Wolf Blood (1925)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

George Chesebro

Writers:

Bennett Cohen (story)
Cliff Hill (story)

Release Date:

16 December 1925 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

After wolf blood transfusion, man thinks he's becoming a wolf. |

Plot Keywords:

Wolf | Suicide | Werewolf | Lumber Camp | Melodrama

Cast

Marguerite Clayton	...	Edith Ford
George Chesebro	...	Dick Bannister
Ray Hanford	...	Dr. Eugene Horton
Roy Watson	...	Jules Deveroux
Milburn Morante	...	Jacques Lebeq
Frank Clark	...	Pop Hadley
Jack Cosgrave	...	Edith's Uncle

Also Known As:

Wolfblood: A Tale of the Forest (USA)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Ryan Brothers Productions

WOLFBLOOD: A TALE OF THE FOREST (Bruce Mitchell and George Chesebro, 1925) **

Despite the title, this isn't a horror film at all; the werewolf elements are only introduced three-quarters of the way in – which are, in any case, merely suggested through the lead character's hallucinations – but these obviously constitute the film's highlight (though rugged, pasty-faced star and co-director Chesebro isn't exactly Lon Chaney Jr.); still, the transformation-by-transfusion is an interesting concept, one which I don't think has been done in subsequent films. However, while the forest locations are certainly nice, the unexciting main narrative involving rival logging companies and the unavoidable love triangle really drown the interest; a subplot involves a villainous moonshiner who's a dead ringer for Walter Brennan – and, for the record, there's even an interminable "Jazz Age" party sequence towards the beginning! The soundtrack accompanying the print I watched features a classical piece which was also used – to much greater effect – in Luis Bunuel's L'AGE D'OR (1930).