...in which werewolves are less savage than they oughtta be.
Today I'm watching The Werewolf of London from 1935. The original werewolf movie, and still an interesting film, not least because of the casting of Werner Oland as the Japanese scientist Dr. Yogami. Funny thing, Hollywood's reluctance to use ethnic actors back then, as anyone who remembers John Wayne as Genghis Khan can attest.
This is really one of the best of the Universals, and this is in large part true not because of the main story line but because of all the little asides in it. Back then, it was thought that it would be bad for people (or bad for business) to have 90 minutes of unrelieved horror, so lots of comic relief would be thrown in. In most of the films this was aggravating, but in this one it works, because of those two ditzy old ladies who run the boarding-houses. They are just so much fun.
But the thing that got me in the movie today was a scene at the beginning, when Henry Hull is in Tibet, about to enter the forbidden valley in search of the rare mariphasa lupino plant (is that made up? and whatever happened to wolfsbane? and if I remember my Latin, that's a pretty goofy name), and a traveling priest tells him, "You are foolish, but without fools, there would be no wisdom." Which, what? Who the hell wrote that? Did that maybe sound better in someone's head? 'Cause on film, it's pretty dumb.
This is why I love watching these movies. There are always WTF moments that you've missed before, no matter how many times you've seen the films.
Also, a generic complaint about classic werewolf films: why do they attack the way they do? It doesn't make sense. Okay, werewolves are all fang and claw and they attack and rip their victims to pieces. I understand that in the thirties and forties there was no way the censors were gonna pass something like that. So, fine. Let the attacks happen off-screen, the way Dracula's always did.
But no, werewolves in classic movies stalk their prey, howling and slavering like wild beasts, and then when they catch them, they...strangle them? Any of you guys ever known a wolf or dog to act this way? It really takes a lot away from the movie, if you ask me. Which, of course, no one did.
Anyway, the Christmas Eve horror-fest is in full swing, and I'm gonna go to the store and get some wine, and then I think I'll stay with the werewolf motif and watch Ginger Snaps. Anyone wants to watch some movies, come on by.