A stodgy Universal thriller from 1941, redeemed by a name-heavy cast (Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and the imponderable Maria Ouspenskaya) and by Lon Chaney Jr.’s lumbering, affable performance in the title role. George Waggoner directed; the fogbound photography is by Hitchcock’s frequent collaborator Joseph Valentine. 70 min.

Read the Empire Movie review of The Wolf Man. A classic of its time and...

'It's only in your mind' says Claude Rains to his screen son Lon Chaney Jr, as he straps the suspected werewolf to a chair in Universal's second try at the Wolf

The English legendary werewolf provides basis for another cinematic adventure into the horrific chiller-diller realm. The Wolf Man is a compactly-knit tale of its kind, with good direction and performances by an above par assemblage of players, but dubious entertainment.

Compared to today's faster-paced features, particularly those in the horror genre, The Wolf Man is almost tiresome -- a half-hour story unfolded into a feature, albeit a brief 71-minute feature. But it's easy to forget just how impacting George Wanger's The Wolf Man really is. On the surface, it's a slow-moving short story -- an abrupt tragedy about a man stricken with a deadly curse. The film doesn't really seem all that extraordinary stacked against today's modern standards. But The Wolf Man really is a revelation, it's just a revelation we've almost forgotten about.