Wolfblood

After a wolf blood transfusion, a man (George Chesebro) thinks he is becoming a wolf.

This film came to my attention as being "the first werewolf movie". Strictly speaking, that is not correct. The first werewolf movie is The Werewolf" (1913). However, as that film is considered to be lost, ore "Wolf Blood" can be called the earliest surviving werewolf film, which is the next best thing.

Although George Chesebro (who both stars and directs) is not a well-known name, perhaps he should be. The Minnesota-born film star appeared in more than 400 films between 1915 and 1954, which is nothing to sneeze at! Oddly, it gets to the wolf part until halfway through, first focusing on 1920s dance parties and lumber companies (reminding me of Howard Hawks' "Come and Get It"). Much of the werewolf part is told through possible hallucinations, and we are never completely convinced that he has joined the pack.

Interesting for what it is, but probably not a must-see.

Somewhere in a Canadian forest there are two competing lumber camps - one good, one evil - the owner of the latter hires thugs to attack folks from the former to try and put them out of business. This course of action results in one such victim being given an emergency transfusion of wolf's blood leading him to believe he is a wolf, including hallucinations of phantom wolves.

The above synopsis probably makes Wolf Blood seem a lot more interesting than it actually is. Unfortunately, despite how it is marketed nowadays, it's not a werewolf film. It isn't even a horror movie at all. Instead it's a melodrama with a little bit of fantasy elements added towards the end. Sadly, the narrative is somewhat dull and the wolf material is only introduced three quarters of the way in. It's here where the film has some potential but it's too little too late. And so, despite some great location photography, the result is one of the most lacking silents I have seen.

This was really good decent drama , someone told me it was a horror.

As it was the first, kind of werewolf movie however there are no actually werewolf in this.

A man thinks, he is turning into a werewolf after being injected by wolf blood.

After he was beaten up and left for death but start to thing he belongs with the pack of wolves.

After hearing that people, who attacked him, have been killed and mauled by a animal.

7 out of 10

A nascent werewolf picture which, despite its promising premise, carefully avoids a descent into lycanthropy, this "tale of the forest" will disappoint most horror fans. However, it does have other points of interest including its attractively tinted location photography and its fascinating cast headed by the famous silent star, the charming Marguerite Clayton, here nearing the end of her 180-movies career!

Doubtless for reasons of economy, George Chesebro was handed the reins to direct many of his own scenes. Unfortunately, he opted to adopt the clownish make-up he sported in the 1920 serial, "The Lost City", and he looks a real sight with his ghost-white face, black-rimmed eyes and painted smile. And this is before he thinks he might turn into a werewolf!

Chesebro is joined by his sidekick pal from "The Lost City", Frank Clark, but it's prolific character actor Milburn Morante who easily steals this picture from both of them.

The scenes directed by Bruce Mitchell are much smoother and far more natural than the Chesebro footage. And in his delightfully foot-tapping, jazz party sequence, the beautifully tinted images often give the lustrous impression of early two-strip Technicolor.

Half the film involves trees falling down and the same stock footage of the lumber industry. There are two warring camps. One is sending men to shoot the workers in the other camp. It is getting ugly. There are so many injuries that the foreman (a sort of Nelson Eddy kind of guy) gets in touch with the owner (who happens to be a rich flapper, engaged to a surgeon). She goes to the camp with her fiancé. He will do the doctoring while she assesses the situation. There is no reason for her to be there other than to advance the plot and get her to fall in love with the handsome foreman. At some point, the guy (who acts before thinking) finds that the opposing camp is about to dam up the river and ruin their business. After a confrontation with a couple of lumberjacks, he is knocked unconscious and thrown in a ravine. He is later found by the surgeon who is put in a position of using wolf blood to save his life. Of course, he now begins to act wolf-like. Some say this was the first werewolf movie. There are some fun moments, but, over all, it is just quite moronic.