The Werewolf (1913)

An old Indian legend tells of the supposed ability of persons who have been turned into wolves through magic power to assume human form at will for purposes of vengeance.

Director:

Henry MacRae (as Henry McRae)

Writer:

Ruth Ann Baldwin (story)

Stars:

Clarence Burton, Marie Walcamp, Phyllis Gordon

Cast

Cast overview:
Clarence Burton	...	Ezra Vance, Prospector and Trail Blazer
Marie Walcamp	...	Kee-On-Ee, as a Young Woman
Phyllis Gordon	...	Watuma, daughter of Kee-On-Ee
Lule Warrenton	...	Kee-On-Ee, Years Later
Sherman Bainbridge	...	Stone Eye
William Clifford	...	Jack Ford

Storyline

Ostensibly the first werewolf movie ever filmed. A Navajo woman believes she has been abandoned by her husband, who has actually been killed, and becomes a witch. As her daughter grows up she is taught by her mother to hate all white men and ends up seeking revenge by turning into a werewolf.

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Plot Keywords:

monster | werewolf | navajo | man beast | curse | 

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Genres:

Short | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 December 1913 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bison Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

18 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Monsters of the Movies, the story is about a girl named Watuma who comes back to life 100 years after her death to look for the ghost of the man who killer her lover. She comes back as a wolf to do this.

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Connections

Referenced in Top 10 Lost Horror Films (2010)

User Reviews

Based on a Short Story

According to Stephen Jones in his anthology *The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men* (page xii), this "Canadian two-reeler" film was loosely based on Henry Beaugrand's story "The Werewolves" (1898). Incidentally, Jones goes on to say that the silent French film Le Loup-Garou (1923) was also based on this same Beaugrand short story. The story then clearly captured the imaginations of people of this era.

Here is a link, if you're interested, to the short story: http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/werwolvs.htm

I was surprised by just how short this short story actually is. Also, other than the fact that both the plot of this lost film and the plot of the short story both involves Indians, there does not appear to be that much of a direct resemblance between the two stories.