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The hapless Lawrence Talbot,
heir to a massive fortune and estate in the Welsh countryside, ignores the local
lycanthropic legends and takes a fateful walk on the moors in the light of a full
moon. The rest is cinematic history... According to Wikipedia:
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"Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his ancestral
home in Llanwelly, Wales to reconcile with his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude
Rains). While there, Larry becomes romantically interested in a local girl named
Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), who runs an antique shop. As a pretext,
he buys something from her, a silver-headed walking stick decorated with a wolf.
Gwen tells him that it represents a werewolf (which she defines as a man who changes
into a wolf "at certain times of the year.")" "That
night, Larry attempts to rescue Gwen's friend Jenny from what he believes
to be a sudden attack by a wolf. | _03.jpg) Rare
Movie Poster c.1941
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kills the beast with his new walking stick, but is bitten in the process. He soon
discovers that it was not just a wolf; it was a werewolf, and now Talbot has become
one. A gypsy fortuneteller named Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) reveals to
Larry that the animal which bit him was actually her son Bela (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.. |
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enough, Talbot prowls the countryside in the form of a two-legged wolf. Struggling
to overcome the curse, he is finally bludgeoned to death by his father, who doesn't
know, with his own walking stick. As he dies, he returns to human form. |
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| The
Wolf Man proved popular, and so Chaney reprised his signature role in four
more Universal films, though unlike his contemporary "monsters," Larry
Talbot never enjoyed the chance to have a sequel all to himself. Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf Man (1943) had Talbot’s grave opened on a full moon night,
causing him to rise again (making him, in the subsequent films, technically one
of the undead). He seeks out Dr. Frankenstein for a cure, but finds the monster
(Bela Lugosi) instead. The two square off at the climax, but the fight ends in
a draw when a dam is exploded and Frankenstein’s castle is flooded. In House
of Frankenstein (1944), Talbot is once again resurrected and is promised a
cure via a brain transplant, but is shot dead with a silver bullet instead. He
returns with no explanation in House of Dracula (1945), and is finally
cured of his condition. But he was afflicted once again, in the comedy film Abbott
and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). This time the Wolf Man is a hero of
sorts, saving Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) from having his brain transplanted
by Dracula (Bela Lugosi) into the head of the Monster (Glenn Strange).
Grabbing the vampire as he turns into a bat, the Wolf Man dives over a balcony
into the sea. |
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| The
model I've designed is patterned directly from the poster above featuring the
Wolf Man in all his beastly glory.. It is still in beta form, so if you build
it, please send a pic or two, and let me know if there are any glitches that need
fixing..
Happy
Halloween!!
The Professor. |
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