beautifully "straight" against Lou Costello. On the other hand, throwing Larry Talbot into the mix and then killing him off precluded a stand alone "Meets the Wolf Man" picture for Lon and the Bud/Lou, though Uni could have resurrected the Wolf Man if they wanted to...
Ted Newsom		#9	[-]
Jan 4 12 1:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Why not? He survived the balcony fall and washed up in Mexico ten years later.
Ted Newsom		#10	[-]
Jan 4 12 1:51 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think Chaney had the best of his Talbot scripts with the first, that is: the screenplay actually allowed him to be a three-dimensional character. Later on, particularly the HOUSE pictures, he (and the rest of the players, for that matter) spouts this stilted melodramatic nonsense ("Why have you released me from the ice that imprisoned the beast within me?" For goodness' sake.), but here, at least he's given some lines that make him sound like a human being ("Aww, quit handin' me that.") Last Edited By: Ted Newsom Jan 4 12 3:48 PM. Edited 1 times.
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blackbiped		#11	[-]
Jan 4 12 2:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I guess this is as good an excuse as any to repost this: PORFLE MEETS THE WOLF MAN Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way. Porfle's Secret Blog HK and Cult Film News Andersonvision.com
telegonus		#12	[-]
Jan 4 12 3:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Abbott and Costello Meet the Wolf Man In Mexico City sounds about right, Ted.
Joe Karlosi		#13	[-]
Jan 5 12 7:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	HalLane wrote: I hate complicated catch-all threads. I think this one barks for itself quite nicely. Same here. I'm just saying that we have had a lot of good discussion on THE WOLF MAN - just not with the proper thread title. "Guy named Squeamy got thrown from the fifth floor. He's deader'n a mackerel."
Bobtheman		#14	[-]
Jan 5 12 9:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Lon Chaney was tapped orginally to play both the Monster and the Wolf Man in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. It was eventually decided that he would play only the Wolf Man. But what if.... what if Chaney had been used as the Monster instead? Could anyone have filled his shoes as Larry Talbot? Who would have been the best choice? How badly would the continuity have been damaged with someone else in the role? Would it have mattered to the audience? By way of more modern example, several actors have played James Bond over the years.
blackbiped		#15	[-]
Jan 5 12 11:43 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	But what if the Wolf Man played James Bond? Legend, oh legend, the third wheel legend...always in the way. Porfle's Secret Blog HK and Cult Film News Andersonvision.com
Ted Newsom		#16	[-]
Jan 5 12 11:50 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Interesting thought... repugnant, crazy-making, ridiculous, eye-opening, amusing... wow. Not just a question of who'd be good in it, as who'd be available. David Bruce? Recycled Patric Knowles? Jon Hall? The obvious guys, Bela and Boris, would probably be out, or else you'd have to do some heavy rewriting. And once you established that the character is played by a number of different actors, it's up for grabs in the rest of the sequels. It's almost unthinkable, but as you point out, they did the same with Dracula, Paula the Ape Woman, etc.
Wich2		#17	[-]
Jan 5 12 12:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tougher nut to crack than Drac, Frank, or Apegirl, though: Those three are out-there fictional characters, with a lot of character to "put on," both externally and internally. The Larry side of the Wuffman is so "off-the-shelf" normal that the first joe to play it branded it in a different way than the others.
Ted Newsom		#18	[-]
Jan 5 12 2:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Given the screenwriting liberties and the varied casting in the other films, why not? Sure, the Chaney/Talbot character is trenchant, but who's to say it's any more indelible or untouchable than the Frankenstein monster? It's not even a question of whether any of the footage matches, since there is no use of flashbacks (though that, too, could be fudged, asla GHOST OF F, or the Mummy movies.) If it were the obviously older Karloff, for instance... changing one line from "died four years ago" to "died 15 years ago"... poof. (Assuming they would even bother). Just, please god... no Peter Coe...
HalLane		#19	[-]
Jan 5 12 4:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Now Ted, remember your blood pressure ...!
Wich2		#20	[-]
Jan 5 12 4:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'd go with Franklin Pangborn.
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The Wolf Man (1941)

The Wolf Man (1941)