The Werewolf

Steven Ritch plays a stranger who arrives in the small California town of Mountaincrest, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He also has the unfortunate tendency to sprout hair, claws, and fangs at any old time, and the townsfolk attempt to catch Ritch in his wolfish form. Then two doctors (S. John Launer, George Lynn) follow Ritch there, knowing full well that they're the ones who put him in his predicament, and try to cover up their actions.

"The Werewolf" is a well acted, modest production that gets great mileage out of its Big Bear Lake locations, as well as fine atmosphere. It also puts a fresh spin on the standard werewolf story, taking it into the Atomic Age and giving us a lycanthrope born of not myth and legend but of scientific meddling. Of course, like many a good werewolf story, it's also a tragedy, with a main character who does earn our sympathies. People like Dr. Gilcrist (Ken Christy) and his niece Amy Standish (Joyce Holden) work at convincing the law, represented by Don Megowan as the sheriff and Harry Lauter as his deputy, to please try to take Ritch alive, if possible, knowing that he is a basically good man who cannot control what is happening to him.

The werewolf makeup by Clay Campbell is decent, the stock music appropriated serves its purpose, and there is some very crisp black & white photography by Edward Linden. The performances are fine, with Megowan as a sturdy, jut jawed (if not that expressive) hero; Eleanore Tanin and Kim Charney are appealing as Ritchs' distraught wife and son.

Good entertainment, with a striking finale done in long shot at a dam.

Seven out of 10.

This film scared the pants off me as a kid (which I loved!) and when I finally found it again and watched it as an adult I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still enjoy it. And parts of it, namely the cave sequence and the fight in the dark alley, still give me the creeps. I found this werewolf much scarier than Chaney Jr.'s version. Steven Ritch's portrayal has a wildness and rawness to it that gives his lycanthrope that extra edge. Watch how he drools as he sinks his fangs into that hunk of bait in the woods, for instance. Oh, there are a few flaws... and I find the scene at the doctors' lab very long, talky and dull... but all in all I'd recommend this to any classic horror film buff. Well done. Hard to believe something of actual quality was produced by the same man responsible for "The Giant Claw"!

In Mountaincrest, a stranger without memory arrives in a bar to have a drink. When he leaves the bar, a local tries to robber him but he turns into an animal and kills the attacker. Deputy Ben Clovey (Harry Lauter) hunts down the animal but is wounded by it. Sheriff Jack Haines (Don Megowan) organizes a party to find the beast. Meanwhile the nurse Amy Standish (Joyce Holden) and her father, the local doctor, receive a man called Duncan Marsh (Steven Ritch) that recalls that he had a car accident and two doctors have treated him. But he flees and Haines wants to hunt him down but Amy and her father wants to convince him to capture Duncan to see how they could treat him. When is wife Mrs. Helen Marsh (Eleanore Tanin) and her son Chris arrive in Mountaincrest, Sheriff Haines is convinced that shall capture the werewolf alive. But the doctors that conducted the experiment arrive in the town expecting to kill him.

"The Werewolf (1956)" is a film with the genre more drama than horror. The sad saga of the family man Duncan Marsh is heart breaking. The plot is interesting and the transformation is excellent for a 1956 movie. The performance of Steven Ritch is also great. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Lobisomem" ("The Werewolf")

This is quite a good low budget film with a new twist to the werewolf story. There is nothing supernatural here. Forget the wolfbane and the silver bullets. Steven Ritch has the lead role and does a splendid job, making the monster even more sympathetic than the long suffering Larry Talbot of the Universal Wolfman flicks. His character, Duncan Marsh, appears in a mountain town having no memory of who he is or how he got there. Leaving a tavern, he is followed by a man who intends to rob him. The man pulls him into an alley and the werewolf claims his first victim. The story plays well the rest of the way. We find out that Duncan Marsh's condition is brought on by two doctors who use him as a test subject while treating him for injuries sustained in a car accident. A supporting cast of unknowns do a decent job of being believable. Elenore Tanin is especially effective as Duncan Marsh's wife. The Big Bear Lake locations give the film a lot of help.

Lensed by the same director of the bigger budgeted Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers and meant to be a companion for the lower half of the bill The Werewolf surprised everybody by being a taut face value chiller with more character emphasis than usual for this type of subject.

As other reviewers have stated the performances,locale,direction and lighting are much better should be for a story about kooky scientists turning a luckless schmoe into a hirsute mutant but it also has a film noir element that mixes in quite nicely amidst the western pines of Big Bear lake.

Unlike some other viewers I didn't have a problem with the make up. It was meant to scare kids and it did. A year later you can see similarities in the design for Michael Landon's beastly side in I Was A Teenage Werewolf.

After the late sixties this exhausted it's run on local Chiller theaters and became very hard to find until now.

For a reasonable price you can get a gorgeous widescreen DVD transfer of The Werewolf along with other B movie faves The Giant Claw,Zombies Of Mora Tau and Creature With The Atom Brain.

The name of the set is Icons Of Horror Sam Katzman. It comes with some great extras but one of them produced by the same Three Stooges dept. at Columbia has enough vile Asian stereotypes to make A Fu-Man-Chu movie look P.C.

Take a trip back to matinée-ville with this and enjoy.