She-Wolf of London
44:26 Share

Welcome to Now Playing Podcast's Universal Movies Wolfman Retrospective Series. The werewolf is neither man nor wolf, but a satanic creature with the worst qualities of both.

Hosted by Arnie. There's something very tragic about that man. Stuart. Lo and behold, the prodigal son returns. And Jacob. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. But be warned, this episode will contain detailed plot spoilers and strong language. Are we gonna die? No, it's my job to protect you. We hope you enjoy the show. Hurry, mommy, he's coming! The beast will have his day. The Beast of the Night

Today we're discussing She-Wolf of London, starring June Lockhart, Don Porter, Sarah Hayden, directed by Gene Yarbrough. This is Arnie, your barmy co-host of Now Playing. And Stuart. And this is Jacob, who's here to talk about films. I'm not going to bore you mooning about my courting days. Might be more interesting than She-Wolf of London, I gotta say. It definitely would be. I can guarantee that.

We are back with our Universal Wolfman retrospective series, jumping forward to 1946 for She-Wolf of London, which really sounds like it's a sequel to Werewolf of London. Does this have jack shit to do with the movie we talked about last week? I was told it was. I was told there was going to be werewolves.

I know. It's been 11 years since the movie no one knew existed. And yes, five years after The Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jr. that everyone loved and he had done some other movies with Frankenstein and Dracula and done his thing. And yes, why even bring this back if you're not bringing anybody connected to the 1935 London werewolf movie is a question that gets solved

really easy when you realize this was originally going to be called The Curse of the Allen Bees. And then someone decided in post, we'll just call it She-Wolf of London. Yeah, there's no wolves here. I feel really bait and switched. I gotta say, I'm really just shocked at what I watched.

Let me offer this though. If you buy Universal's Wolfman 5-Disc series, you get this. They're putting this in the franchise. Nope, nope. That's bait and switch. So I didn't say it's in there, although I was misled. I've never seen this movie before. And yeah, I assume June Lockhart at some point will be looking like Lassie and get some fur on her. She does not. And

Yes, it is one of those sequels, kind of like Curse of Cat People, where they decide not to have the main villain. Troll 2 was another one where like, we're just not going to have any trolls. Not a good comparison. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking a lot about. Actually, a great comparison. I mean... Not for us, if we're watching this. I don't want to watch another Troll 2. I kind of do.

I absolutely do. One of the best movies we've ever reviewed. Nilbog? Yeah, but very few are as good as that. Like, they try, but it's hard to be that bad. Yeah, let me offer something else for context where this will be, I think, really important. So Universal had had an initial burst Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, Invisible Man...

werewolf of london and then it died with dracula's daughter and then it came back with more frankenstein movies and more mummy movies and the wolfman lon chaney gave it a new infusion and then it was more or less dying by 1946 universal was wrapping up shop again this is the very last of their horror movies before they reinvent all of their characters as co-stars to abbott and costello

They had done everything that they were going to do. And this was like a last minute, let's just shit this out. I kid you not. It was scheduled for 12 days in December that they filmed this. And that was actually three days over schedule. They only wanted to shoot this thing in nine days. And goddamn this director that they dragged it out to 12 and somehow got to 60 minute runtime.

Come on, 61 minutes, Stuart. 61 minutes. That's the extra three days. Okay, sure. But back in the day when you could pair double features, they were thinking people weren't going to notice. They put it with some other thriller and it was a last gasp. This is the B movie, right? You watch the good werewolf movie and then maybe if you stay around, you get to sit through this.

Yeah, well, it wasn't a werewolf movie. It was just called The Cat Creeps, and it was some thriller about a cat burglar. And this thing died on the vine. Yeah, nobody noticed. It was the end of an era, and boy, does it feel like it.

Yeah, once again, this is a movie I hadn't heard of until you put it on the schedule, and when I looked it up, I've not heard of any of the people involved in this either. They all have Wikipedia pages, but... Oh, yes, you have. June Lockhart? Lassie! Yeah, that's the only one I had heard of. Yeah, the mom from Lassie. Yeah, she's the mom in Lassie. Lost in Space. You never saw Lost in Space? No.

Not the original one, no. Yeah, the original one. And Troll, she was the witch when there's the whole musical sequence. She's like the one live action creature in the first Troll movie. Yeah, I'd forgotten that. I didn't really watch Lost in Space or Lassie. I saw a couple episodes of each in my tween years. You didn't watch Nick at Night? No, I wasn't really watching that. I didn't realize it was the same June Lockhart, I suppose. She doesn't look the same and a lot of time had passed. Yeah, she's a bit younger. Yeah.

Yeah, she was a teen star that just got released from her contract at MGM and didn't know where she was going to go and was lucky to get a gig. And in later years has laughed that this is the movie that gave her her TV career. She knows it's not very good or she didn't think she was very good in it, but she got a lot of friendships out of this and she had a good time on the 12 days of shooting.

Was this shot in England? Because I feel like Barry, he sounds pretty American to me. That last film, I'm like, yeah, they all got British accents. This one, some of them do, some of them don't. I didn't even know if this was actually filmed in England, if they're just using American actors. Yeah, no, it's a Hollywood production. Universal backlot. Yeah, so not of London.

Gene Yarbrough is a director who just does this. These days, he'd be making straight to tape. But back in the 40s, he just puts out B pictures, the other movie on a double bill. He directed, I think, over 120 movies in his career. He had a lot on Letterboxd when I looked him up.

Yeah, many only took a week or two out of his life. His claim to fame, I suppose, is he worked very closely with Abbott and Costello. He would make many of their big movies. He's a comedy director, I suppose, and the Bowery Boys, if you're familiar with that franchise that we'll never cover. He was someone that made serialized entertainment. Again, if Universal just needed a horror movie and this was what they were going to do, he's available for a week in December before Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas are him...

Shitting out She-Wolf of London. Does the 12 days of Christmas get down to zero so they can say zero werewolves? Zero werewolves changing. I agree.

Arnie, just give him this plot. We've already spoiled the big twist, but yeah. Why is there no she-wolf in London? What a twist. June Lockhart plays Phyllis Allenby, a young woman about to marry barrister Barry Landfield, played by Don Porter. Phyllis lives at the Allenby mansion with her aunt Martha, played by Sarah Hayden, cousin Carol,

played by Jan Wiley, and Hannah the housekeeper. I just remembered the end. Sorry, I just... I followed down those damn stairs. As Phyllis's wedding approaches, a series of brutal murders shocks London, with victims found with their throats torn out in the park near Phyllis's home. Rumors of a wolf woman circulate,

and Scotland Yard suspects something strange at the Allenby Mansion. Phyllis fears she might be the wolf woman due to an old family curse, though Aunt Martha dismisses it as nonsense. After a Scotland Yard detective is killed soon after visiting the mansion, Barry begins to investigate and suspects foul play. Cornered, Martha admits to Phyllis that she...

Martha is the murderer. Martha and her daughter Carol were only able to live in the Allenby mansion due to the courtesy of Phyllis. And now that Phyllis is getting married, Martha's worried she and Carol would no longer be able to live the wealthy life to which they'd become accustomed. So Martha tried to make Phyllis seem insane so Martha and Carol could stay in the mansion.

Good plan. Don't get him a nice wedding gift. Make yourself helpful. Make bitch look crazy. When Hannah, the housekeeper, overhears Martha confessing, Martha chases the housekeeper down the stairs. But Martha falls, accidentally stabbing herself. So good. Barry and the police arrive.

And Hannah reveals Martha as the she-wolf. Barry comforts Phyllis, assuring her it's over, as credits roll. Oh, it's over, all right. And as credits start, we're going to get something about this Allenby curse. Like, it was almost forgotten. I'm like, was Allenby, was that Wilford's last name? Like, this is 11 years later. Yes. No. I go back in my notes. No, that's a different. Who is Allenby? Like, this is all new lore.

Yes, I did the exact same damn thing. I'm like, okay, is this really tight continuity? Alan B curse? Nope. Never seen Alan B before. And why? Why can't they just help us with that? Why couldn't for the three people that would remember werewolf of London say it was the Glendon curse? Yeah.

Why go with a totally random history that has never been connected in film or literature or anything before? Why do that? I guess because they didn't spend a lot of time thinking about this. This thing was a rush job and again, was just going to be called the legend of Alan B. Curse. That was the thing that was supposed to hook people and at some point, I guess they realized that werewolves were a better hook. And werewolves

pointing out Universal did have success doing that. Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula's Daughter. Okay, that wasn't a big hit. Gender flipping and having the son of, the daughter of, the curse of. Yeah, we got that for Dracula too. We got some sons and daughters. Yeah. Having a lineage, I accept it. But what I don't accept is saying that there's a lineage and then not tying to the first movie. This is such a cash grab. Even the Scotland Yard people aren't the same. No. No.

And they're talking about a werewolf murdering someone in the park. You'd think they'd be talking about the last movie. No, some other dude. And he wasn't attacked by a werewolf. He was attacked by a she-wolf. It was a woman. And that's the hook as we get started here.

There's the twist. Yeah. As they're riding into the park to investigate, we see our star. Yeah. So there was a she-wolf attack before the movie really started, right? Mm-hmm. This Martha, even though the wedding date isn't set, Martha has already started killing people to make Phyllis go insane. She's seen how Phyllis and Barry look at each other. Yeah. She's concocted a plan, I guess, ahead of time.

I mean, let's just call it out. Here's what happens. You shoot a movie, you assemble it, you go and screen it, and you go, oh, this is what we need. We need pickup shots. You screen this movie, which is being called a completed movie at 61 minutes, and you go, yeah, we really need to film that opening where the person dies, right? We need

the murder how can you just say oh a murder happened and not have that be the hook that's how you suck people in people don't watch horror movies to see the interstitial scenes of the camp counselors hanging out with kids like we want to see the kills how do they miss that in 1946 that should have been obvious that you start with a kill but we're gonna start with a horse race the whole race

Yeah, I think we're going to have another marriage that isn't working out here because he's like, we're getting married next week. And she's like, we're getting married in December. I'm like, okay, so she doesn't want to get married. And then she's like, I love winter weddings. I detest them. Okay, you guys are a bad couple. I think we're going to have, like the last movie, some romantic tension. But no, she's going to admit she loses the race on purpose because she didn't want to wait that long. Yeah.

Yeah. Is she worried because of the murders? We'll see that the race finish line ends right where Scotland Yard is investigating a man that was supposedly, well, they're writing it off like a stray dog nipped him in the face, but he doesn't have a face. It was clawed off. At least that's how it's described. And she looks worried about it. Not just worried like, oh my God, there's a killer dog in my neighborhood. Like,

Like guilty worried. Uh-huh, I did this. Again, you feel like we need pickup shots to tell us why she would jump to the conclusion. What is this curse? We have implied that there's this family curse and you'd think that that means that she has werewolves.

That you turn into a werewolf? Right. Mm-hmm. I mean, Teen Wolf, it just gets passed down in your DNA. Like, I figure that was the curse. Yeah, why not have that scene where she tells us? My thinking was when I was reflecting on this movie that the curse might just be insanity. You know, they were really worried about insanity and family lineage and a lot of things back then. We've seen that in

mini movies, especially from the 40s, 50s, 60s. If your parents were insane, if your grandparents were insane, you're afraid you might go insane. So in retrospect, I think the family curse is madness. And wouldn't it be great if it were actually Wilfred? Like that was her uncle or something? Or great uncle? Like... Yes.

It just would help this movie so much to connect it to a story we already know, rather than saying there's this story we're never going to tell you. Though here's the weird thing. We saw a car in that last film. I don't think we ever see cars in this one. I don't know if this is taking place in the 1800s. It doesn't feel like the 40s. So maybe this is a prequel. I don't know. Well,

What we do is get an inner title at the very beginning of this. London at the turn of the century, the legend of the Allenby curse was almost forgotten. Almost. You can't forget what you didn't know. I mean, nobody knows what you're talking about. Tell us what the curse is or make a movie about the curse. Yeah. The viewer does not know what this curse is.

And then this is the sequel. But don't imply that we should know what you're talking about. It's so aggravating. Yeah, this is technically a prequel to the last one because this is taking place at the very beginning of the century, right? And the last one took place in the 30s. They had cars. They had a 1931 car in that one. So it's got to be the 30s.

I guess. Yeah, everything here is carriage. Right, I get it. I don't know. Horse and buggies. There's no cars. At any rate, yeah, Phyllis is feeling bad and it kills her damper for the fact that she's getting married in one week's time. One would think she'd be pretty busy, but she runs home and is becoming a prisoner, a shut-in of this evil family. We have this mom that is...

obviously gaslighting and we have her cousin who is finding out in this moment that Phyllis is not their blood relation that they are squatting in a mansion that doesn't even belong to them yeah you say they're planning against her I feel like the mom is but Carol we get this scene earlier

And I don't know if this was really controversial, but she's sending some note to the chemist because she's secretly dating Dwight. I don't know what the deal with contraception was back then, but I thought it was a weird scene. But the mom's going to interrupt that note and catch it and scold her for it. I mean, she's sending a note to Dwight.

She says it's going to the chemist. Okay. Yeah, I thought he was a chemist. No, he's an artist. That's why she hates him, because he doesn't have money. That's why Martha doesn't like him, because he's a struggling artist, she says. Well, here's what I extracted. You can write the story the way you want to. I thought he was a starving artist that was working as a drugstore chemist. Oh, maybe. Sure. And she was sending a love letter to say, I still love you, even though you're nine to five minimum wage.

And there's this scene where the mother sits down with the daughter and is going to tell this whole backstory of the family and how she worked for the family and this isn't really their mansion. And her daughter has to be like about 20 years old.

20 years old or so. So I've lied to you for 20 years, making you think this is our house. We're just living here. This is all Phyllis's house. And to be honest, the scene goes on for five or six minutes, which doesn't seem that long when you say it, but feels really long when you're watching it. I found my interest waning. And then I go,

This scene has to be really important to go on this long. I rewind it. I watch the scene again. And at the end of the scene, the very first time I'm watching it, like 10 minutes into the movie, I'm like, oh, fuck. There's no werewolf in this movie. This woman is going to be killing everyone to keep this house. That is what this scene told me. And it proved right.

right. I knew from get go. You're a better soothsayer than I am because yes, at the beginning, I'm like, okay, Phyllis is going to like be turning into the werewolf and she didn't know it. And that's why she's got all this tense look on her face when she's hearing these stories. And then you get this scene. I'm like, oh, Martha, this aunt is the werewolf. And she's going to be blaming these killings. Like I still thought there was going to be a werewolf, but I'm like, Martha's doing the killings now. She's the real werewolf for some reason.

No, I was waiting. I was leaning into this story about when are you going to tell us about and someone was bit by a dog in the family history. But like what we hear is that, yes, I could have dated the man that owned the house. It could have been her house. He loved her and he gave her a love note, but she decided to marry poor schmuck with low life expectancy. And when he dropped, she was forced to go back to the guy. And rather than take her in, he made her his maid. Damn. Okay. I don't know why.

I don't know why they think Phyllis would like kick him out of the house or something or make her be a maid again. That's what I'm saying. They've been grandmothered in like just they're going to be allowed to stay. There's no tension here. Yeah, that's your immediate thought is I need to go out into the park and murder children and frame Phyllis for this. Okay. Yeah. If there had been a single line where Phyllis is like, and I'm going to put this house up for sale now because I won't need it anymore.

Right. Then it would all be explained. But right now, the way it is, Martha's just super paranoid. Here's how you fix it. It's a really easy one. Barry. Phyllis is marrying this guy named Barry who's a lawyer and is all muckety-muck. And if he were walking into the house saying, I can't wait to change this and do that and whatever, then you really get the threat of this marriage. Uh-oh.

Barry is going to ruin it for us, which would make Barry the target. Again, you wouldn't go kill random children in the park, but at least it sets the ticking clock of why it's all of a sudden happening now. And because there are murders happening in the park, they have brought in some German shepherds. And this is where I feel like June Lockhart is getting some early training on Lassie days. Yes. Yes.

These dogs have great tricks. They can jump over this giant gate, like, amazingly. I don't know why.

Why put them in a gate then if they can just jump over it? I don't understand it. Why are they leaving? What's happening to them? Why don't they like Phyllis? She's not a werewolf. I assumed the dog, like all animals, knows when you have the lycanthropy in you and that's why they recoil from her. But they just said, bitch, you like that collie and you're going to be on that Lassie TV show and we're a German shepherd, I guess. I don't know. It's some kind of species dog war. Ren Tintin versus the Lassie star.

And this is confusing to me because, you know, you tell me this movie was going to be called The Curse of the Allen Bees or The Allen Bee Curse or whatever. And so it makes me think that they aren't even necessarily thinking werewolf when they're making this film. But then you have the dogs getting all upset here, which might indicate the dogs are recognizing one of their own. And this person is a werewolf. And so it's just all muddled. Yeah.

Yeah, I can't imagine they do pickup shots, but like, was this 45 minutes long? And they're like, we gotta add in some like werewolf stuff, throw in some dogs. But they only had nine days, but they went 12 for this, so I doubt they did pickups. So here's the thing. I think I'm onto this movie. Arnie is actually onto this movie, but I think I know what's happening. Yes.

They're telling us, oh, Phyllis is the one, which is too obvious. You know, Scooby-Doo logic. Yep. I'm thinking when they want to get a dog, they need to get Scooby-Doo in here. I literally wrote down Scooby-Doo when I was working out the logic. Zoinks! You know, like, we'll figure it out. But, like, when we cut to Carol, I'm like, oh. See, everything is about how Phyllis wakes up and feels like she's been outside because her feet are muddy, her hands are bloody, and she's told by the mom, don't tell Carol anything. And I'm like,

oh, Carol's the werewolf and Phyllis is taking the fall. That's what's going on. It's a gaslighting situation. That movie Gaslight would have come out two years before this. It was very popular. I

I mean, this is gaslighting. Yeah. It's totally coined the idea of I'm going to make you think you're crazy and I keep bringing you this heated milk that's going to have, I don't know what's in it. I don't know. I think it's just heated milk. She's drugging it, right? Because she falls asleep even when she gets coffee. Yeah. So I feel like that's getting drugged somehow. Is she falling asleep? I guess. I don't know. Yeah. We see her passed out in one morning when she was supposed to be locked in the room. Yeah.

Yeah, she has to be asleep deep enough to not know what she did all night long. So I guess you're right. So yeah, she's drinking drug milk the whole time. And meanwhile, we think Carol is this cloaked figure going out there and then murdering people. When the first event happens again, why show anyone? The newspaper reports a child has been murdered in the park. And again, we do not see any wolf. We just see a woman shrouded, you know, covering her face, walking around in the dark.

Yeah. And then act two is like literally about Barry trying to get a word in and like dropping by the mansion every day. Can I see my wife? You know, we're getting married in like 48 hours, right? Nope. She's not feeling well. She feels unclean. He's begging. He's every, it's ridiculous. I think you need to postpone the wedding, dude. Yeah. Yeah. There's that.

And there's just so many scenes of Phyllis being like, oh my God, I'm the she-wolf. And Martha being like, no, you're not. Just here, drink some more milk and stay secluded and lock yourself up. Cut out Barry getting rejected at the front door and all the milk stuff. And you got about a half hour film.

Yeah. Here's the thing. Here's what I knew. Arnie knew within the first 10 minutes. I knew at the 30 minute mark. We've already had one moment of the cloak person going out and we're not sure. We don't get a closeup. Who could it be? Was it Carol? Was it her? And so, you know, she's trying to stay up with coffee and she looks in the mirror and this is where I go, all right, we're 30 minutes in. This is where Wilfred's face started getting hairy and he's going to- She turns. She's looking in the mirror. I keep waiting. I-

even like rewind i'm like am i missing the subtle special effects apparently there's one point where she looks at her hand like wilford did when he was first turning i'm like is there hair i don't see any hair is there supposed to be hair

She's stuffing her ears with cotton. I'm like, is that hair? Is she really covering up werewolf hair coming out of her ears? No, there are no makeup effects. And once I realized that, once I'm like, we're halfway through this movie and we haven't seen a transformation, that is when I knew that there was no she-wolf in this London. My wife was watching this with me and she called that out too. I'm like, no, it's she-wolf of London. There better be, we're doing a werewolf series. There's going to be a werewolf. She's like, I don't think there's going to be a werewolf in this. Oof.

Meanwhile, the one thing I'm really enjoying, though, is Scotland Yard. They're just such stereotypical bobbies with their accents and their prim and proper investigation. And there's one who is just insistent. It's a she-wolf. And that's Latham. And I just, I love this actor's energy. I love...

Love the fact that he's so willing to believe there's werewolves out there. I just, everything about this character makes me smile.

I really wish it was somebody from the previous movie. I wanted that tie so bad. Because that's the only thing that would explain why he believes it's werewolves and not just a wild animal or, you know, Jack the Ripper. Like, why would you believe a werewolf? And you need a tie to a werewolf movie. Any werewolf movie will do. But this is ridiculous. And yes, he's the next one to get it at the halfway mark when the cloak person goes out. We see her coming up behind him.

Yeah, I couldn't again believe how quickly they're just... They stand there and he has a prolonged death scene.

Yes. He has a speech as he's dying. And they do nothing. Yes. And they're just watching him. It's amazing. And then the inspector comes in and he's like, okay, I'm giving you all guns. And if you see anyone at this park after hours, shoot them. Shoot.

shoot them in the back yes they run away they run away kill them amazing great great police work i thought america had its hands on that but yeah wow amazing guns for everyone and meanwhile carol is dating barry she's the one that's going on the rides we're supposed to see how mom is playing cupid and setting up her daughter to be with the rich lawyer meanwhile he's still like yeah can i see my wife please

And we need to get her to a wedding dressmaker or something. Yeah, so many scenes of them talking about strange dreams. And by this point, I'm curious, Jacob, what did you think was happening? You know that there's no wolf that we're seeing. Do you think they were just being cheap? They couldn't show it? Yeah, because this is only 61 minutes, I'm still convinced that Phyllis, the aunt, is the actual werewolf.

Oh, she's the one doing the killing. Okay. And I'm very frustrated. We haven't had a transformation again. Films this old. I said it with the last one. Maybe it's a participation trophy, but if you could just give me some like good old fashioned special effects, that's going to charm me. So I'm waiting for that. And I'm very frustrated that, yeah, I'm starting to ask why, because this is not a long film. We have not seen a werewolf yet.

Yeah. At minute 45, which is three-fourths of the movie is already over, we had the hooded figure leaving for a third time, and now Barry is going to follow it. Going to see who this person is, chase her down. Of course, it's London, so it's foggy. He loses her. And when she attacks, she's attacking that grocer chemist that we were told about at the beginning, Carol's beau, Dwight Severn. Yeah, to me, I get what they're trying to fool us with. Oh, it's actually Carol that's doing this. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, she's just out there sneaking out to see Dwight. She wants to make out with her boyfriend, and there is another killer out there. So you never fell for that? I believed it was Martha the whole time, yeah. So that did not fool me. Phyllis. Oh, you thought it was Martha? No, the aunt. Oh.

Okay. Yeah. And I thought for sure it was Carol. I was definitely, it's still Carol at this point. And I thought they were showing her hand a little bit too much. But yeah, Barry even confronts her the next day and is like, I know you are the she-wolf. And when she doesn't turn into a she-wolf, that's when I realized, okay, well, it's not her. I guess that it's just got to be, yeah, the evil aunt. She's the one that gets the climax. We're at the end of the film, guys. Yeah. Yeah.

Phyllis is so insane right now. She's reading the book, Lycanthropy, which by the way, is better than reading Lycanthropobia. Yeah.

She's at least got the right book to learn about werewolves. I don't get what happens here. She goes into the closet and gets something wrapped in paper and brings it to Carol. What is that? It's right before Carol says, I'm leaving to go tell the police. She's got something wrapped in newsprint that's about the size of, I don't know, I'm thinking it's like a baby or something like that. And she brings it to Carol. Maybe it's Martha's muddy shoes? Like, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Yes, it's some kind of evidence. Oh,

All of this is discovered from people eavesdropping. So like, it's not even like they discover clues. They just overhear people talking and then go, I know what the plot is. It'd be one thing if the killer even had the, like, it was a mask, like it was a werewolf mask and she found the mask. Something with the wolf. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

I don't know, you know. I would have been more forgiving if it was a costume that she was putting on every night than just not having a damn werewolf. Yes. Scooby-Doo teaches this all the time. Yes. But keep in mind, she's going to the police only to get help for Phyllis. She doesn't think Martha's involved in any way. She just thinks Phyllis is in need of help. And this is going to send Martha over the edge because they're going to bring doctors and doctorates.

Yeah. And I love the maid Hannah is just like in the background overhearing all of this. Yeah, this monologue is funny. It goes on forever, but that's part of the comedy is that like there's this woozy POV as Phyllis is like, drink more of the drug milk. Drink more and more. Like, we get it. We get it. It's drug. Come on. So she's finally passing out and she's like, and now I will kill you and give this great monologue about how, yeah,

I went and killed kids in the Scotland Yard detective and now Carol can marry your Barry and I can live in this house. It's all about the house. And so she's going to produce a knife and say she's going to make it look like suicide. And that's when Hannah the maid out of nowhere is pointing the finger.

And there's not a struggle. Hannah's just like, I'm calling the cops and Martha's going to just fall down the stairs because of that. They do not fight and cause this. She's chasing her. Yeah. And let's face it. If Martha hadn't monologued, she would have gotten away with it. Exactly. Of course. If she hadn't done that comic book villain trope of I'm going to tell you my entire plan because you're about to die anyway, then she would have gotten away with it. Yeah.

But I will give it this: the actress who plays Martha is going down those stairs, and somehow I have a premonition. I'm like, "Somebody's gonna fall down those stairs." This actress takes the fall herself and goes down those stairs hard. There's no stunt person, there's no quick change, there's no cutting of the film.

They didn't have stump people back then. This woman, I don't know if they got it in one take, but she takes that roll down the stairs and I'm like, oof, that looks like it would hurt to get up from.

This is how I know the director worked with Abbott and Costello. This bit would play so much better in a slapstick farce because I am laughing. Yeah, I'm cracking up when they roll her body over to reveal the knife stuck in her. Like, hilarious. Yeah, that's gold. Comedy gold right there. Everyone runs in. They're like, oh, mama, you're dead. And then the other guy runs upstairs and like, your aunt will never kill anyone again. And Phyllis smiles through her drugged haze. Yeah. And that's the end of the film.

like cut to the end what a happy ending yeah it's short i will give it that that is a big compliment i can say for this is if you're not going to have werewolves at least keep it at 61 minutes yeah but is it short enough jacob stewart do you recommend she wolf of london jacob

Yeah, that's where I was going to start is 61 minutes short enough because the first note I write after this film is over, you know, if you're a fan of 80s commercials, maybe this sounds a little bit familiar, but I did have an expletive in there and it's where's the effing wolf? Not the beef, but the wolf. That's what I'm missing from this film. I was so mad. Like we're doing a werewolf retrospective. She wolf of London. I'm expecting wolves. I'm getting a 61 minute.

minute really subpar Scooby-Doo episode because no one's even getting a rubber werewolf mask pulled off which bare minimum requirement for this film.

Yeah. She should have had a costume she was dressing up in if she wasn't turning into a werewolf. Yes. Even if this was 30 minutes, cut out all the milk drinking and knocking on doors asking where Phyllis is. If they had Curse of the Albanese or something, that would set different expectations. Still, not even worth it. Go watch Gaslight, as Stuart talked about. That's probably the way better version of this film. This is not a werewolf movie. No reason to watch it. No participation trophy for being old. Not recommend. Stuart.

I want to underline that we've seen this movie before where there wasn't really a monster. We always hate that when you're telling me there's a werewolf and it turns out to be a human, but they still have a werewolf mask. They still have something to pull this off. The fact that this woman thinks that they can pin it on werewolves and her niece because she's going to make the suicide look good. Again, this is where you get really mad at the Universal Factory.

that they just had to rush something out that was so not ready that was so incomplete that was so underfunded that you could screen the 61 minutes and know in your heart they needed to go back and film at least 10 more minutes to show you an opening kill and yes the werewolf attacks you need to have someone wearing a werewolf mask even if they're a human being

Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and just say it. I don't think we're going to watch a worse film in the Universal Monsters retrospective. I think that this is the most hoary, awful thing they've ever done.

They'll have monsters, I'm sure of that. Yeah, exactly. No matter what else happens, they're going to have their monster in it and it won't be this threadbare and just ridiculous. I guess we did get some dog tricks. I did get a big laugh with someone falling down the stairs and sticking a knife in herself. But overall, this is pretty bereft of entertainment and yeah, just unforgivable.

Three for three on not recommends. My thought as I ended this is it's about 15 minutes too long and it is just a lot of repetitive scenes of Barry coming to see her and being turned away and a lot of milk delivery. And the thing is, if this was 45 minutes and then you added in commercials, this would have been a fine episode of the Twilight Zone, right? I think that

You could do the bait and switch of there's not really a monster in the Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone's half an hour. Then cut a half an hour out of this. I think you could. Yeah.

All right, now you're talking. Easily. I could have accepted this with Rod Serling at the beginning and the end as just an episode of a television series, and it wouldn't be the best episode, but it wouldn't be the worst episode either if you cut it down, just had TV expectations.

But for a movie, if you can even call it that at 61 minutes, right now, the MPA has a guideline. I believe that it has to be 80 minutes. I believe maybe it's 70, but there is a minimum length to even be called a movie anymore. 61 minutes. You wouldn't even pass that muster. But if you call this a movie, it's a bad one. It's dull. I caught the bait and switch. And so the rest of it was just clock watching that and death is funny.

But that's the only thing worth seeing. I thought she fell down the stairs and then there would be the fight. The fact that she fell down the stairs that had the knife already in her. I'm like, well, that's why you don't run with scissors. No, this is a not recommend. And I do agree that this will probably be one of the worst we cover just because this doesn't even feel like it was intended to be part of this series.

And yet, it has a continuation. Believe it or not, horror master Mick Garris, of all those great Stephen King adaptations, dragged it back into the popular culture in 1990 for a syndicated TV series. She-Wolf of London. You guys know about this? No. It's real. It lasted 13 episodes. How much milk was drank? No.

Right. They just took the title. Not surprisingly, it's a sexy American female grad student coming to London to study the paranormal and hooking up with her British teacher. She gets bit by a werewolf. And so now he has to like, they work together to solve X-Files. Two years before there was X-Files, by the way. And he's got to make sure that she doesn't like change and bite him. So.

It was sort of like a romantic, sexy, and yet monster of the week kind of show. Pretty bad. Looked cheap, but not the worst thing McGarris has ever done. I'll put it that way. But it had werewolves. Yeah, yes. A she-wolf. So it's already better than this movie.

Yep. Yes, the female grad student was a werewolf in every episode. So, yes, definitely better than She-Wolf of London 1946. But again, they know. That's why it was the last one. They were just shitting it out and squeezing just a little bit more profit to trick a few more people before they just stopped. And it would be about three years before the people said, you know, this Abbott and Costello, they need someone new to play off of. Why not Frankenstein?

And that's what got that whole craze started again. And we had a new third wave of universal monsters.

Well, if you like some wolves in your Wolfman fixtures, you need to join us on our donation drive, our silver level donation, where last Friday we covered the all-time John Landis classic, An American Werewolf in London, and this Friday we're covering that cinematic masterpiece from the 90s, An American Werewolf in Paris. Every single person thinks it's just as good as the original, right?

Uh, there's a problem with that statement. I've never seen it. I do like Julie Delpy. I can hope, right? Will you after this film, though? I've never heard anyone that liked it. But, you know, after She-Wolf of London, I still have a feeling that it'll be the better movie I see this week. And then we will be back with Universal Wolfman in a few weeks as we look at the 1941 film. We've got some new release films in between.

Yeah, we've got Kraven the Hunter next Tuesday, and then don't forget about Sonic the Hedgehog and Nosferatu. All of that in the weeks ahead. And then, yeah, we can get back to a trilogy of werewolf movies, both on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays we'll have Wolfman 41, Wolfman 2010 with Benicio Del Toro, and the new Wolfman. And on Fridays we'll be covering the Teen Wolf movies.

So thank you for listening. Thank you for your support of Now Playing. So go now and heaven help you. Your suffering is over, Baila, my son. Now you will find peace. Thank you for listening to this Now Playing podcast movie review. Stay here with me. Stay here with me. We hope you enjoyed the show. I feel, I feel unclean.

Help us spread the word about this show by leaving a five-star review on Stitcher, Podbean, iTunes, or your podcast store of choice. The werewolf instinctively seeks to kill the thing it loves best. Want more reviews like this one? In the archives section of NowPlayingPodcast.com, you'll find more than 1,000 in-depth movie reviews from our panel of hosts. They decide that this is good, that is bad, this is wrong, that's right.

On our site, you can hear reviews for every installment in the world's biggest film franchises, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, James Bond, Middle Earth, Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious, and Transformers. I didn't know you hunted monsters. Sometimes monsters hunt you.

And come back to NowPlayingPodcast.com next Tuesday for another all-new movie review podcast. Hello? Did anyone hear me? Hello? Support from listeners like you keeps NowPlaying Podcast on the air. Most interesting. What you've been telling me, Mr. Hawkins, most interesting. You can donate directly by tapping the support button at NowPlayingPodcast.com. God help us.

And you can join our crowdfunding campaign for early access to new episodes, exclusive reviews, and bonus reviews available for a one-time contribution. Hurry, Sir John. Hurry.

Need more Now Playing? Subscribe to our In Focus weekly newsletter for exclusive giveaways, interviews, behind the scenes insights and more. Sign up through the subscribe page on our website and get it delivered to your inbox every Friday. Hardly call this routine, Senator. What would you call it? I'd say it was highly unusual.

You can also compare notes with us on Letterboxd. Go to letterboxd.com forward slash now playing to see what our hosts are watching when we're not recording podcasts. And follow Now Playing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our YouTube channel. The character of man is such a shiftable thing.

Could you find a busier man in all London? I'm a little squeamish, sir. Well, don't be squeamish. Write down what I told you. Very well, sir. This house has seen more than its share of suffering. That's all Greek to me.

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and may not reflect the views of Venganza Media Incorporated. But I'll say this for you, if you were truthful, I hate to see you turn into a liar. Venganza Media Incorporated is not affiliated with and this podcast has not been prepared, approved or licensed by any entity that created the film analyzed herein. Why does our Lord tolerate this mockery?

All movie clips and music included in this podcast are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders. They are included here for the purpose of review and no infringement is intended. Rules. They're all that keep us from a dog-eat-dog world, you know.

Now Playing Podcast is an exclusive trademark of and may not be used without the express written permission of Venganza Media Incorporated. All of you. I will kill all of you. Now Playing is a Venganza Media Production, copyright 2024. And no part of this show may be reproduced, repurposed, or redistributed without the written permission of Venganza Media Incorporated. All rights reserved.

She's like the one live action creature in the first troll movie. Why do we keep talking about troll? Ha ha ha!