Werewolf of London

Starring: Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews
Directed by: Stuart Walker
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama, Horror
1935

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A scientist (Henry Hull) is bitten by a werewolf, and begins to worry that he will turn into one himself.

Review:

Tim: Werewolf of London is note-worthy because it's the first mainstream Hollywood werewolf movie. Yes, there might have been a few werewolf films before this one, but it's still incredibly important. Plus, it is still one of the first werewolf movies ever made, and fairly influential. If you've seen any of the dozens of werewolf movies that followed this one, you'll see more than a few examples of its influence.

While I expected this to be an important movie, I didn't expect how much I would like it. Certainly, it couldn't be considered a "great" movie, but it is a solid, entertaining film. I liked the characters, the werewolf makeup was impressive, and the movie moved along at a quick pace. Overall, this was quite a good movie.

The story is fairly familiar to today's audiences- a scientist is bitten by a werewolf, and slowly transforms into one himself (after returning home to London, of course). This story has been done numerous times before and since (there's more than a few parallels to The Invisible Man, which came out two years prior. Still, it works as a story and it holds our attention.

I thought Henry Hull did a good job as our afflicted protagonist. He certainly had the image of intelligence, and I believed him as a scientist. His transformation was fairly impressive and he did a fairly good job as a werewolf. His role was critical, and he deserves a good deal of credit for the film's success. Warner Oland was also quite good as Dr. Yogami. He was a complex, interesting character- someone you never quite figured out. I went back and forth on whether or not I trusted him, which speaks volumes about his performance. I also liked Valerie Hobson as the love interest. I thought she gave a strong-willed, memorable performance. I was very impressed with her in this film. The whole cast is surprisingly good.

The werewolf makeup was essential to the film, and they did a very good job with it. While the transformation scenes were pretty obvious, it still looks good in the film. The makeup certainly had its limitations, but it effectively made me engaged in the story and helped me to believe what I saw on screen. It was certainly a strong aspect of the film.

There were a few flaws as well. This might be a bit picky, but it was incredibly annoying how many female screams you heard in this film. The pitch was far too high and loud, and it really got on my nerves. Every single time you saw a woman and the werewolf, you knew a shriek was coming. Some women gasp inaudibly, I'm sure, but that didn't show up here. The other point I want to mention is the two women providing comedic relief in the middle of the film. I admit I certainly laughed a few times out loud, and they were legitimately funny. It just felt a bit disjointed with the rest of the film. In some ways, I really appreciated the infusion of levity, but in other ways, it disrupted the story as well.

While Werewolf of London has some flaws, it's still a very solid film. It features one of the most memorable, chilling werewolf howls I've ever heard on screen. It features an interesting (if a bit simplistic) story, and the makeup is good enough to draw the audience into the film. While the story felt a bit redundant, it still held the audience's attention. This is a good movie, and I really enjoyed watching it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man