The Curse of the Werewolf
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| The Curse of the Werewolf | |
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 film poster by Bill Wiggins |
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| Directed by | Terence Fisher |
| Produced by | Michael Carreras Anthony Hinds |
| Written by | Anthony Hinds (aka John Elder) |
| Narrated by | Clifford Evans |
| Starring |
Clifford Evans Michael Ripper |
| Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
| Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
| Editing by | Alfred Cox |
| Studio | Hammer Film Productions |
| Distributed by | Universal-International Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  1 May 1961 7 June 1961 |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) is a British film based on the novel The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore.[1] The film was made by the British film studio Hammer Film Productions and was shot at Bray Studios. The music, by Benjamin Frankel, is notable as the first British serial film score.[2]
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Plot [edit]
The story is set in 18th Century Spain. A beggar is imprisoned by a cruel marques after making inappropriate comments at the nobleman's wedding. The beggar is forgotten but manages to survive another fifteen years. His only human contact is with the jailer and his beautiful mute daughter (Yvonne Romain). The aging, decrepit Marques makes advances on the jailer's daughter when she is cleaning his room. When she refuses him, the Marques 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 back up to "entertain" the Marques. Instead she kills the old man and flees. She is found in the forest by the kindly gentleman-scholar Don Alfredo Corledo (Clifford Evans) who lives alone with his housekeeper, Teresa (Hira Talfrey). The warm and motherly Teresa soon nurses the girl back to health, but she dies after giving birth to a baby on Christmas Day (a fact that Teresa considers "unlucky." since the child was born out of wedlock)
Alfredo and Teresa raise the young boy, whom they name Leon. Leon is cursed both by the evil circumstances of his birth and by being born on Christmas Day. An early hunting incident gives him a taste for blood which he must struggle to overcome. A number of goats are found dead, but a herder's dog is blamed.
Leon grows into a young man (Oliver Reed) and leaves home to seek work at the Gomez vineyard. Don Fernando Gomez (Ewen Solon) sets Leon to work in the wine cellar with Jose Amadayo (Martin Matthews) with whom he quickly forms a friendship. Leon soon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina (Catherine Feller), but grows depressed at the seeming impossibility of marrying her, and lets Jose take him to a nearby brothel, where he transforms and kills a woman and Jose, then returning to Alfredo's house. Too late, he learns that Cristina's loving presence prevents his transformation, and 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 refuses to believe him. His wolf nature rising to the surface, he breaks out of his cell, killing a prisoner and the guard. Shocked and disgusted by his appearance, the local people summon his scholarly step-father, who has obtained a silver bullet made from a crucifix blessed by an archbishop. Though torn with grief, Alfredo shoots Leon dead and covers his body with a cloak.
Cast [edit]
- Clifford Evans as Don Alfredo Corledo
- Oliver Reed as Leon Corledo
- Yvonne Romain as Servant girl
- Catherine Feller as Cristina
- Anthony Dawson as Marques Siniestro
- Josephine Llewelyn as Marquesa
- Richard Wordsworth as Beggar
- Hira Talfrey as Teresa
- John Gabriel as The priest
- Warren Mitchell as Pepe Valiente
- Anne Blake as Rosa Valiente
- George Woodbridge as Dominique the goat herder
- Michael Ripper as Old Soak
- Ewen Solon as Don Fernando
- Peter Sallis as Don Enrique
- Denis Shaw as Gaoler
- Charles Lamb as Marques' Chef
- Desmond Llewelyn (uncredited) as Marques’s servant
Home video release [edit]
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.
In other media [edit]
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 of Leon in both human and werewolf forms.
References [edit]
- ^ *Clemens, Carlos (1968). Horror Movies: An illustrated Survey. London: Panther Books. p. 208.
- ^ David Huckvale, Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde, Introduction, p.4
External links [edit]
- The Curse of the Werewolf at the TCM Movie Database
- The Curse of the Werewolf at the Internet Movie Database
- The Curse of the Werewolf at AllRovi
- Britmovie
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