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Everything Action Commentary: The Wolf Man (1941)
15 Plays3 hours ago
For this month's Everything Action Commentary, Zach and Chris watch the Universal Monsters classic The Wolf Man with the Leigh Whannell reimagining hitting theaters earlier this month.
Lon Chaney Jr. stars as Larry Talbot, who returns to his ancestral home in Wales, and his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains). While visiting a Romani fortune teller with the daughter of the local antique dealer, Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), Larry is attacked by a wolf and bitten in the chest but manages to kill the creature with a silver-topped cane. Soon afterward, Larry begins to transform into The Wolf Man and stalks the local woods, killing a villager and causing a hunting party to be formed to find the creature. While watching the movie, Zach and Chris comment on the classic Wolf Man makeup, Larry's peeping tom tendencies, the trio of Universal Monster actors (Chaney Jr, Rains, and Bela Lugosi), wonder what Larry was doing in America for years and more.
You can watch The Wolf Man on Peacock, AMC+, or Shudder and sync up the track to watch along with the Everything Action crew.
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Transcript
Introduction to January 2025 Commentary
00:00:04
Speaker
um
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another Everything Actioning Commentary. It's our commentary for January, 2025. I'm your host Zach. And I'm your co-host Chris.
The Oldest Movie Yet: The Wolfman (1941)
00:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, and this month we are, I think we're watching the oldest movie we've ever watched for commentary. We're watching the 1941 classic, The Wolfman, because there's a, obviously, this month there was a new Wolfman from Lee Whannell and Blumhouse. But yeah, we're going all the way back, we're going back to the Long Change Junior classic, one of the classic Universal Monster movies.
00:01:02
Speaker
And i think I think, it also kind of like, it kind of like, A lot of our um still still like all the all the kind of like tropes of like the werewolf stuff kind of comes from this movie. like Silver, and if you get bit by werewolf, you become a werewolf. kind like A lot of the tropes come from this movie. There was like ah a couple other werewolf movies before this, but this is the big one that kicked everything off.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah. ah in In terms of like werewolf things, this was a more modern take of the lore. I definitely remember like seeing more older stuff with the wolf man before they got to this new version where, I mean, this period piece version where like an American person gets bit by a werewolf. Before that, werewolves were just something that happens to like people that lived in the woods.
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah, and I think i think there's a lot of, you can you could basically turn yourself into a werewolf and we do like a ritual and stuff like that. and but This is the first one where it's like a curse and a full moon and you kill the werewolf making silver bullets. Well, another thing is it's another trope, at least in this version and a few others, um where it's like an outsider stumbles into the werewolf curse.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's never someone that wants to be a werewolf. All these people have been reluctantly become werewolves.
Werewolf Tropes and Origins
00:02:33
Speaker
Also, he's not a werewolf. He's just a wolf man. So it's like technically it's not a. um What makes their dreams in a wolf man and a werewolf? Oh, I mean, he's so he's a werewolf. He transforms into a like a wolf. But yeah it but he's not but he's not like a wolf wolf like he is like a humanoid like wolf man guy like he's like upright on his legs and stuff. It's like it's not like a miracle moment from London where he turns like a giant wolf. True, true. This one, you know, it's funny. ah I think later on where they named that terrible disease that makes you look like the wolf man. And like that was discovered, I think after this.
00:03:17
Speaker
It's like a Ripley's Bleeder and I saw like later on, he just like, hey, cool, there are people with this weird fur disease.
00:03:25
Speaker
You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I have seen it. I'm not sure it was during the same time. And it's just one incident. Like, ah would they see that? And they're like, oh, shit, we should like make a movie based on this family. Well, I think that definitely had been around before this ski movie came out. That was like a like a lot of lot like um like carnival ah performers were had that, ah ah like, werewolf syndrome. Hypertrichiosis is the the ah medical term. Gotcha.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, what if this wasn't like, um like a movie about like someone would curse, they just like have like, hypero-trigiosis and then you're like, oh, and then he's just like an asshole.
00:04:09
Speaker
But yeah, no, this was definitely one of my early universal monster movies you see in AMC or Turner classic movies. Yeah, i mean this is I mean, this is top. This is like, it's the it's this Frankenstein and Dracula and the Creature for Black and Blue are the top three. It's like the like the five. Those are like the founding fathers or like the Russian war with one extra.
00:04:45
Speaker
And then, but obviously, like, Lon Chaney was in a bunch of sequels. There's, I think there's like five sequels to this movie, that like, he met Frankenstein, like, there was like, all like all kinds of other Wolfman movies, but they're all with like Lon Chaney.
00:04:59
Speaker
And it's it's all over
Where to Watch The Wolfman
00:05:00
Speaker
the place. so You can watch it on Peacock, on Shudder, on AMC+. plus um So, but if whatever, however you're watching it, um if you get past the kind of classic universal logo. where We're paused right as the title comes up. So get to the title, pause it, and then I'll get the countdown. We'll get started here. So five, four, three, two, one, play.
00:05:35
Speaker
The Wolfman!
Character Introductions and Humor
00:05:47
Speaker
You'll cast the characters.
00:05:50
Speaker
I do like how in the title screens, even in this era, they did like portraits or like. Kind of like character intros, like it's ah like it's a play. Bela Lugosi as himself.
00:06:17
Speaker
like like guess i It's not even Larry Taylor, it's just the Wolfman. Yeah, it doesn't get like a real name. Which I think I read like they don't even call him the Wolfman in the movie. They just call him like Larry. larry Yeah, Lawrence or Larry or like the Wolf for like.
00:06:43
Speaker
So the whole time they're shouting at him like, Larry, Larry, come back, Larry.
00:06:52
Speaker
Like any great movie, it starts with a book. Webster's defines the werewolf as.
00:07:03
Speaker
yeah There we go. Oh my God. I don't think, I don't think the, uh, like world book, it's like, if you didn't mention Talbot castle. And also there's a pentagram because it it's, it's Satan.
00:07:22
Speaker
Isn't like everything five point thing is a pentagram, like werewolf, demon, Dracula?
00:07:38
Speaker
um for Mr. Larry.
00:07:55
Speaker
Their father and son.
Father and Son: Age Differences
00:08:02
Speaker
They look like the same age. Yeah, I wonder. ah Yeah, I wonder like Claude Reigns. I wonder like when was he born? 1889. And then Lon Chaney was.
00:08:19
Speaker
I just, so like, they're like seven years apart. Like, ah you're right. Like seven year or seven. different He was a, he was a seven year old father. Wait 18 to the night. So that'd be like, I guess 17 years, which I guess. Oh yeah. That I guess it makes it, but they definitely looked the same. They look for like not father, son. Either launching a junior just looks like terrible for like a 20 year old or like Claude reigns is just like a Keanu Rees at this time.
00:08:47
Speaker
Mm-hmm. It's that invisible man formula. Was he also invisible man? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you got, yeah. Claude Rains is the invisible man. You got Billy Lewis. He's obviously Dracula. So you got like three, three universal monsters, this movie. Yeah, I kind of forgot where Claude Rains came from. and Invisible man kind of like gets to be like, uh, it's kind of like a B tier. I guess the other ones. Because he doesn't have any powers. He's just invisible.
00:09:14
Speaker
Yeah, he has a cool look, he has the bandage look, which is cool, but...
00:09:26
Speaker
This is like- Also, where- hold on. Where did- did Lawn Chaining Junior, like Larry, go somewhere else for us? Like, growing up? Because they do not sound like they- Well, I was just gonna say- I was just gonna say, do you remember that Simpson episode where, like, with, uh, Ronnie Dangerfield? Where, like, he was but Mr. Bird's son? Like, this is- this is this like this, like- like, uh, Lawn Chaining Junior's- is like, uh, Larry Bird's, like- Wow, Dad, you're a rich- you're a rich dude! Like,
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, but like they grew up and he knows his area. and Then he also knows like his neighbor friend. Glass!
00:10:07
Speaker
Hopefully they'll drop that. That is an observatory.
00:10:28
Speaker
I do like that Larry is like a scholar a little bit. Like he knows how to fix a telescope. He's not just some like rich snob.
00:10:39
Speaker
did Did I do well, Papa? Did I fix so the lens? Great job, Larry. I can spy the neighbors perfectly now.
00:10:57
Speaker
yeah That just means spying. He likes spying on people.
00:11:05
Speaker
It's like, Mrs. Paco is gonna be addressing at the window soon.
00:11:26
Speaker
Go ahead and be a peepee top nutter. It's fine. I'm rich.
00:11:37
Speaker
This is a weird town. There's so much like mixed things is going on. It's like England, right? Cause he's Sir Talbot. But then it's like, it looks like Germany or something. Yeah. Or like Romania or something.
00:11:56
Speaker
I mean, it's obviously a sound stage, I get that. There's the themings just everywhere.
00:12:05
Speaker
Oh, Zach, you're right. You're just like keeping time time. Yeah. Yeah, baby.
00:12:30
Speaker
It's like 80 degrees. He's wearing a full wool suit. Yup.
00:13:07
Speaker
wow Wow, that's a great line ah Call the police lady. Yes I'll be right back police
00:13:35
Speaker
Larry has no w Riz. Terrible Riz. Even then, it's like, what a terrible... I get this thing. He just been like, oh, I'm looking for something that's not typically for sale. Like a smoother line. But back then you could just openly be a creep. I was i was spying on you with my uncle my father's giant telescope.
00:14:03
Speaker
How about that one in your room, the one you have?
00:14:16
Speaker
Bum, bum, bum.
00:14:46
Speaker
So did you you just pick up like Halloween decorations, Larry? You know, like if you see a wolf in a pentagram these days at like a what used to be a party city, we yeah like a prop. Yeah.
00:15:18
Speaker
So I know one of the analogies of the Wolfman things was to pretty much represent the evil and like men. Yeah. When they lust and then become like you end up the animal side of man like. But Larry's already that without being aware, he just openly em admits like I'm spying on you. I know what's in your room. I know where you live.
00:15:48
Speaker
He forces a date through business. You know, three no's and then it's a yes.
00:16:07
Speaker
Geppetto comes into town.
00:16:21
Speaker
One of them is a vampire.
00:16:55
Speaker
Cool. So even if you do everything right, you can still become a werewolf.
00:17:27
Speaker
Wait, so is Claude Rains like the mayor of the town? Is he the Lord? They still have Lords in the 40s. I mean, Lord just means you own the land. It doesn't actually make you the like governor of the town. Unless like his dad, like, you know, John Tabbit owns everything here. He's the landlord to the whole town.
00:17:56
Speaker
Like he collects taxes from these people and rent.
00:18:11
Speaker
So I think the colorization isn't the best for this version we're watching because there's like this green, like aura coming off of them like they're dead.
The Wolfman as a Symbol of Evil
00:18:25
Speaker
It's the werewolf magic! Like they look like they're force ghosts.
00:18:56
Speaker
Larry, this single date became a double date. Just take it, man.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yes, we know! Does everyone know it? It's like a thing this town knows.
00:19:23
Speaker
The intermission audiences knew what was going, like, that was reported in the 40s. You've been keeping up with your werewolf lore, Zach, in case you have to do this.
00:19:46
Speaker
I definitely would not drain your blood
00:20:23
Speaker
That worked. I guess. Charming. Just persistence.
00:20:41
Speaker
if you're ah If you're a creepy peepy Dom,
00:21:33
Speaker
Oh, I'm just thinking about the terrible tattoo on my head. who
00:21:50
Speaker
The devil!
00:22:23
Speaker
Does he see like visions in everything he does? The flowers, the forehead, the hands. The devil! The horse.
00:22:49
Speaker
I've never heard a wolf before.
00:23:08
Speaker
Oh no, the werewolf. Wow. I think I read, I think I read, it's like, that, that was a lot. It's Lighthouse Jr's like German Shepherd or something. That's his pet dog. That he beat on set.
00:23:56
Speaker
but That giant vicious wolf almost killed me.
00:24:26
Speaker
Have you guys seen my dog? Or my son? and
00:24:42
Speaker
Is Jenny dead? I think so.
00:25:08
Speaker
I also think that Larry's just like not in good shape to be cutting wolves, so. Yeah. there This is diet of bourbon and then like steak. Like, yeah. and Like red meat.
00:25:45
Speaker
So they left Jenny in the woods, right? Like. Yeah.
00:26:00
Speaker
Wolf.
00:26:22
Speaker
Mr. Twiddle seems like he's from a different movie. Yeah. But he's good as like the town's just like scaredy cat.
00:27:13
Speaker
What? Ralph Balmay is this is the captain guy. He sounds like the dude from Unsolved Mysteries.
00:27:26
Speaker
Kind of. Yeah. I just want him to say like update.
00:27:44
Speaker
So if Bela Gossi turns into a wolf, then how how did his clothes go back up? I think the Gypsy Mom dressed him.
00:27:54
Speaker
You see, Bela Gossi turns into a wolf, but then Lon Chaney becomes Wolf Man? Yeah, that's the weird part.
00:28:21
Speaker
Bela Lugosi, the famous actor. yeah
00:28:46
Speaker
We don't even see the wound. You can't show any sort of like like bloody violence in the 40s. Was this still, I think it was still the code? Like the Haze code was still happening? Yeah, that makes sense.
00:29:07
Speaker
We're all a little drunk. yeah
00:30:42
Speaker
They're bringing Bela Lugosi back to Transylvania.
00:30:49
Speaker
Does he get reincarnated as Dracula? He's been Dracula before, so... that was Yeah, Dracula came up with this.
00:31:46
Speaker
I mean, this definitely feels like a like a Dracula tube.
00:31:59
Speaker
But I think that I think the mashup started like a couple years later. What did Dracula meet Frankenstein before or something?
00:32:12
Speaker
they started They started doing Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. And then they started doing like House of Frankenstein, where like it was all of them. And it was like House of Dracula with all of them. Yeah, the one I watched first of any of this was Abba and Costello meet. That was like that was like the end those like there was that was like the end of like the that whole like series of movies, because that was like the parody of them.
00:32:38
Speaker
I do appreciate that. they were just able to have like the real actors and everything. It wasn't just like knockoffs.
00:32:51
Speaker
You wouldn't be able to pull that off these days. Like you imagine if you had like ababa du me hereditary thank yeah but like the if Blumhouse made like a like a mashup movie of like all her characters.
00:33:10
Speaker
i wouldn't mind i wouldn't mind a michael myers meet like happy in like
00:35:01
Speaker
She's a witch.
00:35:14
Speaker
The Rotary Club will hear of this. yeah I'll beat you all, I gotta beat Bella.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah, holding that cane doesn't really win your character up points like that. The murder weapon. They just let it place like, you're rich and keep it. Yeah.
00:35:49
Speaker
Yeah. Where's her fiance? You probably just made it up. Just be like, i I have a fiance.
00:36:00
Speaker
Larry, like, we we start talking about like, like watching it through a telescope.
00:36:14
Speaker
You heard them in the other room. It's right there. Like in the, heard that in the doorway. You heard them yelling from the other room.
00:37:10
Speaker
Is this the fiance?
00:37:18
Speaker
Like, Oh, he's real.
00:37:47
Speaker
Does everyone just work for his father? Must be, yeah. It's teletown, after all.
00:38:44
Speaker
Anyway, let's go to this party. Let's go to this gypsy hangout.
Gypsy Party and Werewolf Symbolism
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:58
Speaker
So we're all gonna ignore the wolf that like isn't here and then the murder of the girl that happened maybe like two trees over. Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker
Let's have a duel, Larry!
00:40:09
Speaker
did Did, like, the dad not raise his son?
00:40:14
Speaker
It's like learning about Larry now. Yeah. I don't think they ever explained, they never explained like, like Larry just like went to America for 18 years and then now he's back for some reason. And he worked, he worked on like an observatory. That's the only background detail we know.
00:41:11
Speaker
Time for my revenge.
00:41:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not gonna do anything. Revenge or anything, do you? Trink this, it's not poisoned.
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think the pedigram became like ah that was like an 80s thing, like so the satanic panic kind of thing. I see.
00:43:15
Speaker
There's a werewolf, pass it on. but There's a werewolf, pass it on.
00:43:23
Speaker
I guess they're all just like packing up. We gotta pack. I feel like I've turned into a werewolf and it kills us all. We did it again, another werewolf. Leave now.
00:43:50
Speaker
yeah she like Frank is just pushing like his girlfriend, fiancé, into Larry's arms.
00:44:36
Speaker
for me.
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:29
Speaker
Am I a werewolf?
00:45:39
Speaker
Man, werewolf vision back then was weird. Oh, he looks like random seeds.
00:45:58
Speaker
You know, as a, when it comes to freak outs, that, that wasn't as bad. That lasted like 10 seconds. It was just like very coherent. So like rapidly going through everything. You're like, I'm a werewolf.
00:46:21
Speaker
My arm feels hairier.
00:46:58
Speaker
Damn it, I forgot the shade this morning.
00:47:09
Speaker
I know he picked up a gypsy, like...
Transformation and Makeup Effects
00:47:12
Speaker
I don't know, like infection. Man, can you imagine the like...
00:47:26
Speaker
every take they had to do this and it had like slap on glue and then like lather you and more fur well i think i think these were i read these were boots like really like heavy like uncomfortable boots that he wore oh boy oh man here we go where'd he get the shirt yeah because he was wearing like a wife beater before
00:47:57
Speaker
This is a very classic shot. Yep. You ever watch a lot of Lon Chaney, like senior movies? No, like Phantom of the Opera. I feel like there's another, there's a few few movies he did as like a horror guy.
00:48:22
Speaker
Buster Keaton. ah
00:48:27
Speaker
What?
00:48:39
Speaker
I'm also confused too, because... Belagosi didn't become a wolfman. No, he wasn't a german shipper.
00:49:53
Speaker
But it's only it's only like two legs, that's weird.
00:50:28
Speaker
I'm not sure that's in the same clothes you wore out. ah
00:50:35
Speaker
His clothes constantly change what he changes to.
00:51:05
Speaker
The hell did I do last night? Can we just start tattoo? Uh-oh. You got drunk and like got hazed into a f frat. A gypsy frat.
00:52:10
Speaker
you outbreak like You were out as a werewolf last night, were you?
00:52:27
Speaker
You mean the man wolf?
00:54:03
Speaker
So the wolf man is just like a like a hallucination. Yeah, it's like vampires kiss. Mm hmm. Where you realize it's just like Lon Chaney just like huffing like drugs. And what when when he's like when he's like the werewolf, he's just like running around with like just see like yelling. I'm a werewolf. Yeah. I'm a werewolf. I'm a werewolf.
00:54:39
Speaker
town is this everyone's like proper english like from london yeah in this i think it's i don't know countryside i side and it's supposed to it's wales it's like according to wikipedia it's like land land welly wales i see maybe i just don't know wales enough to know this town
00:55:24
Speaker
Man, everyone loves a gravedigger.
00:55:57
Speaker
Are we all blaming him for the great deal here with that? What the hell are you doing, Larry?
Climax and Conclusion of The Wolfman
00:57:22
Speaker
There's 10 minutes left of this movie. It's already, I mean, it drags on a little bit, but they should have done this in the like the second act. But no, this is like the beginning of the third act, but the third act is just 10 minutes long.
00:57:50
Speaker
What do you consider the second act of this movie was?
00:57:55
Speaker
I think probably just like literally like figuring out like after after he got bit just like but it's like oh am I a werewolf like but then he just embraces it and bites that gravedigger so he's been the werewolf for one night only yeah
00:59:12
Speaker
I'll be back with a lobotomy stick.
00:59:36
Speaker
say what do you will about the benios atoro wolfman but The tension and everything about that movie was great.
00:59:45
Speaker
Granted, this is one of the earlier American attempts at werewolf movies. Back at it. But the gothic horror of it? OK, he is not bothered by it. He's more just encumbered by like how much it's drags on him. Son of a bitch.
01:00:10
Speaker
Oh shit! Put your leg off Larry! Well then you beat Coyote, man.
01:00:28
Speaker
Does he just turn back into Larry and then... Let's make it sound, yeah.
01:00:40
Speaker
What? Lost the trail? Do you not hear this wolf person like rolling around? It's like he disappeared. Did they forget where they put the trap to?
01:01:05
Speaker
Okay, so the wolf man got the trap and fell asleep.
01:01:17
Speaker
Is that like, it's like a tranquilizer to a wolf, uh, or if you like put like a bear trap, it's like instant nap time. Yep.
01:01:54
Speaker
Is that like the, like the Hulk, like something's getting real low? Speech? like
01:02:23
Speaker
I'm changing. It really does have a good face for panic that that frightful scatter look. You can sell it. Oh, geez.
01:02:34
Speaker
and like
01:02:44
Speaker
for a barefoot stroll in the middle of the woods.
01:02:57
Speaker
But aren't any shoes or weapons? Yeah.
01:03:22
Speaker
and anytime this could have been a drinking game every time they say larry or master larry larry tablet yeah
01:03:47
Speaker
And anytime, this could have been a drinking game. Anytime they say Larry or Master Larry.
01:03:55
Speaker
He gets a giant rock smashed in the window.
01:04:17
Speaker
This sounds like the Batman Tim Burton theme. ten and any anew
01:04:25
Speaker
I think Danny Elfman borrowed a lot of course from this.
01:04:39
Speaker
Listen, I love you more than my own fiancée. Your sweaty creepy chair wouldn't want to be over.
01:05:39
Speaker
Because he doesn't want me that I want him.
01:06:02
Speaker
that That star shape on your chest could have been any animal bite.
01:07:24
Speaker
Oh, drink twice.
01:07:38
Speaker
How about we make you invisible? These straps will hold you.
01:07:56
Speaker
Dan, why do you have these, like, leather straps?
01:09:22
Speaker
He's either going to be cured or he's going to be insane. One of those things. He's either going to break his mind or he'll be fine.
01:09:32
Speaker
This is either going to be the best psychotherapy or the worst.
01:09:58
Speaker
Did you just drive our circles in the woods? so
01:10:04
Speaker
I've been lost in these woods for five nights.
01:10:52
Speaker
Yeah, there's like a war breaking out.
01:11:08
Speaker
Well, he got loose. And I also think that's the same shot from the beginning. They just reused that like tree shot again.
01:12:03
Speaker
Classic villages with torches. Where is there a Belmont when you need one?
01:12:24
Speaker
Oh, she's dead.
01:13:02
Speaker
that's again
01:13:10
Speaker
She just reads him a snared script. All right, now that you've killed the Wolfman, you become a Wolfman, blah, blah, blah.
01:13:46
Speaker
Or at least until, you know, two years from now when you're back for... A bunch of movies. For the Frankenstein Beast and Wolf Man.
01:14:33
Speaker
Yep, that's definitely what happened. I didn't and it bash my son's brains in.
01:14:42
Speaker
The end, that's it. Just, oh no. See, it turns out ah like Sir Tabat is gonna be like charged with murdering his own son by accident.
Historical Significance and Sequels
01:14:57
Speaker
The end.
01:15:08
Speaker
The Wolfman.
01:15:13
Speaker
You know, it's funny. ah For some reason, Larry Tabbit is just the default name for all the Wolfmen. Like, yeah, incarnation. It's always Larry Tabbit. It's not really important that what his name is and that like he always returns to his father's estate. Right.
01:15:38
Speaker
like, he always has to go back to hang out in his father's place in order for that to happen to get cursed.
01:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. um Like, because in the the sequel, like he, like,
01:15:56
Speaker
like like The Frankenstein meets the wolf has more of the full moon stuffs like like he only changes are in the full moon cuz like obviously this one like It's just whatever it's it's where the wolf's pain booms And yeah yeah so Technically in I'm reading up on the sequel. um Yeah they find his body and then because they remove like they just take the body and they put it in the sun and the moonlight. That turns it into werewolf at night. But then ah it revives him. So it's not just that, but it's sort of like he's just an undead person.
01:16:40
Speaker
Weird. Yeah, that one. Yeah, right. by the second By the time they get the second one, that's when they start building the lore. That's when they start building more of the Uh, I guess the, like the character study, because in this it's very little with the character study. Larry is not really conflicted. He just has like, is she still trying to understand what the rules are. We're still trying to as the audience, we're still trying to understand what the rules are. I forget that it starts with like a real wolf in the beginning. Yeah.
01:17:15
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, the, but like, where they go here, I could not predict, we're like, in sense of sequels, it's like, at least in the sequels, it's a different story. They try everything else.
01:17:35
Speaker
But it is nice that like La Chiena Jr. like was like, just kept coming back for like, he was like the wolf man, like all the, all these movies.
01:17:44
Speaker
I yeah think he was the only one that reprises his role for like every ah like every movie that like The Wolfman was in for these Universal movies.
01:17:57
Speaker
Because probably go see Boris Kolloff, they came back when they were like different characters. like like um like i don't know I don't know if... um
01:18:08
Speaker
yeah Like Bela Lugosi was like the Frankenstein monster in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. So what was it wasn't Boris Karloff. So they kind of they care like flipped around different roles, but then Lachani Jr. He was like the constant.
01:18:27
Speaker
right
01:18:33
Speaker
and was so It was always Frankenstein Dracula and the Wolf Man. I don't think the mummy or the creature like good, but really like, like, have they sort of like, but like factored into like those other movies? No, it's also when you have those specific settings, like you need to be in Egypt, and then you need to be by a swamp or lagoon. Yeah, that to make sense. But not to the monster squad with the all with the all joined together. Yeah, yeah.
01:19:09
Speaker
Uh, but overall it still holds up to some degree. Like it's definitely not my favorite Wolfman movie. It's a little slower. I do appreciate Lon Chaney Jr's efforts. It starts. It's a movie that has like the spirit of a like horror movie. It's just that it's definitely dated. Yeah. i mean The the but look is iconic. The look of like his like Wolf form is iconic.
01:19:41
Speaker
Uh, did you like the pacing where basically it's the movie takes place over the course of like four days? I mean, that's like all universal monster movies. It's all, it's all just like crammed with like an hour.
01:20:03
Speaker
i definitely like I definitely, I I definitely put this probably like, um, Like, if I was going to rank all the Universal Monster movies, I'd probably put this, like, in toward the middle. Like, are there are no people like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, or not The Mummy, Creature from the Moon, probably above this one. Yeah, I haven't seen a Creature from the Black Moon in a long, long time. I would say, Creature's probably, I don't know if it's my favorite one, but but I would probably put that, like, one or two, probably. boy
01:20:36
Speaker
Dracula's probably number one for me.
01:20:40
Speaker
OK, I think that's because that is more gothic love story slash more respectful. Yeah, and Bela Gossi is just like, obviously, like that's like just like incredible iconic performance that's directed with that movie. All all Dracula's after that, we're like trying to be Bela Gossi. Yeah. Yeah, I could I could see that. um But even here, Bela Gossi pretty much steals the show a little bit.
01:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, until he turns to the German Shepherd and gets give passion to the head. Yeah, it's Cain.
01:21:21
Speaker
And yeah, I don't record this, like, neither of us have seen, as of recording this commentary, we haven't seen the new Wolfman yet, but I'm curious to see it. Because there's, I like, you know, one else, like, take on, like, the Mizzle Man was interesting. So definitely see what he does with the Wolfman.
01:21:44
Speaker
And the werewolf genre, there's always going to be werewolf movies. It's an evergreen horror concept.
01:21:57
Speaker
Yeah. ah It's a nice attempt. I definitely appreciate the st historic value of the movie. i It's a quick watch, so at least it doesn't drag on, because right when we start noticing how long it starts dragging, and the dumb dialogue that is just there to fluff time. Like, who was that? That was Larry. All right. Who was that? That's Larry. Like, is this like, what? they' just Was this necessary? But... You're crazy. No, you're crazy. You're crazy, Larry. You're crazy. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of gaslighting, like, Larry. But in this whole town, no one believes him, but besides the Gypsies.
01:22:42
Speaker
so so that's cool but also like the gypsies like know the warning words like oh shit we cause another wolf man yes this is our problem well you know they're they're like we got a bail like get out of here yeah they know the consequence I guess they knew about uh Bellagosi's condition, I guess.
01:23:14
Speaker
But they kept it pretty well. Like they kept it, uh, like for so long they were able to travel and get work and until, uh, until then. I don't know. Do you have any favorite parts?
01:23:35
Speaker
Oh, I mean, I just i just like the i like the main thing for this is like, you know, like the like the look like the Larry is like wolf form and like him like just like running through the woods. Yeah, yeah, I wish he spent more time doing wolf things. Yeah, it is. It is. you when you Watch it again it is it is surprising how little little time he spends is like the wolf.
01:23:59
Speaker
or the wolf man like it's like like what like 10 maybe 10 minutes not even of like this even though the movie's like only like 70 minutes long it's like only like 5-10 minutes of the movie is him as the actual wolf man yeah it's a lot of him walking around in suits and then totally getting sweaty I think you see of him on the date first Yeah, be a weird, a weird, creepy, creepy Tom.
01:24:36
Speaker
But ah yes, I think that'll do it for this month's commentary. We'll be back next month with another commentary and you head over to the site, check out our regular podcast.
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01:24:44
Speaker
Everything I should guys, we'll talk we talk about movies every week and have written, head over to check all of our other features and news, reviews, all that stuff, everything that should come. And yes, of course, I'm Zach and we will see you next time.
01:24:57
Speaker
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