La fille du loup-garou

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF is about a legend, a family secret, and a curse. There are gypsies, a devil doll, and a Transylvanian connection! Is the gypsy princess Celeste (Nina Foch) more than she appears to be? Of course, there's a werewolf as well, with a bit of a twist. Several deaths occur as the beast tracks down those who could expose the gypsy tribe.

Police Lt. Barry Lane (Barton Maclane) is stumped, while Bob Morris (Stephen Crane) does some snooping of his own. One of the best parts has him sneaking around the basement vaults at a mortuary, while the werewolf pursues him. Will Bob uncover the truth, before his fiancee, Elsa (Ossa Massen) becomes part of the tribe?

Indeed, there's a certain CAT PEOPLE vibe to this movie. Suspenseful and mysterious, COTW is a very entertaining entry in its sub-genre..

EXTRA POINTS FOR: Viewers spotting the rubber band around the poor wolf's snout to make him look more fierce! It sort of works, until it becomes obvious he's just trying to get it off!...

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.

There are some good moments in this film. At the center is Nina Foch who plays a gypsy princess who can become a wolf at will. It is her purpose to keep the gypsy band together by killing off those who know about her abilities. But a scientist begins to invade their domain. He is killed but it leads to his son and fiancee trying to figure out what happened. One down side is the keystone kops police force. Even if they don't believe in werewolves, they could be a tad more competent.

There are far worse ways to spend an hour or so of your time. This movie was more than likely made for pocket change and contractual obligations, true; but despite not having someone like Val Lewton (who could conjure up palaces out of orange crates) behind it, this isn't at all bad. Nina Foch is quite capable and sympathetic, and ably supported by a raft of character actors who are old hands at this sort of thing.

There's plenty of atmosphere and suspense, with just enough mystery to keep your attention. As with some of the best of the afore-mentioned Lewton's work, until the denouement, you're never quite sure whether this is all in someone's mind or if there's a real bogeyman (or bogeywoman) stalking the night. Lon Chaney Jr's reputation is safe - or even Henry Hull - but the mug who called this the nadir of werewolfery is being a little harsh. With THE WOLF-MAN, Universal set the bar pretty high, after all. But if you're looking for some good old-fashioned fun, you could do much worse. If nothing else, it's an entertaining example of what can be done with some talent, care and craftsmanship, even if you couldn't quite buy dinner for a family of four to six people with the existing budget. Definitely check it out!

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.