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| 1925: Wolfblood | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 29 2010, 07:40 AM (568 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Jun 29 2010, 07:40 AM Post #1 |
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In the 1920s, Arthur A. Lee was a successful distributor of small, independent features and British imports, which he’d sell territory-by-territory on a “state’s rights” basis. He had a good eye for films, too, because he’s the fellow that first imported Alfred Hitchcock’s films to the Colonies, and gave us the 1925 version of She, too. He also gave us what appears to be the first werewolf picture, Wolfblood, released in late 1925. In the 1940s, George Chesebro would be one of the most familiar faces at the Saturday matinees, appearing in B-westerns and serials (he appeared in more than 400 films!), usually as one of the villains, but back in 1925, he was considered a handsome leading man. Well, I guess he was considered handsome. Anyway, he’s the field manager of the Ford Logging Company up in the Great Northwest, but the rival Consolidated company (which appears to be about 3 feet away) has hired a sniper to shoot the Ford lumberjacks, built a dam across their river, and encourages Jacques, crazy half-breed, to give firewater to the Ford workers. Chesebro calls the home office in the big city and requests that “E. Ford”, owner of the company, come up and investigate for himself, and bring a surgeon, too, because all these sniper victims need one. Unbeknownst to Georgie, the “E.” stands for Edith, a roaring ‘20s modern girl flapper type, who inherited the company from papa but spends most of her time throwing lavish parties with bathtub gin and hot jazz music, ha-cha-cha. Edith is engaged to a guy who just happens to be (a) a surgeon, and (b) the ugliest fiancé in the history of movies. You should see his moustache! It looks like somebody shot him in the ear and the powder burns came out his nostrils. Anyway, Edith and her fiancé/monkey head up to camp, where she begins panting the second she lays her eyes on Georgie. Pretty soon the two of them are cavorting in the wildflowers and sharing intimate glances on chilly afternoons, so much so that Pop Hanley, the alcoholic camp watchman and would-be comic relief, tells George to watch out for women, they’re “funny critters”, an observation as true in 2010 as it was in 1925. One day, frolicking in the wildflowers on his own, George is beset upon by Deveroux, head of the Consolidated camp, and one of his men, and because George is a handsome, dashing American male with goodness, truth, and justice on his side, it takes them nearly 30 seconds to beat the crap out of him and dump him over a precipice. Eventually, he wakes up and staggers into the road before collapsing, where he’s discovered by the jilted doctor guy, who takes him to the nearest cabin, which just happens to belong to Jacques, crazy half-breed bootlegger, and if you think THIS sentence is going on forever, you should’ve seen the friggin’ movie. Anyway, Georgie needs a blood transfusion, but Jacques isn’t opening his veins for no-o-o-o-obody, but he offers his pet wolf’s blood as a healthy substitute. The doctor remembers once reading something about successful animal/man transfusions, so he says, hey, what th’ heck. He performs the operation, and swears Jacques to secrecy, but within ten minutes the crazy half-breed has notified Walter Winchell, Louella Parsons, Walter Cronkite, and the Fox News network, or whoever their 1920s equivalents were – Amos & Andy, maybe. When George is up and around, the loggers won’t have anything to do with him, he spooks the animals, he has dreams of cavorting with ghost wolves in the mist-covered valleys of the camp, and E. Ford begins to notice how creepy he’s getting. When he discovers the truth, he hollers at the doctor, “You have made me a THING that is neither MAN nor BEAST!” and that is NOT the last time we’ll hear THAT in a movie, is it? Worst of all for George, Deveroux is found with his throat torn out, and everybody suspects George of being the Loup Garou responsible. I know you’re wondering, so I’ll just tell you that he wasn’t responsible, and that whether or not he’s an actual werewolf is left up in the air, but he’s cured by the power of Edith’s love. The doctor looks sorry about the whole thing, as well he showed be. Wolfblood: A Tale of the Forest comes to us today courtesy of Grapevine Video. It's a nice, tinted print with an okay stock-music score. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| The Batman | Jun 29 2010, 08:07 AM Post #2 |
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I have an early silent werewolf movie at home, that I got from somewhere else. It was advertised as the "first werewolf movie", but as the title escapes me at the moment, I cannot confirm if it is this one or not. I will check. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| The Batman | May 1 2016, 11:43 AM Post #3 |
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Charter Member
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Just got back from checking and it is the same one. I liked it, but it's been a while, so can't recall anything enough to comment on. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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6:33 AM Jul 11