Bloggers Barry from Cinema Catharsis and Gil from RealWeegieMidget Reviews are doing a collaboration at the beginning of June related to all things Hammer and Amicus. As part of the event, I'm taking a look at Hammer's 1961 film, The Curse Of The Werewolf. You can see other contributions to the event at the Cinema Catharsis site (here) and RealWeegieMidget Reviews (here).
The Curse Of The Werewolf (1961)
In a small Spanish town, a man discovers he has been cursed and as the curse is unleashed, he terrorises the town...
During a documentary from the early nineties about Hammer Films, it was revealed that the company had built sets for a film to be made about the Spanish Inquisition. However, Hammer received word that if they tried to make the film, it would have major issues with the censors and also that the Catholic League Of Decency would try and get the film banned. As a result, they were left with no film but still had the built sets. However, sometimes a problem can result in an inspired solution and for Hammer, their solution was a masterstroke, they took the novel, The Werewolf Of Paris by Guy Endore and switched the setting to Spain, and in doing so made a horror classic.
But, all that being said, I don't think it's a horror film, although I imagine it was frightening for audiences at the time of release. Looked at these days, I consider the film a dark fairy tale instead, one that I personally think had an influence on filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro.
The film was written by Anthony Hinds, under the pseudonym John Elder. The novel I have never read, but the film tells the story in a perhaps surprising way from the beginning. The first part of the story, has a narration setting up events, as a beggar arrives in the town during the wedding of the Marquis. When he is deemed to have insulted the bride and groom, he is thrown in the dungeon, left there to be cared for by a mute servant girl. However, as the years go by, the Marquis has the girl thrown into the dungeon for rejecting his advances. There she is raped by the beggar, who dies soon after. When she is let out the dungeon, she kills the Marquis and runs off. A few months later, she is found in the woods, pregnant. She dies after giving birth.
This all happens in the opening part of the film. It seems a lot to cover, but thanks to a streamlined script from Hinds, along with lean direction from the always excellent Terence Fisher, this is told very well indeed and along with the narration give it that fairy tale aspect. This is continued throughout the film as we watch the newborn son, Leon grow up and as he does, the 'curse' begins to affect him. This is a film that confounds your expectations with regards to the werewolf,
In a normal werewolf film what tends to happen is that the doomed hero is bitten by a werewolf and gets the curse from this. Here though, there is no biting. Leon is doomed due to his origins. Actor Richard Wordsworth, who plays the beggar, stated in an interview his character was originally a werewolf, but he was told by the producers that the censors would have issues with a werewolf/rapist and so it was dropped. However, I do think by changing it, it helped the film even more. Leon was cursed from the moment he was conceived, despite everyone trying to help him, which results in the emotional and quietly moving ending.
The reason giving for the curse and why Leon suffers from it, being born on Christmas Day, the day Jesus was born, might be considered an odd one, but for me it simply adds to the notion of the film being a fairy tale.
Despite being one of Hammer's early horror's this is one in that has no Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee here. Taking a look at their C.V at the time and it is easy to see why, between them they had NINE films released in 1961. In truth though, role-wise the role of Don Alfredo is perhaps the only role that may have been of interest to either and Clifford Evans is good in the role, bringing out the compassion in the Don as he desperately tries to save his adopted son.
Oliver Reed plays the grown up Leon and is very good too. I think his reputation for drinking and hell-raising obscures the fact that he could be a very good actor, and he shows that as he tries to come to terms with what he is, guilt-stricken at what he has done and even pleading to be killed if need be.
What is striking in this film, is that the three main female characters are fleshed out a bit more than you might expect. Yvonne Romain as the mute servant girl, Hira Talfrey as the Don's housekeeper who becomes Leon's adopted mother Teresa and Catherine Feller as Cristina all shine in their roles. In the supporting roles there are small but good performances from the previously mentioned Richard Wordsworth along with Warren Mitchell, Michael Ripper and Anthony Dawson.
The set design from Bernard Robinson is good, even if there is a re-use of a couple of sets from Dracula, the werewolf make-up from Roy Ashton is good too. The music by Benjamin Frankel isn't bad either. It has another terrific script from Anthony Hinds and is very well directed by Terence Fisher. In truth there really is nothing wrong with the film at all.
And yet, it never gets the same recognition as other classic Hammer films. Why is that?
I do think the lack of Cushing or Lee does give the false impression that this is a 'lesser' Hammer film, though nothing could be further from the truth. It's a film that by all accounts was considered a disappointment at the box office. Certainly Hammer, unlike Dracula, Frankenstein or even The Mummy, never made another werewolf film after this.
And yet, what marks this film out as something truly special is that it doesn't quite fit in with Hammer's normal approach either. Unlike their masterpiece, Dracula, that does have moments of humour in the film, something other Hammer films have too, Curse Of The Werewolf doesn't. There is no comedic act, or humour here at all. The cast and story are played completely straight. You could make the case that by making Leon's curse different from the Wolfman film's before it and even those that were to follow, they were trying something different here and something that, for me pays off wonderfully.
From it's narration, to the exciting, moving ending, The Curse Of The Werewolf doesn't put a step wrong. It is one of Hammer's finest films, personally in my top five Hammer productions. It tends to get overlooked by the likes of other Hammer films such as The Curse Of Frankenstein or Dracula (my all time favourite horror film) and by other Werewolf films, like The Howling, An American Werewolf In London or The Wolfman, but for me, The Curse Of The Werewolf is one of horror's best dark fairytales, one of Hammer's best films and above all, the best Werewolf film made.
Despite being one of Hammer's early horror's this is one in that has no Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee here. Taking a look at their C.V at the time and it is easy to see why, between them they had NINE films released in 1961. In truth though, role-wise the role of Don Alfredo is perhaps the only role that may have been of interest to either and Clifford Evans is good in the role, bringing out the compassion in the Don as he desperately tries to save his adopted son.
Oliver Reed plays the grown up Leon and is very good too. I think his reputation for drinking and hell-raising obscures the fact that he could be a very good actor, and he shows that as he tries to come to terms with what he is, guilt-stricken at what he has done and even pleading to be killed if need be.
What is striking in this film, is that the three main female characters are fleshed out a bit more than you might expect. Yvonne Romain as the mute servant girl, Hira Talfrey as the Don's housekeeper who becomes Leon's adopted mother Teresa and Catherine Feller as Cristina all shine in their roles. In the supporting roles there are small but good performances from the previously mentioned Richard Wordsworth along with Warren Mitchell, Michael Ripper and Anthony Dawson.
The set design from Bernard Robinson is good, even if there is a re-use of a couple of sets from Dracula, the werewolf make-up from Roy Ashton is good too. The music by Benjamin Frankel isn't bad either. It has another terrific script from Anthony Hinds and is very well directed by Terence Fisher. In truth there really is nothing wrong with the film at all.
And yet, it never gets the same recognition as other classic Hammer films. Why is that?
I do think the lack of Cushing or Lee does give the false impression that this is a 'lesser' Hammer film, though nothing could be further from the truth. It's a film that by all accounts was considered a disappointment at the box office. Certainly Hammer, unlike Dracula, Frankenstein or even The Mummy, never made another werewolf film after this.
And yet, what marks this film out as something truly special is that it doesn't quite fit in with Hammer's normal approach either. Unlike their masterpiece, Dracula, that does have moments of humour in the film, something other Hammer films have too, Curse Of The Werewolf doesn't. There is no comedic act, or humour here at all. The cast and story are played completely straight. You could make the case that by making Leon's curse different from the Wolfman film's before it and even those that were to follow, they were trying something different here and something that, for me pays off wonderfully.
From it's narration, to the exciting, moving ending, The Curse Of The Werewolf doesn't put a step wrong. It is one of Hammer's finest films, personally in my top five Hammer productions. It tends to get overlooked by the likes of other Hammer films such as The Curse Of Frankenstein or Dracula (my all time favourite horror film) and by other Werewolf films, like The Howling, An American Werewolf In London or The Wolfman, but for me, The Curse Of The Werewolf is one of horror's best dark fairytales, one of Hammer's best films and above all, the best Werewolf film made.
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