Die Werwölfin von London

What a swizz! Not only does this film clearly not take place in London, but there isn't a she-wolf to be seen. Instead, this creaky potboiler utilises a plot that must have seemed trite even way back in 1946: a pretty young heiress, Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart), believes that she has fallen victim to the lycanthropic Allenby curse unaware that her 'aunt' Martha (Sara Haden) is actually trying to drive her insane so that she can a) lay claim to the family fortune, and b) set up her own daughter Carol (Jan Wiley) with Phyllis's fiancé Barry (Don Porter).

If you can't guess what is happening after Martha has given Phyllis her umpteenth warm drink to help her sleep, then you really should consider giving up watching films and take up something less taxing on the brain, like basket weaving perhaps. As mysteries go, this one is pretty easy to solve, and offers little in the way of genuine excitement or tension. Thankfully, the lovely June Lockhart (who would go onto play Maureen Robinson on the classic sci-fi series Lost in Space) is easy on the eye and helps the time pass a lot less painfully than it might otherwise have.

There's not a whole lot to recommend about this film. It is a Universal Horror...though at the end of all the major horror series at the studio. It does have June Lockhart in an early role...along with Martin Kosleck in a ambivalent rather than evil role, and Dennis Hoey playing a surprisingly adept Scotland Yard inspector (he must have finally won a bet with a studio executive and got away from the bumbling Lestrade of the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holme's movies). The movie has great sets, though I assume they are redressed from some other Universal horror film...they do look somewhat familiar.

On the other hand, this movie is dull...and the plot is easy to figure out after about fifteen minutes. If you've seen Curse of the Cat People, you've got a start on the plot of this movie.

... that was released at the tail end of the Universal horror film cycle, from director Jean Yarbrough.

Wealthy heiress Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart) thinks she might be a werewolf when people start getting murdered at night in the park across from her home. She believes this because of the legendary "Allenby Curse" that says the Allenbys are cursed to walk the earth as werewolves. What survivors there are talk of a woman in the form of a wolf who attacked them. Phyllis takes to her bed, refusing to see her fiance, wealthy attorney Barry Lanfield (Don Porter). Phyllis tries all sorts of things to keep awake all night so that she can't "fall into a trance" and attack people, but she always does fall asleep and awakens the next morning with muddy slippers and even blood on her hands at times, with stories in the newspapers of yet another attack in the park. Her fiance gets tired of being kept away from her and decides to watch Phyllis' house to see what is happening. He sees a a woman come out the front door, walk to the park, and shortly thereafter a man is attacked, but the woman gets away. It might not be Phyllis - three other women live in that house besides her. So what goes on here? Watch and find out.

There are all kinds of "tells" in this one that makes the course of the film not much of a surprise, and June Lockhart plays this much too passive to be an effective possible killer. Also, I will tell you that you never actually see this creature on the loose. Don't expect Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man.

What this film does well is make good use of Sara Haden. She spent years on contract at MGM playing the spinster aunt in the Andy Hardy series and other similar roles. This movie gives her a chance to break out of that.

The other good thing this film does is explore the concept of regret, in middle age, of not marrying for practical reasons in one's youth versus going for the guy who gives you a hormonal rush and is perhaps penniless. The thing is, if you went for the sturdy practical guy you did not love, you'd wind up calling the mailman by his first name and you'd still have a tragedy on your hands.

I'd mildly recommend this one. There are worse ways to spend your time.

Apart from excellent settings and costumes, not to mention the always reliable pulchritude and charm of June Lockhart, this Val Lewton wannabe is mainly a misfire.

More's the pity too, since it abounds in shadowy night scenes, fog, and much cloak and daggery, including a final act complete with tilted camera angles, and poisoned milk, (a la Hichcock's "Suspicion").

But there is no real grue and no real tension, and what we are left with is a lame, (though slickly produced) thriller whose main interest accrues from its interesting cast and glossy staging.

Still, given the paucity of Victorian melodramas at your local cineplex--you could do much worse.

In the turn of the century in London, the aristocratic lawyer Barry Lanfield (Don Porter) proposes to marry the heiress Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart) and she accepts. Phyllis lives in the family manor with her "aunt" Martha Winthrop (Sara Haden), her pseudo-niece Carol Winthrop (Jan Wiley) and the housemaid Hannah (Eily Malyon).

Out of the blue, dreadful murders happen in a nearby park and Detective Latham (Eily Malyon) believes that they are victims of a werewolf or a she-wolf, but his superior Inspector Pierce (Dennis Hoey) says that they are victims of an animal. Meanwhile, Phyllis finds blood on her hands, and her shoes and clothing dirty and she believes that she may be killing people under the influence of a family curse. Who might be the serial-killer?

"She-Wolf of London" is an entertaining mystery movie but with neither horror nor she-wolf as the title suggests. The dramatic story is not bad but frustrates fans of horror movies. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher-Lobo de Londres" ("The She-Wolf of London")