Tag: Jack Pierce

The Wolf Man (1941)

The Wolf Man (1941). 70 minutes. Directed by George Waggner. Starring Lon Chaney Jr. (as Lawrence “Larry” Talbot/the Wolf Man), Claude Rains (as Sir John Talbot), Warren William (as Dr. Lloyd), Ralph Bellamy (as Captain Paul Montford), Patric Knowles (as Frank Andrews), Bela Lugosi (as Bela), Maria Ouspenskaya (as Maleva), Evelyn Ankers (as Gwen Conliffe), J. M. Kerrigan (as Charles Conliffe), Fay Helm (as Jenny Williams), Doris Lloyd (as Mrs. Williams), Forrester Harvey (as Twiddle), and Harry Stubbs (as Reverend Norman). Screenplay by Curt Siodmak. Makeup effects by Jack Pierce.

Of all of the monsters that Universal depicted in its golden age, the Wolf Man has to be the least frightening. Although he is part wolf, he is still part man, after all, and he is not undead like other Universal antagonists such as Dracula, the mummy Ardath Bey, or Frankenstein’s monster; nor is he a homicidal maniac who delights in causing human suffering like the Invisible Man. … Read the rest

Frankenstein (1931)

Frankenstein (1931). 71 minutes. Directed by James Whale. Starring Colin Clive (as Henry Frankenstein), Mae Clarke (as Elizabeth Lavenza), John Boles (as Victor Moritz), Boris Karloff (as Frankenstein’s monster), Frederick Kerr (as Baron Frankenstein), Dwight Frye (as Fritz), Edward Van Sloan (as Dr. Waldman), Lionel Belmore (as the Burgomaster), Marilyn Harris (as Little Maria), and Michael Mark (as Ludwig). Based on the novel by Mary Shelley and the play adaptation by Peggy Webling. Make-up by Jack Pierce.

Frankenstein is an iconic pre-Code monster movie released by Universal Studios—the film studio that, with the release of Frankenstein, Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932), and a slew of other movies, would become the premiere horror workshop of Golden-Age Hollywood. Like many of those early 1930s films, Frankenstein is more than just a scary movie: at times profoundly psychological, it explores complex identity issues, tortured family relationships, and the thin line between order and chaos as it questions what defines us as … Read the rest