User reviews

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF is about a legend, a family secret, and a curse. There are gypsies, a devil doll, and a Transylvanian connection! Is the gypsy princess Celeste (Nina Foch) more than she appears to be? Of course, there's a werewolf as well, with a bit of a twist. Several deaths occur as the beast tracks down those who could expose the gypsy tribe.

Police Lt. Barry Lane (Barton Maclane) is stumped, while Bob Morris (Stephen Crane) does some snooping of his own. One of the best parts has him sneaking around the basement vaults at a mortuary, while the werewolf pursues him. Will Bob uncover the truth, before his fiancee, Elsa (Ossa Massen) becomes part of the tribe?

Indeed, there's a certain CAT PEOPLE vibe to this movie. Suspenseful and mysterious, COTW is a very entertaining entry in its sub-genre..

EXTRA POINTS FOR: Viewers spotting the rubber band around the poor wolf's snout to make him look more fierce! It sort of works, until it becomes obvious he's just trying to get it off!...

Hi, I'd like to make known I'm not into Werewolf films. However 3 titles of such are a exception. Won't give titles here though in this review.

Very recently I viewed Cry of the werewolf (1944). Re plot other users have mentioned.,so I won't go into plot of film. Found film easy to view as it keeps your attention. 4 out of 10 I've given it, that may seem low but 'hey' I'm not knocking it! For me various scenes lighting and shadows etc remind me of The Cat People (1942). Something of Val Lewton effect.

Nina Foch I thought played her part effectively. She also appeared in Return of the Vampire which I have on DVD. So summoning up Cry of the werewolf is different.

By Seance223.

There are far worse ways to spend an hour or so of your time. This movie was more than likely made for pocket change and contractual obligations, true; but despite not having someone like Val Lewton (who could conjure up palaces out of orange crates) behind it, this isn't at all bad. Nina Foch is quite capable and sympathetic, and ably supported by a raft of character actors who are old hands at this sort of thing.

There's plenty of atmosphere and suspense, with just enough mystery to keep your attention. As with some of the best of the afore-mentioned Lewton's work, until the denouement, you're never quite sure whether this is all in someone's mind or if there's a real bogeyman (or bogeywoman) stalking the night. Lon Chaney Jr's reputation is safe - or even Henry Hull - but the mug who called this the nadir of werewolfery is being a little harsh. With THE WOLF-MAN, Universal set the bar pretty high, after all. But if you're looking for some good old-fashioned fun, you could do much worse. If nothing else, it's an entertaining example of what can be done with some talent, care and craftsmanship, even if you couldn't quite buy dinner for a family of four to six people with the existing budget. Definitely check it out!

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF is on the level of an Ed Wood film, a surprisingly bad little programmer from Columbia with NINA FOCH heading the cast. Her transition from human to werewolf is so poorly staged with shadows that it's laughable.

The script is dull, full of exposition for the first half-hour, and populated by some hardly competent actors. Worst of all is STEPHEN CRANE (he was Lana Turner's husband--twice), whose performance has to rank among the worst in recent memory for one who has been watching Halloween films on TCM. OSA MASSEN isn't much better but at least tries to convey her part with more feeling than Crane is able to muster.

Nina Foch plays Marie LaTour, a woman in a travelling gypsy wagon who is actually a werewolf, killing to keep her secret from others. Maybe someone like Val Lewton could have pulled this thing together, but Henry Levin's direction is no help at all and the script is a mess.

Summing up: A trite tale, poorly written and acted, not worth your time and a vehicle certainly unworthy of Miss Foch's talent.

Trivia: Inexplicably, the two best performances in the film are uncredited--JOHN ABBOTT as Peter and FRITZ LEIBER as Dr. Morris.

There have certainly been some bad werewolf movies made over the years, but perhaps there have been none that have simply been lacking in so many ways as "Cry Of The Werewolf." This was a poorly acted, cliché- ridden (which was unfortunate, and I'll expand upon that in a moment) and completely atmosphere free film whose basic redeeming quality is that it's very short and therefore doesn't waste too much of your time. There were a couple of things that broke free of the usual Hollywood treatment of the subject that gave this some potential, which was largely wasted. The first was that this stayed more true to actual werewolf legends. The werewolf was actually a person who became a wolf, and not some hybrid wolf-man beast, and the werewolf was a woman - not unheard of, but unusual for the most part in the genre. There might have been some meat there; there was also the potential for atmosphere - the story revolves around a mysterious gypsy tribe and much of the action takes place in a mysterious house complete with a secret chamber and crypt. Neither was used to create much atmosphere, though, and both are admittedly part of the cliché-ridden part of the story.

Other clichés? People from Transylvania abound in this, and there's even a kind of goofy cop involved in the investigation (not central to the film thankfully and overshadowed - again thankfully - by a more competent superior.) The acting was poor to fair at best. Especially poor was the woefully lacking in passion performance of Stephen Crane, who you'd think would be a bit more passionate, given that his father has just been torn apart by some wild beast! There's nothing even remotely frightening about this, and as mysteries go - well, there wasn't much. I kept watching to see if a potential plot twist might show up in the end that would have at least come as a surprise, but no. What you see from the beginning is basically what you get. It's very disappointing, and seemed basically to be put together by people who had no idea how to make a werewolf movie work. (2/10)

Apart from Universal's "Larry Talbot" series, it seems that most of the early werewolf films are fairly maligned nowadays; this one, emanating from Columbia, is another of them: ironically, that studio had inserted a talking(!) lycanthrope in their bloodsucking flick THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944) but, when it came time to make a standalone entry into the subgenre, they opted to use a normal wolf (amusingly shown 'munching' all through the opening credits)!! To be honest, the film under review has much more to do with RKO's CAT PEOPLE (1942) than THE WOLF MAN (1941) – actually the principal inspiration behind the Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur classic itself: not only is the monster of the female variety but, towards the end, she is likewise shown terrorizing the heroine (though these scenes have none of the impact of the panther's celebrated late-night stalkings!). Still, all things considered, I have to say that I enjoyed this 63-minute film: the obligatory concocted folklore may not have added up to much this time around, but the atmosphere is fairly nice throughout; Nina Foch (THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE's heroine here graduating to the monster role) and Osa Massen fill the central roles quite adequately, too (their authentic foreign origins helping more than their acting talent in this regard), and even the combined police detection and comic relief (usually redundant elements in this type of movie) prove tolerable under the circumstances.

After looking at the list of werewolf movies on Wikipedia, I remembered this particular one was on YouTube so after watching Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man on YT, I decided to watch this one there since it was next in my chronological list of werewolf movies to watch list. Nina Foch-who I mainly remember from An American in Paris-is quite compelling as the title character as she tries to keep people outside of her gypsy family from finding out about her secret. The setting is New Orleans, Louisiana, which is a two-hour drive from my current residence of Baton Rouge but I'm guessing that this was shot on the Columbia backlot. Perhaps part of me was confused by some of the details in the story but for the most part, I was enthralled at Cry of the Werewolf. So, yes, that's a recommendation!

Dr. Charles Morris (Fritz Leiber), an expert in occultism and owner of the La Tour museum, is killed in mysterious circumstances. His son Robert (Stephen Crane) investigates, aided by his Transylvanian sweetheart Elsa Chauvet (Osa Massen). Could Celeste, the beautiful leader of a tribe of gypsies, be involved?

I'm unsure as to whether it is an attempt at Val Lewton-style subtlety or a case of necessity due to a severe lack of budget, but the transformation scene in Cry of the Werewolf is one of the most pathetic I have ever seen: a shadow of a human fades into the shadow of a wolf. It's a lacklustre effect not helped by the fact that the resulting creature is actually an Alsatian dog.

Still, it's fairly befitting of this film - the directorial debut of Henry Levin - which is a disappointing affair all round, from its opening scrawl which is missing an apostrophe, to its uninspired and overly talky script, to its wholly unremarkable performances. When I watch an old werewolf film, I at least expect to see a hairy hand or fanged face (preferably with some time-lapse transformation effects involved) - not a few seconds of a dog, and a distinctly un-scary one at that.

Oh, and no grammatical errors would be nice too.

Apparently werewolf genes are inheritable as a young woman becomes one because of her mom; then, in a hairy mood, she goes after nice young couple who know about her problem.

This Columbia studio production shows why Universal had the franchise on the half-human half-wolf. Instead of going the Universal route by using big-time make-up and blended dissolves, Columbia employs an actual German Shepherd dog, (not even a real wolf, mind you), as the fanged menace. And the nice doggie all but wags his tail while "menacing" the humans. Needless to say, this turns a potential horror movie into a version of Lassie Goes Bad, despite the best efforts of a strong supporting cast— e.g. Abbott, Leiber, Yurka.

Then too, the war thinned out the ranks of Hollywood leading men, leaving lightweights such as Stephen Crane to haul the goods. Good thing he went into the restaurant business instead of staying on the stage. And what a waste of the talented Nina Foch who doesn't get nearly the screen time her character deserves. Instead, that goes to Osa Massen, a decent enough actress, but without Foch's special brand of haughty disdain.

No need to waste time on this B-movie disappointment. Columbia simply cut too many budgetary corners with not enough imagination to produce anything more than a sometimes amusing misfire and a general waste of acting talent.

This film essentially begins in New Orleans at the Latour Museum which specializes on the occult with an emphasis on pictures, documents and other artifacts related to subjects like vampirism, voodoo and other related matters. Of particular interest to the director of the museum is a case of lycanthropy which he has traced to a local gypsy tribe and is set to publish a detailed manuscript on in the near future. Fearing how this news might affect them the leader of this tribe, "Princess Celeste" (Nina Foch) decides to pay the director a visit-and silence him permanently. Needless to say, the murder sets off an immediate investigation by the police and helping them is the director's son "Bob Morris" (Stephen Crane) and the director's lovely assistant "Elsa Chauvet" (Osa Massen) who has a keen awareness of werewolves from her days growing up in Transylvania. What neither Bob nor Elsa realize, however, is just how powerful Princess Celeste happens to be and the closer they get to uncovering the secrets of her tribe the more deadly she will become. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, considering the time this film was produced, this turned out to be an okay movie for the most part. That said, I must admit that I didn't care for the manner in which Princess Celeste was able to turn into a werewolf at will and without regard for the full moon. But even so, the film kept my interest for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

This was described as a classic horror when I stumbled across a download of it online, yet in 40 years of being a fan of the genre I had never before come across it. The things that I liked about Cry is that it is nicely filmed, looking very good in black and white. The werewolf plot is just adequate to maintain an interest, it stars some very attractive women and there is an element of humour in the form of some comical cops. What lets it down somewhat is the werewolf action is very limited, a dog is obviously used for the part of the werewolf and some of the acting is wooden (Osa Massen gives by far the worst Transylvanian accent that I have ever heard!). At just over an hour it is a fairly enjoyable but forgettable, minor werewolf movie

The former LaTour Family mansion in New Orleans has been turned into a museum that gives daily tours...with rooms dedicated to Voodoo, Vampirism, and Werewolves. A worker at the museum informs the local gypsy tribe's princess that the curator of the museum, it's resident scientist, has made a discovery that he is getting ready to publish...which involves having discovered the secret burial site of the former mistress of the LaTour family mansion. She was rumored to have been a werewolf and to have killed her husband. The mystery of her daughter seems to be unknown...but it looks like she has grown into the local gypsy princess and leader. Fearing discovery she returns to the mansion and kills the professor...on the night his son is coming home from Europe. The son and an employee of the museum who was like a daughter to it's resident scientist...try to get to the bottom of who murdered him, along with the local police. Great police chief, great sets and costuming...this was a different werewolf story.

Good family fun, this was a werewolf story that was not as cliché as some.

There are some good moments in this film. At the center is Nina Foch who plays a gypsy princess who can become a wolf at will. It is her purpose to keep the gypsy band together by killing off those who know about her abilities. But a scientist begins to invade their domain. He is killed but it leads to his son and fiancee trying to figure out what happened. One down side is the keystone kops police force. Even if they don't believe in werewolves, they could be a tad more competent.

This film when werewolf films are discussed gets a bad rap, and even though there are no " Special Effects", film is effective.It uses elements from two classic 1940's horror films " The Wolf Man" (1941) and " Cat People" (1942)and uses them well.Well made and acted apart from leading man Stephen Crane who acts like he is reading from cue cards.Overall this film is a nice surprise, i went into this not expecting much but thought it a good film, not that far behind the two classics already mentioned.

Simultaneously Adopting the Universal Studio's Werewolf Template (Gypsies, Folklore, Supernatural) and Not (animal wolf, no moon cycle, hereditary, bite=infected),

this Columbia Release Holds its Own and Delivers a Respectable Mystery Thriller.

A Creepy Movie with Little Comedy Relief and an Emphasis on Scholarly Research and Police Investigation.

The B-Cast and Budget Restraints (Columbia was the most cash deficient of the Majors) keep the Film in a Low-Budget Look.

But Manages to Display Atmosphere and a Credible Tone of Other Worlds and a Haunting Layer of Dread.

Overall, a Better Movie than it has any Right to be.

Surprises with an Entertainment Value that makes it a Solid Entry in the Horror Genre from the Time Period.

Columbia Studio very likely saw the money pouring into the Universal coffers with its smash hit, "The Wolf Man" and decided to hop on the werewolf bandwagon with this bottom-of-the-barrel little cheapie, "Cry of the Werewolf." There's nothing remotely eerie or suspenseful about this fake chiller. You never see a werewolf but rather a German Shepard padding around the studio set that now and then growls and bares its teeth. For a supposed horror flick, there is nothing but page after page of dialogue and it has something to do about a foreign woman who believes she turns into a wolf. This is a transparent take-a-way from Val Lewton's "Cat People" where the heroine is cursed by becoming a killer cat. The cast is surprisingly strong for such a low-budget affair. The black and white photography is good but I'm thinking of all those movie patrons in 1944 who were tricked into paying their money for an hour of chills but instead got an hour of yawning boredom. Nina Foch, who would go onto much bigger things, does an okay job as the heroine and her wardrobe is attractive. But for horror fans, this is a waste-of-time. IT makes you want to see Universal's masterpiece, "The Wolf Man" again.