Cry of the Werewolf (1944)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

Griffin Jay (screenplay)
Griffin Jay (story)
(more)

Release Date:

17 August 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

As a woman she wanted LOVE! As a werewolf she wanted BLOOD!

Plot:

Young woman raised by gypsies is actually daughter of a werewolf. She starts killing those who know about her. |

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf | New Orleans

Cast

Nina Foch	...	Marie Latour
Stephen Crane	...	Robert 'Bob' Morris
Osa Massen	...	Elsa Chauvet
Blanche Yurka	...	Bianca
Barton MacLane	...	Lt. Barry Lane
Ivan Triesault	...	Jan Spavero
John Abbott	...	Peter Althius
Fred Graff	...	Pinkie
John Tyrrell	...	Mac
Robert Williams	...	Homer
Fritz Leiber	...	Dr. Charles Morris
Milton Parsons	...	Adamson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Al Bridge	...	Coroner at Inquest (uncredited)
George Eldredge	...	George Latour (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Gypsy Woman (uncredited)
George Magrill	...	Front Door Police Guard (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Hector Sarno	...	Gypsy (uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	Gypsy (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Policeman Ed (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	Sheep rancher (uncredited)

Directed by
Henry Levin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Griffin Jay		screenplay
Griffin Jay		story
Charles O'Neal		screenplay

Produced by
Wallace MacDonald	....	producer

Original Music by
Mischa Bakaleinikoff		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
L. William O'Connell		(as L.W. O'Connell)

Film Editing by
Reg Browne

Art Direction by
Lionel Banks
George Brooks

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Milton Feldman	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Lambert E. Day	....	sound technician (as Lambert Day)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director
George Antheil	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Victor Schertzinger	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In order to get the wolf to snarl and gnash it's teeth for the camera, a clearly visible rubber band was placed around it's upper jaw and snout. It is most easily seen in the footage running behind the opening credits.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Creature Features: The Mummy's Curse/Cry of the Werewolf (#1.13)" (1970)

I strikes a nerve with me.

For strange personal reasons, but that's okay, since I have a hard time defining it myself. CRY OF THE WEREWOLF is full of that . . . jeeze, how to describe it? . . . "life - is - shitty - Why - was - I - born? - Why - do - I - have - to - do - awful - things - to - other - people - just - to - pass - my - time - on - the - road - to - a - predestined - inevitable - eternal - damnation - that - nobody - else - has - to - endure?" kind of overwhelming fatalistic cosmic horror that pushes all the right buttons with me. Which, as I said earlier, is strange because my personality is the polar opposite of that kind of cursed nihilism (I never even think about that kind of thing unless a film like that hits me in the face with it). And maybe because that kind of thing is so diametrically opposed to my nature is the reason I find so much horror in the theme, no matter the other deficiencies a film like that may have.

Remember, I'm the guy who thinks FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN is the second-best of the series, for much, if not all, of the same reasons. Nobody else seems to pick up on that, or if they do, it doesn't resonate with them like it does with me. And that's all right, too . . . some people are afraid of heights, some of wide-open spaces, some of crowds, and so on. I suppose the possibility that inexplicable misery inflicted by basically-good human beings on others is not an act of "personal responsibility" but, in effect, is the result of intentional programming done "somewhere else" must be my own personal bete noir . . . and nobody else can have it!

Besides, it has Nina Foch in a perfectly-cast-and-executed role, arguably the best supporting cast ever assembled for a Columbia thriller, the gypsy thing, New Orleans (my favorite city in the United States). Sure, it's not for everybody, but the whole thing pushes a hell of a lot of my own personal buttons.