The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1961
Running Times: 87 mins 2 sec (UK - video)     88 mins 24 sec (UK - theatrical)
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: A Hammer Film production
Copyright: © MCMLXI by Universal Pictures Company Inc.
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Produced by: Anthony Hinds
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: Clifford Parkes

SCRIPT
Screenplay by: John Elder
Based on the novel 'The Werewolf of Paris' by Guy Endore

DIRECTION
Directed by: Terence Fisher
Assistant Director: John Peverall
Continuity: Tilly Day

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Arthur Grant
Camera Operator: Len Harris

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Alfred Cox

MUSIC
Music Composed and Conducted by: Benjamin Frankel

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Jock May
Sound Editor: Alban Streeter
RCA Sound Recording

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Wardrobe Mistress: Molly Arbuthnot
Make-Up Artist: Roy Ashton
Hair Stylist: Frieda Steiger

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Les Bowie

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson
Art Director: Don Mingaye

LOCATIONS
Produced at: Bray Studios, England

CASTING
Casting: Stuart Lyons

CAST
Starring
Clifford Evans (Don Alfredo Corledo)
Oliver Reed (Leon Corledo)
Yvonne Romain (servant girl)
Catherine Feller (Cristina Fernando)

with
Anthony Dawson (Marques Siniestro)
Anne Blake (Rosa Valiente)
Warren Mitchell (Pepe Valiente)
Michael Ripper (old soak)
Peter Sallis (Don Enrique)
Ewen Solon (Don Fernando)
Hira Talfrey (Teresa)
George Woodbridge (Dominique)
Richard Wordsworth (beggar)

Josephine Llewellyn (Marquesa)
Justin Walters (young Leon)
John Gabriel (priest)
Martin Matthews (Jose Amadayo)
David Conville (Rico Gomez)
Denis Shaw (gaoler)
Charles Lamb (chef)
Serafina Di Leo (Senora Zumara)
Sheila Brennan (Vera)
Joy Webster (Isabel)
Renny Lister (Yvonne)

Uncredited
Desmond Llewelyn (footman)
Kitty Atwood (midwife)
John Bennett, Alister Williamson (policemen)
Hamlyn Benson (landlord)
Ann Blake (Senora Valiente)
Ray Browne (official)
Rodney Burke (customer)
Max Butterfield (cheeky farmer)
Loraine Carvana (servant girl as child)
Francis De Wolff (bearded customer)
Richard Golding, Alan Page (customers)
Howard Lang (irate farmer)
Michael Lewis (page)
Michael Peake (farmer in cantina)
Stephen W. Scott (another farmer)
Frank Siernan (gardener)
Gordon Whiting (footman)

PLOT SUMMARY

A young mute servant girl is raped in a prison cell by a degenerate beggar and later dies giving birth, on Christmas Day, to a son, Leon. The boy is raised by Don Alfredo but becomes a werewolf who, as a young man, terrorises his local town every full moon.

A rare British attempt at a werewolf film, The Curse of the Werewolf isn't a patch on their contemporary Dracula and Frankenstein releases, but is rather better than most would give it credits for. Oliver Reed is great as the afflicted Leon and his werewolf make up is distinctive and impressive. Fisher does his customary good work behind the camera but the script is derivative and often lacking in pace. It looks great and is a must for Hammer fans, though it's not quite the company at their absolute best.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video (S038358)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal-International
Video Distributor: MCA; Network Enterprises
Laserdisc Distributor: MCA

Finland
Rating: banned in 1961

France
Rating: -12

UK
Rating: X (1961 - with unspecified cuts); 12 (1995 - uncut)

USA
Rating: unrated

1961
April
4: UK - rated X by the BBFC (for theatrical release)

May
1: UK - theatrical release

June
7: USA - theatrical release

1995
August
17: UK - rated 12 by the BBFC (for video release)

September
18: UK - video release (Warner Home Video (S038358))

He fought the hideous curse of his evil birth, but his ravished victims were proof that the cravings of his beast-blood demanded he kill... Kill... KILL!

He had but one body - yet lived with two souls!

The Curse of Siniestro - shooting title
Der Fluch von Sinistro - German title
La nuit du loup-garou - French title
L'implacabile condanna - Italian title

LINKS

SEE ALSO
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
The Howling (1981)
Legend of the Werewolf (1975)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The Shaggy Dog (1994)

REFERENCES

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

aristocracy, beggars, book into film, children, dungeons, lycanthropy, mutes, rape, spain, transformation, werewolves

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008