I love the old Universal Studios monster flicks… but upon watching the Wolfman recently I realized something…
Dracula was based on a Bram Stoker novel.
Frankentsein was based on the Mary Shelley novel.
The Mummy was based on a Bram Stoker novel…
but who in the heck wrote the Wolfman? Or was the Wolfman just a Hollywood concoction and not based on a classic novel?
I know The Creature From the Black Lagoon and The Bride of Frankenstein are pure Hollywood origin…but werewolf legends go way way back. I assume there has to be a classic novel or short story of some kind.
The Bride of Frankenstein wasn’t pure Hollywood concotion. In Stoker’s novel, Victor Frankenstein, at his monster’s behest, creates a female monster, but fearing that they will breed and take over the world, he destroys the body before it is animated. Have to wonder why he didn’t just leave out a uterus when he was putting her together.
I don’t think there is a template novel for the Wolfman. Like Swampy, he’s mostly original.
The Mummy wasn’t based on Bram Stoker’s novel, but on a play, IIRC. (Poe had written a story of a resuscitated Mummy – the first of the genre, I think – but the movie had nothing to do with that, either.)
Legends of werewolves/wolfmen have been around for a long time, but I think that The Werewolf of London starring Henry Hull was both the first wolfman movie and the first depiction of any sort in which the “wolfman” is a sort of hairy human, rather than a man who turns into a wolf. The movie The Wolfman, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot, came a few years later and cemented the concept. The monster itself, and all the trappings – the pentagram, the turning into a wolfman at full moon, the fact that the wolfman is an unwilling monster (which seems to owe a lot to the book Dr. Jeckyll and Mister Hyde) are all Hollywood creations. I think the silver bullet is, too. You just can’t see that as an ancient myth.
These are my own thoughts, but I highly recommend David Sklar’s book ** The Monster Show** for thoughts on the origins of Hollywood monsters of the 1930s and 1940s.
There’s some sense to it – where are you going to find trained wolves to perform your scenes convincingly, and to look properly threatening (One thing that always bugs me about adaptations of The Hound of the Baskervilles is that the dogs too often look like playful puppies). You want a person to play the monster, to perform the right actions, and to convey the sesnse of angst. For all that, you have to keep most of the face visible and expressive – no masks. (It’s the same reason the Star Trek franchises create aliens by varying the forehead bumps – you need something approximately human to give facial expressions and to emote). So the Wolfman as we have him is wholly due to the needs of the movies. I believe that Kurt Siodmak had a lot to do with creating the mythos. As with all such things, it “evolves”, with some elements being discarded and others added. The whole “moonflowers” business from Werewolf of London never made it to the Larry Talbot movies, or beyond.
Thinking about it, I don’t think that the movie The Mummy was based on a play – but John Balderston, who “punched up” the play Dracula for its New York run and who later added material for the movie, did hhave a hand in writing the screenplay.
Oh, but it so Is an ancient myth. As a kid I used to read a vast amount of folktales and where were werewolves there were also silverbullets. In fact you could take out all kinds of creatures with a silver bullet.
Don`t know of wolfmen though. Are they at times all humans and at times part wolves? Darn those half–breeds.
Actually, Swamp Thing (and Man Thing, which appeared within weeks of each other) aren’t all that original*. There was a 40’s comic creature called The Heap (he had a cameo in Moore’s Swampy: he was the tree holding the toy airplane) who had the same basic origin as did Solomon Grundy (Dead Guy+Swamp=Muck Encrusted Mockery of a Man). And The Heap (who I believe was the first of the comic book versions) came straight from Theodore Sturgeon’s classic: It.
Fenris
*Although I’ll admit that what Moore et al did with Swampy was extremely original, but his origins and earlier stories…
Another “Swamp Thing” type critter was in Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery” series in a short called “Brenda,” based on a story written by Margaret St. Claire. Basically, it’s a story of an obnoxious girl (either Pamelyn Ferdin or Laurie Prange–they’re pretty fungible) who befriends this monstrous “heap,” and how he follows her around because she was friendly to him (it?)
Ah, the Universal monster movies. At last, an area in which I can claim some expertise! These films have been dear friends of mine for quite some time.
As noted, The Mummy was not based on a Stoker novel. (Stoker did write a mummy novel, but it had nothing to do with the Karloff film of 1932). Officially, the story of The Mummy was an original, written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and heavily revised (and improved, in my opinion) by John Balderston. Unofficially, it bears more than a passing resemblence to a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Ring of Thoth.” Most all the elements are there: a resurrected Egyptian, an undying love that spans the centuries, the rediscovery of the mummy of the dead beloved. Far be it from me to accuse anyone of plagiarism, but the resemblances are quite remarkable.
The Wolfman is also an original screen story, written by Curt Siodmak. Interesting thing about werewolves. Despite their popularity, despite how many legends exist about them, there really isn’t a definitive werewolf novel. The closest we’ve ever come was Guy Endore’s The Werewolf of Paris. Altough quite popular when it was written, it’s seldom read today. Other than that, classic werewolf literature is pretty scarce. It was up to Hollywood to give us our archetypal werewolf figure.
The question of the silver bullet (or silver in general) is something I’m not sure of. I’m not a folklorist, but I have been dismayed to find that an alarming number of popular books seem to use movies as the source of their “folklore.” This is especially true of books aimed at young people. I tend to think that the silver bullet thing was also invented by Siodmak, but I can’t be sure. I would note, however, that in the earlier film Werewolf of London, the werewolf is killed by perfectly ordinary lead bullets.
Another bit of trivia: the phrase “full moon” does not occur in The Wolfman, nor is the moon ever shown on camera. That bit of business wasn’t added until Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman in 1943.
In at least one sense (and I know this is stretching a bit), THE MUMMY is based on a Bram Stoker novel. The film is in many aspects a remake of DRACULA, with the ancient Eyptian standing in for the undead Transvylanian. So you could argue that it’s based on Bram Stoker’s DRACULA.
The irony of course is that when Coppola directed a film called BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, it included the plot device of a reincarnated love interest, which first appeared in THE MUMMY. So I guess that means everything’s even now, each having ripped off the other.
Quite an interesting book it is, and it was adapted into a good Hammer film, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (although they changed the story quite a bit). I do believe WEREWOLF OF PARIS introduced the idea of the werewolf as a kind of tragic figure who changed against his will. Werewolfs of legends were evil sorcerers who performed magic in order to change themselves.
I think that there is a general folkoric belief that silver offers protection against evil, but I don’t think werewolf myths make any particular use of it. If I recall, a silver bullet is used in WEREWOLF OF PARIS, but it’s not lethal and it’s not particularly aimed at killing a “werewolf” (i.e., a man who turns into a wolf). There’s just an assumption that the beast killing the local sheep must be something more evil than an ordinary wolf.
Are you sure? Don’t we see the moon when Bela Lugosi (as “Bela”) is about to turn into a wolf? His back is to camera, in longshot, and we see the moon in background?
My memory could be playing tricks here. One thing I do know for sure: the whole “silver bullets kill werewolves” thing was dropped in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, because the whole plot is about how Larry Talbot needs Frankenstein’s secrets of life and death to put an end to his own miserable existence. If silver were an option, there would be no reason for him to go running across have of Europe; he could have just swallowed some loose change!
Fenris: Well, I did say mostly original… Although I don’t think the Creature can be grouped with sentient vegetables and reanimated corpses simply because they’re all found in a swamp. The Creature was an evolutionary off-shoot/primoridial ancestor of man. If anything, it owes more to weird fiction of the twenties and thirties. Lovecraft’s Shadow Over Innsmouth in particular comes to mind as an inspiration for the creature itself, although the story is obviously quite different.
Okay, I admit, I’m not absolutely positive. It’s possible we do get a brief glimpse. Certainly there are no long, lingering shots of the full moon like you would expect. I became aware of this when watching the film on DVD. The fellow doing the “expert commentary” asks near the beginning of the film, “What object that you’d expect to see in every werewolf movie is never shown in this one?” At the end of the film, he answers the question: “The moon.” I think he’s right.
Good point that The Mummy is essentially a remake of Dracula. Of course, they had the same screenwriter, and The Mummy was directed by Karl Freund, who had filmed Dracula, so perhaps it was inevitable. As for Coppola’s film, I always did think it was ironic that, considering the film is actually called Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it includes so many plot elements that do not appear in Stoker.
“Whut we haive hayr. Is a faylur. Tuh communeekate.” (Do you know how long I’ve wanted to use that line? Do you? [sub]I don’t either[/sub])
I agree about The Creature, especially the “Innsomouth” reference, but the Swampy/Heap/IT comment was in regards to your comment that “Like Swampy, he’s mostly original.” I disagree with that half of the comment. It’s like saying “Ovens, like popsicles, are mostly warm.” The Creature? Original. Swampy? Not original. IMHO, YMMV, Void where Prohibited, etc.
Um…I just reread your comment. I assumed that by “Swampy” you meant “Swamp Thing”. Did you mean “The Creature”? (In which case I’m really confused (I’ve had 4 hours sleep in the last 30=some. Be patient with me.)
Richard Matheson wrote a script for TV version of Dracula that starred Jack Palance, in which the whole schtick about Dracula reclaiming his reincarnated wife was first introduced into the Dacula story. I think Coppola was ripping off Matheson. Whether or not Mathesomn as ripping off Balderston et al, I don’t know.
Richard Matheson wrote a script for TV version of Dracula that starred Jack Palance, in which the whole schtick about Dracula reclaiming his reincarnated wife was first introduced into the Dacula story. I think Coppola was ripping off Matheson. Whether or not Mathesomn as ripping off Balderston et al, I don’t know.
I would hve thought it obvious that a Silver Bullet can’t be an “ancient” myth about werewolves, since firearms themselves aren’t ancient. Nobody has ever suggested a silver arrowhead or a silver sling missile as a effective anti-lycanthrope device. I haven’t looked into this in any detail, but I suspect that this is another nvention of the mvies.
We do have a failure to communicate. Yeah, I meant the Creature in that post, as I was only referring to UP monsters, like the OP. My bad, as Swampy would obviously refer to eveyone’s favorite compost heap. Looks like the Box for me.
Well, as ScriptAnalyst points out, there is a sort of general folk belief of silver as protection against evil. I’ve read stories about werewolves killed with silver knives (in fact, I’ve written a story about a werewolf killed with a silver knife). Even in The Wolfman itself, Lon Chaney is killed by being beaten to death with a silver-handled cane.
But in general, I think you’re right that silver was added by the movies. There are plenty of legends about werewolves being wounded by quite ordinary swords or daggers.
I have been wanting to see that Jack Palance version of Dracula for quite some time. Is it available on cassette, and is it worth my time?
Are you sure? If I remember correctly, the gypsy’s rhyme goes thus:
Even a man who is pure of heart
And says his prayers at night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the moon is full and bright
I could be wrong, of course. The alternate ending line of that rhyme is:
And the Autumn moon is bright
Of course, that leads into the tricky question of just what the autumn moon is. If they mean any moon visible during the fall, then we must wonder how there can be werewolves running around during the other 9 months. If an autumn moon is a colloquialism for a particular phase or appearance, there are more possibilities. Autumn Moon may be another name for Harvest Moon, which is the full moon when the moon is at perigee. Any other thoughts on this?
Right you are. It’s the “autumn moon” version that occurs in The Wolfman. They changed it later. Incidentally, it’s not really exclusively the gypsys’ rhyme, either. Practically every member of the cast recites it at one point or another. It’s almost like it’s the town motto. Frankly, that’s the most werewolf-happy town I’ve ever seen!
As many people pointed out, silver has historically been a protective agent against evil of all sorts. Back in the day when people believed in vampires and you could earn a decent living as a ligitimate vampire hunter, many of them carried around kits including silver bullets. A lot depends on the myth as to how you can kill something believed to be evil, but the restriction that silver is the only thing that can kill a werewolf is simply HollyWood, and even that’s not terribly exclusive (regular means to kill werewolves were used in all the Howling movies, as well as the American Werewolf In… movies, and countless others).
I don’t know if this helps, but there is an old story about a werewolf that was devowering little children in this small village once, and one night, a woodcutter caught the thing and in a struggle cut off one of its arms with his axe. Later on when he went home, he found his wife bleeding to death with her arm missing. The axe was just a simple axe, not silver, so again, it’s a bit of “proof” that the silver only kills werewolves thing is simply a HollyWood construct.
Real quick, was the Fly universal? I’m just curious.
(Do you know how long I’ve wanted to use that line? Do you? [sub]I don’t either[/sub])