Cry of the Werewolf

Entertaining take on the werewolf legend as established by Curt Siodmak in The Wolfman, blended with elements of Val Lewton's The Cat People. Interesting differences between this and The Wolfman are that the werewolf is a woman and she actually transforms into a four-legged wolf. Surely this last decision was made to save money on expensive makeup and transformation seems, but the transformations are handled with clever use of shadows and editing. The lead actors are competent, if bland, but Barton Maclane stands out as the police lieutenant, with some wonderfully written, very funny moments of sardonic exasperation and commentary. His character is also written as more open-minded than most stock police detective characters in these films. Atmospheric, fun, overlooked and underrated, Cry of the Werewolf is a must-see for fans of werewolf movies and/or classical Hollywood horror.

Note: as with so many movies of that era, there is racist content in this film. It includes the appropriation and distortion of Gypsy culture and African people, and the purely servile presence of African-Americans in one brief scene.

This film when werewolf films are discussed gets a bad rap, and even though there are no " Special Effects", film is effective.It uses elements from two classic 1940's horror films " The Wolf Man" (1941) and " Cat People" (1942)and uses them well.Well made and acted apart from leading man Stephen Crane who acts like he is reading from cue cards.Overall this film is a nice surprise, i went into this not expecting much but thought it a good film, not that far behind the two classics already mentioned.

After looking at the list of werewolf movies on Wikipedia, I remembered this particular one was on YouTube so after watching Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man on YT, I decided to watch this one there since it was next in my chronological list of werewolf movies to watch list. Nina Foch-who I mainly remember from An American in Paris-is quite compelling as the title character as she tries to keep people outside of her gypsy family from finding out about her secret. The setting is New Orleans, Louisiana, which is a two-hour drive from my current residence of Baton Rouge but I'm guessing that this was shot on the Columbia backlot. Perhaps part of me was confused by some of the details in the story but for the most part, I was enthralled at Cry of the Werewolf. So, yes, that's a recommendation!

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Henry Levin; Produced by Wallace MacDonald for Columbia Pictures release. Screenplay by Griffin Jay and Charles O'Neal; Photography by L. W. O'Connell; Edited by Reg Browne; Musical Director: Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Starring: Nina Foch, Stephen Crane, Osa Massen, Barton MacLane, Blanche Yurka, John Abbott and Fritz Leiber.

Good use of the supernatural werewolf legend in this tale of a gypsy girl haunted by her dark destiny. The film takes a healthy "oral history" approach towards the supernatural element. Special effects money is saved by having the werewolf look exactly like a wolf rather than like a wolfman.

Apparently werewolf genes are inheritable as a young woman becomes one because of her mom; then, in a hairy mood, she goes after nice young couple who know about her problem.

This Columbia studio production shows why Universal had the franchise on the half-human half-wolf. Instead of going the Universal route by using big-time make-up and blended dissolves, Columbia employs an actual German Shepherd dog, (not even a real wolf, mind you), as the fanged menace. And the nice doggie all but wags his tail while "menacing" the humans. Needless to say, this turns a potential horror movie into a version of Lassie Goes Bad, despite the best efforts of a strong supporting cast— e.g. Abbott, Leiber, Yurka.

Then too, the war thinned out the ranks of Hollywood leading men, leaving lightweights such as Stephen Crane to haul the goods. Good thing he went into the restaurant business instead of staying on the stage. And what a waste of the talented Nina Foch who doesn't get nearly the screen time her character deserves. Instead, that goes to Osa Massen, a decent enough actress, but without Foch's special brand of haughty disdain.

No need to waste time on this B-movie disappointment. Columbia simply cut too many budgetary corners with not enough imagination to produce anything more than a sometimes amusing misfire and a general waste of acting talent.