She-Wolf of London (1946)

Director:

Jean Yarbrough

Writers:

George Bricker (screenplay)
Dwight V. Babcock (original story)

Release Date:

17 May 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

A woman whose hatred knew no bounds!

Plot:

A young heiress finds evidence suggesting that at night she acts under the influence of a family curse and has begun committing ghastly murders in a nearby park.

Plot Keywords:

Heiress | Park | Family Curse | Family Legend | Heiress Heroine

Cast

Don Porter	...	Barry Lanfield
June Lockhart	...	Phyllis Allenby
Sara Haden	...	Martha Winthrop
Jan Wiley	...	Carol Winthrop
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Detective Latham
Dennis Hoey	...	Inspector Pierce
Martin Kosleck	...	Dwight Severn
Eily Malyon	...	Hannah
Frederick Worlock	...	Constable Hobbs (as Frederic Worlock)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Clara Blandick	...	Mrs. McBroom (scenes deleted)
Joan Wells	...	Phyllis - as a Child (scenes deleted)
James Finlayson	...	Constable With Hobbs and Latham (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Constable Albert (uncredited)
Warren Jackson	...	Constable (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Bobby (uncredited)
David Thursby	...	Constable (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Yarbrough

Writing credits
George Bricker		(screenplay)
Dwight V. Babcock		(original story)

Produced by
Ben Pivar	....	producer

Original Music by
William Lava		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Maury Gertsman		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Paul Landres

Art Direction by
Abraham Grossman
Jack Otterson

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Leigh Smith

Costume Design by
Vera West		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Jack P. Pierce	....	director of makeup

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ralph Slosser	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
Joe Lapis	....	sound technician

Music Department
William Lava	....	musical director
Frank Skinner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Raymond Kessler	....	dialogue director

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Films Argentina (1946) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Universal Films Argentina (1946) (Paraguay) (theatrical)
• Universal Films Argentina (1946) (Uruguay) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Panama) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Costa Rica) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Ecuador) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (El Salvador) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Honduras) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Guatemala) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1946) (Nicaragua) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures Inc. (1951) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Screen Gems (1957) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Video (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:6 | Finland:(Banned) (1947) | Finland:K-7 (2004) | USA:Approved (PCA #11426) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Part of the original SHOCK THEATER package of 52 Universal titles released to television in 1957, followed a year later with SON OF SHOCK, which added 21 more features.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Creature Features: Mark of the Vampire/She-Wolf of London (#1.26)" (1971)

No werewolf, no mystery, no fun

No one is going to enjoy "She-Wolf of London," but Universal Horror fans will be particularly disappointed, as there are no makeup effects, no monsters and almost no moments of terror. "She-Wolf" isn't even a horror film. It's another in that late and unlamented genre of mysteries wherein supernatural events are explained away at the end by a natural cause. I'm not giving anything away. The solution to this "mystery" is so clear from the beginning that the pretense of a mystery makes us want to scream. (Say, maybe it is a horror film.)

A young heiress, Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart), believes herself to be the latest victim of a family curse, which supposedly turns her into a werewolf at night, a belief reinforced by the strange murders happening around London. This puts a strain on her relationship with her fiancé, Barry Lanfield (Don Porter). Meanwhile, the lady of the house, Martha Winthrop (Sara Haden), who is supposedly Phyllis's aunt, reveals to her daughter Carol (Jan Wiley) that neither of them is actually related to Phyllis; Martha was really the family housekeeper when Phyllis's parents were killed.

A real mystery is why the above revelation occurs early in the film. But it doesn't matter. This script, credited to George Bricker from a story by Dwight V. Babcock, would not have been improved by a rewrite. It needed to be thrown away and forgotten. Bricker and Babcock also wrote another movie I saw recently: the hilariously titled "Pillow of Death," which is made up of the same idiocies as this movie: faux supernatural occurrences; clunky dialogue; a moneyed family with deep, dark, boring secrets; and people who react to strange events like no actual human being on the planet.

There are very few compensations. June Lockhart, whom I know best from old reruns of "Timmy and Lassie," is sweet and pretty. Sara Haden is properly imperious, even though her acting in the final scene is awful. (See the same basic performance in "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" with Humphrey Bogart, "The House on Telegraph Hill" with Richard Basehart, and a thousand others.) The script borrows from "Gaslight" and "The Cat People"; photographic effects are borrowed from "Suspicion" (the ascent up the staircase with a glass of milk) and "Notorious" (the whirling POV shots after being drugged). Nothing seems to be borrowed from "Werewolf of London," even though the title makes it sound like a sequel. But I did howl at both.