The Curse of the Werewolf

Plot synopsis:
The story is set in 18th Century Spain. A beggar is imprisoned by a cruel marquis after making inappropriate remarks at the nobleman's wedding. The beggar is forgotten, and survives another fifteen years. His sole human contact is with the jailer and his beautiful mute daughter (Yvonne Romain). The aging, decrepit Marques makes advances on the jailer's daughter while 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 to "entertain" the Marques Siniestro. 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 boy, whom they name Leon. Leon is cursed by the evil circumstances of his conception and by his Christmas Day birth. 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 as a young man (Oliver Reed) 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 soon forms a friendship. Leon falls in love with Fernando's daughter, Cristina (Catherine Feller), and becomes despondent at the seeming impossibility of marrying her, and allows Jose take him to a nearby brothel, where he transforms and kills Vera 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 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 scholarly stepfather, 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.

Tags: cult, gothic, murder

Review:
A very involving Hammer production that chronicles the history and life of Leon (Reed) who becomes cursed at birth causing him to turn into a werewolf when the moon is full.
This was a highly unusual werewolf film and I am actually surprised that Hammer films went on to make many Dracula sequels but not werewolf ones, since this film was well made and quite enjoyable.The film begins with a very long prologue--telling a sad tale about an evil man who was responsible for the curse that eventually made poor Oliver Reed become a werewolf.
Plus, like the old Universal films, Hammer did a good job of not showing too much--only letting you see the creature near the very end of the film.Excellent acting and production values combined with a very interesting though flawed script make this an excellent movie for fans of Gothic horror..
He falls hard for the daughter of his employer, but when he is deprived of her love, his lycanthrope surfaces and the killings begin again, only this time he leaves the livestock alone.The film is a character drama in werewolf clothing, and, though it references genre classics such as "The Wolfman", "The Werewolf of London", and even "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in its climax, it is still very much its own animal.
There is a welcome depth to the performances and Reed's acceptance of his condition and desire to be destroyed gives the piece a fine sense of tragedy.Unlke the genre films of today, which make this feel like something made on another planet, "The Curse of the Werewolf" really takes its time to establish a solid foundation for its horror and is a refreshing product of far less cynical times in which human warmth was seen as essential, not "uncool".The last shot, in my opinion, is flawed.
Title: Curse of the Werewolf (1961) Director: Terence Fisher Cast:Oliver Reed, Clifford Evans, Catherine Feller Review: Hammer films is known for making many vampire films, many Frankenstein films, and even a few Mummy films...but for some reason Curse of the Werewolf was their one and only werewolf film ever made.
Even though they only made one Werewolf film, I'm happy because at least the only one they did make is really really good.The story is about a beggar who gets thrown into a dungeon by a despotic marquis who takes pleasure in demeaning other human beings.
It was kind of funny to see that the only thing that they added to their acting to make it look Spaniard was saying "Señor" at the end of every sentence.Finally, Id say that this is one of the best Hammer films ever made and that this movie deserves a whole lot more recognition then it gets.
Oliver Reed essays his most significant starring role for Hammer with dignity and a brooding quality, in my opinion, and the supporting cast does pretty well by their roles but, again, the film's main asset is its beautiful look (including the wonderful werewolf make-up).
It is set in Europa , dealing with a 19 Century European werewolf , as it happens in Spain , Leon is born on Christmas day to a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain) who was imprisoned by a nobleman (Anthony Dawson) and raped by a beggar (Richard Wordsworth stated that in the original screenplay his beggar character was a werewolf) .
This one he looks more like a Wolf Man (similar to Lon Chaney, Jr.) than the more modern werewolf.Curse of the Werewolf has a very interesting film beginning of how Leon's parents met, what happened to them, how he was born and taken in to be cared for.
Years later, the baby has grown into a young man named Leon(played by Oliver Reed) who leaves his father(played by Clifford Evans) to go look for work in the city, but the werewolf curse of his birth takes hold, as he goes on a murder spree, which only the love of a woman can prevent...
British fans also get the added bonus of catching familiar TV faces Warren Mitchell and Peter Sallis in secondary support slots.Paced as it is, very much on the slow burn with a good portion of the picture dealing in the origins of Reed's cursed Leon character, much of the film lacks tension and suspense.
Oliver Reed's performance as Leon, the gentle young man cursed with the savagery of a werewolf, is powerful and compelling.
Filmmaker Terence Fisher, Hammer's most successful and original director, was the man chosen to give life to Hinds' epic tragedy of a man born under the terrible curse of the Werewolf.The story begins with the arrival of a poor beggar (Richard Wordsworth) to Spaniard county, where he becomes the victim of the Marques' (Anthony Dawson) sadism and becomes prisoner at the castle.
Time goes by and many years later a beautiful mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain) has the same luck and ends in the same cage as the beggar, who in his madness, brutally rapes the young woman.
Named Leon (Oliver Reed), the child becomes a young man, but the tragic circumstances of his conception and birth have put him under a devilish curse, making him to become a werewolf when the full moon shines over the sky.Anthony Hinds does a very good job at writing this excellent werewolf story, as while his story lacks the lurid details of Endore's novel, he manages to keep the essence of the novel intact despite being really a loose adaptation.
Hinds' way to introduce his audience to Leon's story may be excessively slow (the entire first third dedicated to the events previous to Leon's birth), but in the end it really pays off as one can't help but feel captivated by the epic tale of this cursed man.By the early 60s and after making influential horror films like "The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957) and "The Brides of Dracula" (1960), director Terence Fisher was still regarded as Hammer's best director, and his remarkable work in "The Curse of the Werewolf" is definitely on par with the previous classics he had made at that point.
Fisher gives a great used to the lavish sets built and makes the movie one of his most beautiful looking films, and despite the budget constrains, he creates a Gothic atmosphere of impeding doom that suits perfectly Hinds' story.
While Reed is without a doubt the star, the highlight of the movie is Clifford Evans, whose performance as Leon's uncle, Don Alfredo, is heartbreaking in its delivery, and certainly brings back good memories of Claude Rains in "The Wolf Man" (1941).
Hira Talfrey and John Gabriel make an excellent job in the supporting roles of the film, giving the film a heart and completing the main cast of the movie."The Curse of the Werewolf" is one of Hammer's most enjoyable movies, combining perfectly period drama with horror, and giving the movie the classic "Hammer look" with brilliant colors and haunting atmospheres.
Modern viewers may not be used to Roy Ashton's work of make-up, but I found it very appropriate and remarkably well done.Along with classics like "The Wolf Man" and "An American Werewolf in London", this movie easily ranks as one of the most enjoyable horror stories about werewolves ever told.
The way it conveys the tragedy of the curse and Leon's attempts to control it make the movie an excellent film, not only within the horror genre, but in cinema in general.
My only problem with this movie is Oliver Reed's scenery-chewing performance as Leon, the young man who discovers he's a werewolf; to say that he's overplaying here is putting it mildly.
The British cast of theatrical actors are for the most part very good, and although I'm not always a huge fan of Oliver Reed, he is very well-suited to this role.Unlike Universal's "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", "The Wolf Man" was an original work that was never based on a historical novel.
Richard Wordsworth is very moving as the Beggar and the standout in support but it's the riveting performance of Oliver Reed that makes the film, he is genuinely scary but also poignantly sympathetic, making Leon one of those characters where you feel repulsion and pity for him.Overall, very under-appreciated and worthwhile without being one of Hammer's best films.
'The Curse Of The Werewolf' is one of the very best of the early Hammer horrors, yet gets rarely mentioned, probably because it doesn't feature either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. It was Hammer's only attempt at a werewolf movie, which is a shame because to me it is almost as good as Universal's classic 'The Wolf Man' with Lon Chaney, Jr. The werewolf here is played by Oliver Reed, and much like Chaney's Larry Talbot, he is doomed to his fate which gives the character a strong tragic element.
Even more so in this story, because Reed's Leon Corledo isn't bitten by a werewolf but damned from birth after his mother (Yvonne Romain, 'Circus Of Horrors'), a mute servant girl, is raped by a demented beggar (Richard Wordsworth, 'The Quatermass Xperiment') who has been falsely imprisoned by a sadistic Marques (Anthony Dawson, 'Dr.No').
Oliver Reed's portrayal of Leon the young man who is cursed to become a werewolf is one of his best acting jobs ever.
In Spain, Leon (Oliver Reed) is born on Christmas day to a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain) who was legitimately raped by a beggar (Richard Wordsworth).
But if you like a solid plot, good story structure and a piece of humanity, this film has a lot to offer.Oliver Reed deserves recognition for having a strong breakout performance here, though he was surely not the man in the makeup for all the roof-jumping scenes.
Unfortunately, an animal spirit seeks to dominate his soul as he struggles to suppress the beast within.The only werewolf flick made by Hammer, "The Curse of the Werewolf" (1961) was based on the novel "The Werewolf of Paris" by Guy Endore, but the location of the story was switched from France to Spain because there was a Spanish set available after a film about the Spanish Inquisition was scrapped due to opposition from the Catholic League of Decency.It's interesting that Oliver Reed doesn't even appear until the movie is past half over with only 45 minutes remaining (not counting his eyes in the opening credits).
The fools.The setting of 18th century Spain makes for a nice change of pace in a Hammer flick; and the look of the iconic creature itself was unique at the time and very effective, partially due to Reed's brawny appearance and heavy charm.The film runs 1 hour, 33 minutes and was shot in England (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Surrey).GRADE: B.
The Curse of the Werewolf was the only Hammer Horror film to feature that creature.
Britain's Hammer Films proved to be the training ground for an abundance of future talents; here, it's young Oliver Reed's turn, rather amusedly cast as the cursed son of a mute servant girl who was raped by a beggar when both were imprisoned by a cruel Marquis in Spain.
Last seen as Proximo in the film Gladiator, Oliver Reed is the werewolf in this, one of his early films.He is the product of a rape between an imprisoned beggar and a mute servant girl.
It has excellent costuming and cinematography and very good acting by all concerned in what is a simple and familiar story.Reed's werewolf is done very well and the musical score certainly contributed greatly to the atmosphere of the film.I have always found Hammer films to be enjoyable, and this is no exception..
This Terence Fisher directed Hammer film is not just a great horror but a great film, which is all the more remarkable if you consider the werewolf doesn't actually appear till near the end.The story starts many years before the afflicted one is born and you get the whole history of how he came into being.
It's a good film in its own right, with some very effective scare sequences; but the script also meanders too much, has some fine British character actors looking a bit uncomfortable playing Spanish peasants and also lacks the plush visuals Jack Asher used to bestow on their prior movies.Ollie Reed allegedly visited the pub in Bray village in his lunch hour in full werewolf make-up - and no one batted an eyelid!
Reed himself is very good in his first Hammer starring vehicle; it's often forgotten amidst all his hilarious hell-raising that he was a fine actor, and the role of Leon is a useful vehicle for his talents.This actually feels like an origin story for a character intended to appear in a series of movies, as the attention to detail in showing how Leon developed his condition is perhaps a bit too much for a single film; but the opening scenes with the beggar and Marques are powerful and compelling.
All these are handled superbly, as is Leon's baptismal scene, the latter landing Hammer in hot water again with the censor.Director Terence Fisher tries to work in a tragic love story - a theme of his he was very keen to develop in his horror movies at the time.
The Curse of the Werewolf was the only werewolf movie produced by Hammer studios, and to be honest, I can understand why: even with the usually excellent Terence Fisher at the helm and a young Oliver Reed in the starring role, I found the film rather disappointing, suffering from a weak script that offers up one of the most ridiculous reasons for a case of lycanthropy that I've ever seen and terrible pacing that keeps the werewolf under wraps for most of the running time.Much of the first half is given over to back story: a beggar (Richard Wordsworth) visits a castle looking for food; there he is mocked and ridiculed by the wicked Marques Siniestro (Anthony Dawson) before being thrown into the dungeon, where he is looked after by the jailer and his mute daughter.
The girl dies giving birth on Christmas eve, but because widdle baby Jeebus has some serious birthday attention issues("For an unwanted child to be born on Christmas is an insult to heaven!" says Teresa), the child, Leon, is cursed.....I'd like to point out that this has all happened in the first 26 minutes.Following some boring, long-winded exposition involving an explanation for Leon's affliction, a comedic subplot involving the goat-herder's rivalry with the night watchman(two of the most British sounding 'Spaniards' I've ever heard!), and some truly awful overacting(Teresa's line "I just mean--he didn't come through here!!" gets my medal as the most meaningless line ever uttered with such over-the-top conviction) balanced with some very good acting(John Gabriel gives a wonderful, naturalistic performance as a kindly priest), scenes intended to be frightening that will give rise to all kinds of lewd jokes(check out the kid's hairy palms), we finally meet the adult Leon(Oliver Reed) who sets off to work at a local vineyard and falls in love with the owner's daughter Cristina(Catherine Feller) and the story begins....at last.Its' pretty much just a retread of "Romeo & Juliet' with elements of the 1941 universal film thrown in.
The Hammer movie "The Curse of the Werewolf" is without doubt never dull and has some genuinely good elements here and there, ranging from Oliver Reed's good (and sympathetic) performance to some effective atmosphere.
Later, though, we find that it was actually a wolf committing the misdeeds when Leon is locked away in his room by bars Corledo installs when his nephew talks of nightmares about changing into a werewolf.As a grown adult, Leon(now played the rest of the film by Oliver Reed, with a fine tortured performance)now wishes to get off on his own with Alfredo believing in his heart that the young man is cured of his "illness." Talking with a priest, Alfredo and he believe that the only cure for Leon is love.
'The Curse of the Werewolf' was I think the only werewolf movie made by Hammer Film Productions.
It also the case here with quite a lot of screen time given to the doomed romance between Leon (Reed) and Cristina, played by the sympathetic and attractive Catherine Feller.As usual with a Hammer film, the movie boasts good production values, thanks to the excellent set designs of the redoubtable Bernard Robinson, and the cinematography skills of the talented Arthur Grant.
Oliver Reed shines as the tragic Monster in Hammer's great Werewolf film.
The great British Hammer Studio's only Werewolf film, Terence Fisher's "The Curse of the Werewolf" (1961) is a magnificently atmospheric take on the classic tale of the tragic monster.
The film's protagonist was the first leading role of the great Oliver Reed (then 24 years old), doubtlessly one of the most charismatic British character actors, and the role of a werewolf is doubtlessly one that Reed was predestined for.In 18th century Spain, a mute servant girl gets raped and impregnated by an insane imprisoned beggar.
However, the film does have a very good supporting cast, something that I've come to expect from Hammer, including Clifford Evans, Anthony Dawson (who is suitably vile as the Marques), Richard Wordsworth, Warren Mitchell, Michael Ripper, Ewen Solon, George Woodbridge, Francis de Wolff and Desmond Llewelyn.Speaking of the beggar, the plan was originally to have him be a werewolf and infect Leon's mother when he raped her.
The result of an unholy affair, or brutal rape, between a deranged and sex starved beggar Fido, Richard Wordsworh, a name given to him by his master the sadistic and crazed Marques, Anthony Dawson, and servant girl Yvonne Romain had the poor and confused Leon Corledo, Justin Walters as a boy and Oliver Reed as an adult, turn into a murderous werewolf.
Curse of the Werewolf (1961) takes place in Spain (on the Hammer sets reused from another film) a beggar walks into town during a royal birthday party.
What horror shall occur under the light of the moon?Curse of the Werewolf is another one of the old Universal Monster Classics to be rebooted by Hammer Films.