from "THE SCREEN"
December 22nd, 1941

THE WOLF MAN, original screen play by Kurt Siodmak;
directed by George Waggner and produced by Universal.
At the Rialto.

Sir John Talbot . . . . . . . . . . . . Claude Rains

Dr. Lloyd  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Warren William

Captain Paul Montford  . . . . . Ralph Bellamy

Frank Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . Patric Knowles

Bela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bela Lugosi

Twiddle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Forrester Harvey

Maleva . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Maria Ouspenskaya

Jenny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fay Helm

Gwen Conliffe . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evelyn Ankers

Charles Conliffe . . . . . . . . . . .  J. M. Kerrigan

The Wolf Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lon Chaney

Universal, which must have a veritable menagerie of mythological monsters, all with an eye on stardom and a five-year contract, is now sponsoring the debut of its latest pride and joy, "The Wolf Man" at the Rialto. 

Perhaps in deference to a Grade-B budget it has tried to make a little go a long way, and it has concealed most of that little in a deep layer of fog. And out of that fog, from time to time, Lon Chaney Jr. appears vaguely, bays hungrily, and skips back into mufti. 

Offhand, though we never did get a really good look, we'd say that most of the budget was spent on Mr. Chaney's face, which is rather terrifying, resembling as it does a sort of Mr. Hyde badly in need of a shave. 

Privately, and on the evidence here offered, we still suspect that the werewolf is just a myth. Well, so for that matter is Santa Claus—though this is no time to be saying it. But the fact is that nobody is going to go on believing in werewolves or Santa Clauses if the custodians of these legends don't tell them with a more convincing imaginative touch. 

And that is precisely where the Wolf Man is left without a paw to stand on; without any build-up either by the scriptwriter or director, he is sent onstage, where he looks a lot less terrifying and not nearly as funny as Mr. Disney's big, bad wolf. 

Sharing his embarrassment are Maria Ouspenshaya, Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy and Evelyn Ankers—who under more nonchalant circumstances would be referred to as a "sterling" cast. Most of them look as though they wished they had a wolf-skin to jump into—any old wolf-skin, so long as it was anonymous.