Curse
of the Werewolf
1961
Director- Terrance Fischer
Cast- Oliver Reed, Clifford Evans, Yvonne Romain, Catherine
Feller, Anthony Dawson, Josephine Llewelyn, Richard Wordsworth, Hira Talfrey, John
Gabrie
The
story begins with a wretched beggar arriving at a town to find the streets
empty and the church bells ringing. The local Marquis is marrying and the
aristocracy is gathered at the castle to celebrate. The beggar goes there
hoping to impose on their good will. He has made a huge mistake as the Marquis
is a pointlessly cruel man. He teases and humiliates the beggar before having
his guards throw the beggar in the dungeons. There he is forgotten about.
The only
people he ever sees are the jailer and the jailer’s daughter, a mute little
girl that brings him food. The weeks turn into months and then years. The
little girl has grown into a beautiful young woman (Yvonne Romain, who starred
in several other horror films of that era including Circus of Horrors and
Corridors of Blood) and the beggar has been reduced to little more than a feral
animal.
The young
woman catches the eye of the vile and now decrepit Marquis. He tries to have
his way with her but she fights back. To
teach her a lesson the Marquis throws her in the dungeon, locking her in a cell
with the mad, feral beggar. Heaping one indignity upon another, the beggar, who
she has cared for her whole life, rapes her! Assuming that she has learned her
lesson she is released from the dungeon and sent back to the Marquis. However,
the experience has not made her any more tractable as she kills the old pervert
and escapes the castle. She runs into the forest and almost dies there but is
found by a passing nobleman.
The
nobleman and his maid care for the young girl and they soon find out that she
is pregnant! The maid is very nervous because her calculations have the baby
being born on Christmas. This is a bad omen, a bastard being born on Christmas,
as she says “For an unwanted child to be born then, is an insult to
heaven…” A similar curse is mentioned in
the excellent 80’s fairy tale anthology The Company of Wolves. Well the mother
can’t seem to push the baby out sooner or hold it in longer and, as predicted,
it arrives on Christmas night, his arrival is announced by the howl of a dog.
His poor mother dies in the birthing and the nobleman decides to raise the
child, now named Leon.
His
first clue that there may be problems is when he takes the infant for baptism and
a storm comes up. Another warning comes a few years later when a goat is found
slaughtered and then a little kitten as well. The game warden, while out
hunting for the culprit shoots a wolf and (no surprise to the audience) little
Leon is later found with a bullet in him. Though everyone is mystified by this,
little Leon has been having bad dreams and the assumption is that he has snuck
out at night. He develops the trademark hairy palms and the nobleman goes to
the clergy for help.
The
priest tells him that an elemental spirit has entered the body of the child,
probably at birth. The priest describes a werewolf as “a body with a soul and a
spirit that are at war.” He advises that if Leon receives warmth and love this
will strengthen his soul in the battle against the evil spirit. Bars are put on
Leon’s windows, love and warmth are bestowed, and his childhood passes without
any more incidents.
Fast
forward a few years and now Leon has grown into a young man (Oliver Reed). He
leaves home to make his mark in the world. He soon meets a lovely young woman,
Christina (Catherine Feller). They fall for each other but they cannot marry as
she is promised to another. With some
wine in him he decides to drown his sorrow in the arms of another girl he meets
at the tavern. The unrequited love and the sudden lust mix together to bring
out the beast in him, as it were, and he murders the girl and some other men.
He wakes up the next morning, clothes missing, blood on his hands, and no
memory of the night before.
His foster
parents and the priest reveal to him the secrets of his childhood. He understandably
freaks out. Christina wishes to continue their romance and Leon is convinced
that her love is the thing that will keep his bestial nature in check. They
prepare to elope but before that can happen he is arrested for the murder of
the dead townspeople. The authorities don’t know his secret of course; they
just think he is a madman.
Leon
fears what will happen as his curse progresses and asks to be killed, while the
clergyman asks to have him transferred to a monastery. The mayor, though, isn’t
hearing of it and keeps him locked in jail. When the full moon arrives, Leon
wolfs-out, giving us our first real look at the beast. The werewolf runs amok
in the town, wreaking havoc. This is pretty close to the end of the film, but the
wait is worth it.
Even though
it has a great cast, was beautifully shot and had a clever script, none of that
would have mattered if the werewolf had looked bad, but it doesn’t. In fact, after
Lon Chaney Jr.’s, I think it has the most memorable looking werewolf in cinema.
Its hair is grey-white like a timber wolf and the facial features are the
perfect blend of lupine and human. It is also has a very muscular build,
prefiguring the more physically powerful werewolves that would appear in modern
cinema.
The
thing I like most though is its folk horror aspect. It eschews all of the
typical werewolf mythology (which, in truth, has less to do with folklore and
more to do with Hollywood) and operates with a whole new set of rules. Lycanthropy (before Curt Siodmak re-wrote the
rules in The Wolfman) was not a simple curse where one was just bitten by a
werewolf. This movie makes the lycanthropy a real curse, something bestowed at
birth. It also takes out the “infection” aspect by explaining it as a form of
possession. The film has a real fairy tale feel to it.
Bafflingly
it was the only werewolf movie that Hammer ever made. They put out an
astounding 15 vampire films, 7 Frankenstein films, 4 Mummy movies, and at least
2 Jekyll and Hyde films, but only 1 werewolf movie. A sort of spiritual sequel
was made in 1975, Legend of the Werewolf. Even though it stars Peter Cushing,
it is not a Hammer film. Both films were based on the same novel, The Werewolf
of Paris by Guy Endore and both screenplays were written by Anthony Hinds. Both
star Michael Ripper in small roles. Legend uses a very similar looking
werewolf, complete with white hair. The film though, is a sequel in spirit only
and doesn’t live up to the quality of Curse of the Werewolf.
In the
hierarchy of werewolf movies, most people are going to list one of three films
as the best werewolf film ever. Old school fans will say The Wolfman with Lon
Chaney Jr. Everyone else will probably
be split between The Howling and American Werewolf in London. I’m not sure
which of those three I’d say is this best, but those are definitely not the top
3. Curse of the Werewolf, though not as standout as those films, is worthy of
at least standing in their company, and belongs in any list of top 5 or top 10
werewolf movies.
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