Where's The Wolf?

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF-1944-In this Universal quickie Dr. Morris (Fritz Leiber), curator of a famous museum has discovered the secret of their top attraction the mysterious Marie Latour . Her daughter (Nina Foch who was in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE with Lugosi the same year) lives with a band of gypsies and can turn into a werewolf whenever she seeks to silence anyone who knows the truth. Morris' son (Stephen Crane, a fairly catatonic actor. It doesn't surprise me he only made 3 movies!) and his girlfriend Elsa (Osa Massen) investigate while a police lieutenant (Barton McLane) refuses to believe the supernatural goings-on. Blanche Yurka is a mysterious gypsy leader and John Abbott has a small role as a tour guide who loses his mind ("Much to be seen, more to be heard and plenty to imagine"). It's mostly talk and the wolf is rarely seen but it's only 63 minutes long and McLane's wisecracking cop is a highlight. Milton Parsons has one scene as a talkative funeral director and Ray Teal is an (un-credited) cop.

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF was Henry Levin's directorial debut. He made other low budget quickies but later "graduated" to bigger things like JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM as well as two Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin.

Thanks for reading and once again thanks to my pal Tony for finding this!