Feb 11
Cry of the Werewolf (1944)
"If you could speak, Marie La Tour, you could tell me what I want to know. What is this evil power? Where does it come from? I know that it exists and that it's here, in this house."
#cry of the werewolf#wolfmania#1944#horror film#american cinema#henry levin#griffin jay#charles o'neal#nina foch#stephen crane#osa massen#blanche yurka#barton maclane#john abbott#george eldredge#fred graff#fritz leiber#milton parsons#ivan triesault#robert b. williams#minor Columbia horror which is a cute enough little flick but makes some odd anti intuitive choices#for example: the werewolf is heavily sidelined in the first half to make room for some forensic investigating‚ which IS mildly interesting#but presumably not what the werewolfheads of the 40s had come looking for. also underused in the first half is the wonderful#nina foch BUT she does get to simmer and be provocative in the last reel so that kind of makes up for it. Osa Massen‚ the other female lead‚#also does some great work here and the two of them capably carry a really quite slight little film. alas‚ sandwiched between them is#Stephen Crane‚ who would shortly abandon acting to become a well known restauranteur. i try not to bag on people's acting abilities bc it#feels mean but let's just say that the catering world's gain was also Hollywood's gain.#on a happier note‚ the perennially superb john abbott is also here in a small role and livens up his few scenes considerably#not a complete dud or anything‚ but very much a second rate kind of horror flick for this era and without much staying power#i watched this a couple of months before i actually got around to writing this tags and i remember very very little of this tbh