This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2008) |
The Curse of the Werewolf | |
---|---|
Directed by | Terence Fisher |
Written by | John Elder |
Based on | The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds |
Starring | Clifford Evans Oliver Reed Yvonne Romain Catherine Feller Anthony Dawson Michael Ripper |
Narrated by | Clifford Evans |
Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
Edited by | Alfred Cox |
Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Curse of the Werewolf is a 1961 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Clifford Evans, Oliver Reed and Yvonne Romain. [1] It was based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore. [2] It was produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions.
The leading part of the werewolf was Oliver Reed's first starring role in a film and composer Benjamin Frankel's score is notable for its use of twelve-tone serialism, rare in film music. [3] It was the first werewolf film to be shot in colour.
A beggar in 18th-century Spain is imprisoned by a cruel marqués after making inappropriate remarks at the nobleman's wedding feast. The beggar is forgotten, and survives another fifteen years. His sole human contact is with the jailer and his beautiful, mute daughter. The aging, decrepit marqués makes advances on the jailer's daughter while she is cleaning his room. When she refuses him, the marqués has her thrown into the dungeon with the beggar. The beggar, driven mad by his long confinement, rapes her and then dies.
The girl is released the next day and sent to "entertain" the marqués. She kills the old man and flees. She is found in the forest by the kindly gentleman-scholar Don Alfredo Corledo, who lives alone with his housekeeper Teresa. The warm and motherly Teresa soon nurses the girl back to health; however, the girl dies after giving birth to a baby on Christmas Day, a fact that Teresa considers "unlucky".
Alfredo and Teresa raise the boy, whom they name Leon. Leon, cursed by the evil circumstances of his conception and by his Christmas Day birth, is soon revealed to be a werewolf. An early hunting incident gives him a taste for blood, which he struggles to overcome. Soon, a number of goats are found dead, and a herder's dog is blamed.
Thirteen years later, Leon leaves home to seek work at the Gomez vineyard. The vintner, Don Fernando, sets Leon to work in the wine cellar with Jose Amadeo, who becomes Leon's friend. Leon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina, and becomes despondent at the seeming impossibility of marrying her. He allows Jose to take him to a nearby brothel, where he transforms and kills Vera, one of the girls. He also kills Jose, before returning to Alfredo's house. Too late, he learns that Cristina's loving presence prevents his transformation; he is about to run away with her when he is arrested and jailed on suspicion of murder. He begs to be executed before he changes again, but the mayor does not believe him. His wolf nature rising to the surface, he breaks out of his cell, killing an old soak and the gaoler. Shocked and disgusted by his appearance, the local people summon his adoptive father, who has obtained a silver bullet made from a crucifix blessed by an archbishop. Though torn with grief, Alfredo shoots Leon dead, and tearfully covers his body with a cloak.
The film was shot at Bray Studios in Berkshire [4] on sets that were constructed for the proposed Spanish inquisition themed The Rape of Sabena, a film that was shelved when the BBFC objected to the script. While the original story took place in Paris, the location of the film was moved to Madrid to avoid building new Parisian sets.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2024) |
It was released in May 1961 on a double feature bill with Shadow of the Cat (1961), another Hammer film. Upon its initial release, the film was heavily censored in the UK, and a restored print was first aired on the BBC in 1993. While a premiere TV screening of the restored print had been planned to air on BBC2 on 31 October 1992, during the Vault of Horror all-night marathon hosted by Dr. Walpurgis (played by Guy Henry; later named Dr. Terror), the censored version was aired by mistake.
The film was not as successful as Hammer's previous horror films like Frankenstein , Dracula , and The Mummy .
Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote that some of the colour photography was "beautiful," adding that "for a werewolf yarn this Hammer Production has a Gothic type of narrative that is not uninteresting, if broadly acted." [5]
Harrison's Reports graded the film as "Good," finding the production values "a big asset" although the review felt there was "not enough action." [6]
Variety called it "an outstanding entry of the horror picture genre. Although not a particularly frightening or novel story treatment of the perennial shock film topic (werewolves ranking second only to vampires in cinema), it is a first-class effort in other respects." [7]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Even by Hammer standards, this is a singularly repellent job of slaughter-house horror... Surely the time has come when a film like this should be turned over to the alienists for comment; as entertainment its stolid acting, writing, presentation and direction could hardly be more preclusive." [8]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2024) |
In North America, the film was released on 6 September 2005 along with seven other Hammer horror films on the 4-DVD set The Hammer Horror Series (ASIN: B0009X770O), which is part of MCA-Universal's Franchise Collection. This set was re-released on Blu-ray on 13 September 2016. The film received an individual release with a new 4K scan in April 2020. The new release included a new commentary track by Steven Haberman, a featurette on the making of the film, make up artist Roy Ashton, "Lycanthrophy: The Beast in All of Us" and stills from the film. Furthermore, in some versions of the video, the mute girl's father is the beggar, himself.
The film was adapted into a 15-page comic strip for the January 1978 issue of the magazine The House of Hammer (volume 1, # 10, published by General Book Distribution). It was drawn by John Bolton from a script by Steve Moore. The cover of the issue featured a painting by Brian Lewis as Leon in human and werewolf forms.
Many of the characters in Joe Dante's 1981 werewolf movie The Howling are named after the directors of werewolf films. Belinda Balaski's character "Terri Fisher" is named for Terence Fisher.
The Curse of the Werewolf is also referred to obliquely in John Landis's 1981 werewolf movie An American Werewolf in London when David Kessler (David Naughton) asks Alex Price (Jenny Agutter) "Did you ever see The Wolf Man ?" and Alex replies, "Is that the one with Oliver Reed?"
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.
Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor, known for his upper-middle class, macho image and his heavy-drinking, "hellraiser" lifestyle. His screen career spanned over 40 years, between 1955 and 1999. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed fifth-most-popular star at the box office.
Terence Fisher was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.
Anthony Douglas Gillon Dawson was a Scottish actor, best known for his supporting roles as villains in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder (1954) and Midnight Lace (1960), and playing Professor Dent in the James Bond film Dr. No (1962). He also appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in From Russia with Love (1963) and Thunderball (1965).
Kiss of the Vampire is a 1963 British vampire film directed by Don Sharp and starring Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel. It was written by producer Anthony Hinds and made by Hammer Film Productions.
Clifford George Evans was a Welsh actor.
Howard Roy Ashton was an Australian tenor, associated for a while with Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group, and make-up artist who became particularly associated with his work on the Hammer Horror films.
The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1973 British horror film directed by Alan Gibson and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is the eighth film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the seventh and final one to feature Christopher Lee as Dracula. The film was also the third to unite Peter Cushing as Van Helsing with Lee, following Dracula (1958) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).
Paranoiac is a 1963 British psychological thriller film directed by Freddie Francis, and starring Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, Sheila Burrell, and Alexander Davion. The screenplay, written by Jimmy Sangster, was based loosely on the 1949 crime novel Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey.
Catherine Feller is a British actress and educator. She is perhaps best known for her role as Oliver Reed's love interest in the Hammer Film Productions' The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). She appeared in Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) with Peter Sellers, and in the first colour episode "The Queen's Ransom" of The Saint TV show.
Captain Clegg is a 1962 British adventure horror film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Romain, Patrick Allen, and Oliver Reed. It produced by John Temple-Smith for Hammer Film Productions. It is loosely based on the Doctor Syn character created by Russell Thorndike.
She-Wolf of London is a 1946 American mystery and horror film directed by Jean Yarbrough. It stars June Lockhart and Don Porter. The film is set in London in the early 20th century, where a series of murders have recently occurred. An aunt then tells an innocent young lady that the blood of a werewolf runs in her family and that she is responsible for the deaths. The woman then immediately ends her engagement, leading to her partner to begin investigating the strange case on his own.
Face of the Screaming Werewolf is a 1965 horror film directed by a low budget film maker Jerry Warren. The film was created by combining parts of two unrelated Mexican horror films, La Casa del Terror (1960), and La Momia Azteca (1957), with the addition of original footage shot by Warren. It was released on March 3, 1965, on a double-bill with another of Warren's films, Curse of the Stone Hand.
La Casa del Terror is a Mexican Monster movie starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Mexican comedian Tin Tan. The film involves Casimiro (Tin-Tan), a night watchman in a Wax Museum, whose boss, Professor Sebastian, has been secretly draining his blood to use in his experiments in resurrection. A mummy who is stolen from an Egyptian sarcophagus is revived to life, and becomes a werewolf when moonlight hits him.
Legend of the Werewolf is a 1975 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing, Ron Moody, Hugh Griffith, Roy Castle and David Rintoul in his film debut. It is an uncredited adaptation of the Guy Endore novel The Werewolf of Paris, which screenwriter Anthony Hinds had previously adapted as The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). The film was produced by Tyburn Film Productions, a company founded by the director's son Kevin Francis. It was released in the United Kingdom by Fox-Rank in April 1975.
Corridors of Blood is a 1958 British-American period drama film directed by Robert Day and starring Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee. It was written by Jean Scott Rogers. The original music score was composed by Buxton Orr.
Yvonne Adelaide "Evie" Romain is a British former film and television actress of the late 1950s and 1960s.
The Terror of the Tongs is a 1961 British adventure film directed by Anthony Bushell and starring Geoffrey Toone, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Monlaur.
Romasanta, also known as Romasanta, la caza de la bestia in Spanish, and Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt in English, is a 2004 Spanish-Italian-British horror film directed by Paco Plaza and starring Julian Sands, Elsa Pataky and John Sharian. It is available on DVD from Lion's Gate Entertainment under the title Werewolf Hunt.
The World of Hammer is a British television documentary series created and written by Robert Sidaway and Ashley Sidaway, and produced by Robert Sidaway.