Werewolf of London (1935)

The juice of a rare Tibetan flower is the only thing that keeps Dr. Glendon from turning into a werewolf during a full moon.

Director:

Stuart Walker

Writers:

John Colton (screenplay), Robert Harris (story)

Stars:

Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson

2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Henry Hull	...	Dr. Glendon
Warner Oland	...	Dr. Yogami
Valerie Hobson	...	Lisa Glendon
Lester Matthews	...	Paul Ames
Lawrence Grant	...	Sir Thomas Forsythe
Spring Byington	...	Miss Ettie Coombes
Clark Williams	...	Hugh Renwick
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Hawkins
Charlotte Granville	...	Lady Forsythe
Ethel Griffies	...	Mrs. Whack
Zeffie Tilbury	...	Mrs. Moncaster
Jeanne Bartlett	...	Daisy

Storyline

While on a botanical expedition in Tibet Dr. Wilfred Glendon is attacked in the dark by a strange animal. Returning to London, he finds himself turning nightly into a werewolf and terrorizing the city, with the only hope for curing his affliction a rare Asian flower.

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Plot Keywords:

animal attack | werewolf bite | full moon | fog | scientist | 

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Taglines:

Beware! Terror strikes in the night!

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese Latin

Release Date:

13 May 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Unholy Hour

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$195,393 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Considered to be the first mainstream werewolf movie. It preceded the more commercially successful The Wolf Man (1941) by six years.

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Goofs

Glendon's book on "Lycanthrophobia" (apparently meaning "Lycanthropy") refers to "transvection from man to wolf", meaning "transformation." Transvection (as a supernatural process) actually means levitation.

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Quotes

Dr. Wilfred Glendon: Thanks... Thanks for the bullet. It was the only way... In a few moments now... I shall know why all this had to be. Lisa... good bye. Good bye Lisa. I'm sorry I... I couldn't have made you happier.

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Crazy Credits

"A good cast is worth repeating..."

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Connections

Referenced in Ginger Snaps (2000)

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Soundtracks

Music
(uncredited)
from The Invisible Man (1933)
Composed by Heinz Roemheld

User Reviews

Universal's other werewolf movie.

Before there was "The Wolf Man", Universal made "Werewolf of London". This movie is not as well known or as good the Lon Chaney Jr. movie but it's a rather good genre movie on its own nevertheless.

The movie starts off in a good and mysterious horror way but also in a great and entertaining way, by introducing some fun typical upper-class British characters and dialog into the movie. Unforntunately it then takes quite a while before things start to kick off. The monstrous werewolf only makes his full entrance halve way through the movie.

It's funny to see how much similar the werewolf transformation sequences in this movie look to "The Wolf Man". The make-up effects in this movie are also almost the same and created by the same person, but only as a more lighter and less hairy version, since the actor Henry Hull disliked the time-consuming makeup application. The make-up effects in this movie are nevertheless rather good and convincing. Henry Hull is definitely almost unrecognizable underneath all of the make-up.

I also must say that I liked Henry Hull better as the werewolf than as his human character. It was a hard character too sympathize for, something that Lon Chaney Jr. did succeed in by the way. A reason why "The Wolf Man" is still a better movie than this one is. Also quite weird to see Warner Oland in this movie, since at the time he almost entirely only made Charlie Chan movies and he was very popular for it at the time. It therefor is a bit weird to see him in a different role in this movie.

The movie features lots of comedy, which makes this a very pleasant movie to watch. But it also takes away the tension at times when it isn't really needed to. It sort of prevents the movie from being a true tense and mysterious horror movie at times, though the potential for it was definitely there.

The story isn't that much special and rather simplistic. The movie doesn't offer any real surprises, although the story does has its moments. Also the climax of the movie feels rather rushed and sudden. The movie should at least had been 10 minutes longer, to let it reach a better and more satisfying less sudden conclusion.

It's still a good sort of forgotten Universal werewolf movie and a more than great watch for the Universal horror/classic horror movie lovers.

7/10

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