The hostesses with the mostesses that we know as the Metzinger Sisters of SILVER SCENES present The Universal Blogathon to commemorate the studios 100th anniversary. The party, which is described as being a howling good time, runs from October 29th to 31st and HERE is your invitation.
Movie buffs have their sacred traditions. Here are some of mine. Christmas Eve belongs to Alastair Sim as Scrooge. St. Patrick's Day is commonly accepted as The Quiet Man Day. October 3rd is Werewolf of London Day to celebrate the shared birthdate of Warner Oland (1879-1938) and Henry Hull (1890-1977), the two character actors with star billing in the 1935 Universal release.
Dr. Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is a botanist with a single-minded thirst for adventure. He travels to Tibet in search of a rare flower, the mariphasa, which blooms by the light of the moon. The only example of this blossom is in a mysterious valley shunned by all who know of it. Porters refuse to continue on the journey. Glendon insists and persists, and goes where no man has gone before. Dr. Glendon not only finds the flower, but has an encounter with a strange beast that leaves him with a scar and ... something else.
Wilfred secludes himself in his London laboratory with only his aid Hawkins (J.M. Kerrigan) allowed entry. He is trying to coax the mariphasa plant to bloom under manufactured moonlight. He is a driven man who cuts himself off from all society, even that of his pretty young wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson).
The Botanical Society presents many of Dr. Glendon's choice plants at an exhibition and tea which he tries to shun. Among the many guests are Paul Ames (Lester Matthews), an old friend and sweetheart of Lisa's. Paul's aunt, the crotchety dowager duchess type, Lady Forsythe (Charlotte Granville). Lisa's Aunt, a society butterfly, Ettie Coombes (Spring Byington) and Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland), a fellow botanist who wishes to consult Dr. Glendon.
Glendon and Yogami have much in common. It was Yogami, transformed into a werewolf, who attacked Glendon in Tibet. Now Glendon faces the same fate of lycanthropy. It is only the sap from the mariphasa plant which provides a temporary antidote to the curse. Yogami is a tortured soul whose own attempts to grow the plant have met with failure. Glendon, who has yet to experience a transformation, is skeptical.
Dr. Glendon, like Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll, walks the streets of London transformed into something not wolf and not man, but a satanic creature with the worst qualities of both. This was Dr. Yagami's description and the man knew of which he spoke. A slightly inebriated Ettie Coombs comes face to face with the monster. Ettie survives, but a hapless stroller in nearby Goose Lane is horribly mangled and the case falls to Lady Forsythe's son, the head of Scotland Yard Sir Thomas Forsythe (Lawrence Grant). Paul Ames speaks of a werewolf murder he heard of in South American. Dr. Yogami implores the Yard's assistance in retrieving the last remaining mariphasa from Dr. Glendon or London will face an epidemic that will leave it a shambles. Yogami has a way with words. Forsythe dismisses the supernatural nonsense as "poppycock".
Wilfred becomes more estranged from Lisa and Lisa grows more attached to Paul. Wilfred attempts to isolate himself in a rooming house. He is without hope and forced to commit yet another horrible murder. The audience, however, is relieved of his singular despair by the best comic relief team in any horror film from any studio. The landlady Mrs. Moncaster (Zeffie Tilbury) and her bosom friend Mrs. Whack (Ethel Griffies) are a couple of nosy old soaks who think nothing of bashing each other about and insulting each other in a most endearing manner.
Fate has decreed the end for both Glendon and Yogami. We can but hope for the well being of those in their midst.
I am a fan of the screenplay by John Colton (Rain, The Shanghai Gesture). You can tell by the examples above that Dr. Yagami is prone to be flowery, yet he remains sincere. The humour in the characters is appropriate to their class and backgrounds, be it the flighty Ettie Coombes or the earthy Mrs. Whack and Mrs. Moncaster. Lisa Glendon gets to combine her loving wife side with the headstrong individual she was previous to marriage. Each character is a distinct individual and the cast, even in the tiniest roles, is given due consideration under otherwise unremarkable director Stuart Walker. Karl Hajos provided the moody score for Werewolf of London. The composer/conductor was nominated twice for the Academy Award for the comedy The Man Who Walked Alone in 1945 and the crime drama Summer Storm in 1946.
Jack Pierce's make-up for this early incarnation of the werewolf is less layered and intense than what will come in 1940s The Wolf Man. Wilfred Glendon can bundle up in a hat, scarf and turned up collar and roam the streets of London at will. He is most definitely not human, but just what sort of beast is he?
My favourite aspect of Werewolf of London is the cinematography by Charles Stumar. The mariphasa plant glowing against the mountains in Tibet or the darkened London laboratory. The gloom of the den where Glendon first transforms into the creature. There is an hypnotic, almost comforting aspect to the look of the film. It is very familiar to fans as Stumar, who sadly died in a plane crash at age 44 the year of this film's release, was responsible for the "look" of The Raven, The Mummy and other Universal pictures going back through 1923's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1923 was Stumar's first year at Universal in a career that began in Hollywood in 1917.
Werewolf of London is a treat any time of year, but I find it works best in the cool of October, for character lead birthdates and Hallowe'en.
There's a bad moon on the rise.
Henry Hull
I am a fan of the screenplay by John Colton (Rain, The Shanghai Gesture). You can tell by the examples above that Dr. Yagami is prone to be flowery, yet he remains sincere. The humour in the characters is appropriate to their class and backgrounds, be it the flighty Ettie Coombes or the earthy Mrs. Whack and Mrs. Moncaster. Lisa Glendon gets to combine her loving wife side with the headstrong individual she was previous to marriage. Each character is a distinct individual and the cast, even in the tiniest roles, is given due consideration under otherwise unremarkable director Stuart Walker. Karl Hajos provided the moody score for Werewolf of London. The composer/conductor was nominated twice for the Academy Award for the comedy The Man Who Walked Alone in 1945 and the crime drama Summer Storm in 1946.
Jack Pierce's make-up for this early incarnation of the werewolf is less layered and intense than what will come in 1940s The Wolf Man. Wilfred Glendon can bundle up in a hat, scarf and turned up collar and roam the streets of London at will. He is most definitely not human, but just what sort of beast is he?
Nursing the mariphasa lumina lupita.
J.M. Kerrigan
My favourite aspect of Werewolf of London is the cinematography by Charles Stumar. The mariphasa plant glowing against the mountains in Tibet or the darkened London laboratory. The gloom of the den where Glendon first transforms into the creature. There is an hypnotic, almost comforting aspect to the look of the film. It is very familiar to fans as Stumar, who sadly died in a plane crash at age 44 the year of this film's release, was responsible for the "look" of The Raven, The Mummy and other Universal pictures going back through 1923's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1923 was Stumar's first year at Universal in a career that began in Hollywood in 1917.
Werewolf of London is a treat any time of year, but I find it works best in the cool of October, for character lead birthdates and Hallowe'en.