moonspinner55 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. Turgid thriller written by John Elder (a.k.a. Anthony Hinds), from Guy Endore's novel "The Werewolf of Paris", is more than just geographically confused--it never finds an appropriate tone, nor do the actors find a comfortable way around the leaden dialogue. For Reed's fans, impatience may set in early as he doesn't appear for nearly 50 minutes into the movie's running time. *1/2 from ****

Morgan Hua I liked this because it wasn't your standard Universal Studios werewolf movie.First, it's set in Spain, not in Romania. The movie starts a bit slow as it's the origin story of how the werewolf is born and not via a gypsy curse. Then the boy's family and the priest are very sympathetic and even the werewolf begs them to kill him. This movie is so different. Even the ending where the werewolf, shot by his father, dies at the top of the church tower and does NOT transform back.The only issue I had was the rape origin story and potential rape by the nobleman. The rape was tastefully done and over dramatic, but I felt it wasn't necessary.

meisterburger23 If your looking for a good scary werewolf film, this is for youThe plot is simple narrated by Don Alfredo Corledo played by Clifford Evens. A beggar (Richard Woodsworth) wanders to a town in 18th century Spain, where he learns the town Marques is marrying and that the town people are forced to celebrate. The beggar decides why not try some luck and goes to the castle where the Marques (Anthony Dawson) treats him like an animal and cruelly tosses the beggar when he is finished with him in the castle dungeon.The beggar survives many years with only contact with the Jailer and his young daughter who was born mute. the old jailer dies not long afterwards with his daughter having blossomed into a attractive young woman. The servant girl (Yvonne Romain) now continue to feeds the beggar who has become more animal like living in his cellThe Marques meanwhile is alone and secluded in his room. His vile temper caused his young wife to go to an early grave and the few friends he possessed abandoned him. The old man attempts to seduce the mute servant girl, but when she bites and refuses his advances he has her tossed into the same prison cell with the beggar.The beggar having gone insane from his confinement rapes the girl and dies from exhaustion. When the servant girl is released back to the marques. she kills him and flees the castle. living in the woods like a wild animal for some months before being found half drowned in a lake by Don Alfred and brought to his homeDon Alfredo's maid Teresa nurses the girl back to health and informs him that the girl is with child and that a unwanted child born out of wedlock is an insult to heaven. The baby, a boy is born on Christmas day and the mother dies shortly afterward. They name the child Leon who a few years later has grown up to be a handsome boyWhen a local goat herders goats are found dead with their throats torn, by a wolf hunter. The mayor has the wolf hunter stay at the site to stake out for the culprit. The hunter shoots at a young wolf but as he hurries to check out the animal it is gone leaving a pool of blood.Don Alfredo discovers Leon injured and takes the bullet out of him. After learning Leon had a nightmare for a period of weeks as a wolf drinking blood, he consults a priest. The priest suggests Leon's conception and unlawful birth cursed him and he needs love and affection from his familyYears pass and the transformations have ceased and Leon becomes a man. He leaves home and gets a job at the next town where he falls in love with his bosses daughter.Unfortunately he turns into a werewolf and kills several people including the goat herder. Don Alfredo shoot Leon with a silver bullet and covers him with a clothThe film is very interesting especially since George Woodbridge is in this as well as Oliver Reed. I really do recommend this film its worth a shot

GusF A decent and well made but ultimately underwhelming Hammer film. Rather amazingly, it's the only werewolf film that the company ever made. At this early stage in his career, Oliver Reed just wasn't a good enough actor to play the lead role in the film. However, he is very effective as the werewolf towards the end of the film. 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. However, the censor objected to this (presumably due to the bestiality implications) and this element was removed from the script. That makes the long prologue in which the beggar is the central character seem less relevant than it should have been. Overall, the writing for the film was decent but not great. It wasn't one of Anthony Hinds' best. He seemed to enjoy writing about mute young women as they pop up again in "The Evil of Frankenstein" and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell". It was a bit too jumbled and Oliver Reed's first appearance was far too late at almost 48 minutes into the film.I thought that the make-up was very good but I was surprised how similar it was to that worn by Lon Chaney, Jr. in the Universal Wolf Man films, considering that Hammer was legally forbidden to emulate Boris Karloff's make-up from "Frankenstein" when making "The Curse of Frankenstein". However, it would have been nice if the werewolf made a proper appearance prior to the last ten minutes.