Film Review - Legend of the Werewolf

Today I review the 1975 horror, Legend of the Werewolf.

In 19^th century France, a young boy is found living wild in the forest by a travelling troupe of entertainers. The boy, christened Etoile, is taken in and raised into a strapping young man (David Rintoul). After attacking another entertainer in a sudden fit of rage, Etoile flees to Paris where he's taken in by a zoo keeper (Ron Moody), where he develops an affinity with the wolves. Before long, a series of grisly murders begins in the streets, and a local coroner (Peter Cushing) fears there may be a supernatural cause of it.

Legend of the Werewolf has all the hallmarks of a Hammer horror without actually being Hammer – it was produced by Tyburn studios. The shoestring budget is made clear from the measly carnival and zoo sets, but these in a way add to the feeling. The world of the movie is a seedy and awkward one. The cheap sets suit its weird characters, like Hugh Griffith's bombastic showman and Ron Moody's ratty yet somehow endearing zoo keeper.

It's a weirdness that reflects Etoile's strange relationship with the people he meets. The travellers treat him like an animal and keep in a cage, yet somehow the narrator (also played by Cushing) tells us that they become a sort of family to him. Likewise, Moody's zoo keeper comes off as a sleaze from the start, but has very brief moments of affection towards his strange young charge.

These weird tonal shifts add a charm of sorts to the movie, but I doubt this was the filmmakers' intention. The script and characters are paper-thin, and its up to the actors to wring any sort of life from them.

Fortunately, the film does have a fairly decent cast. Moody gives his zoo keeper perhaps more personality than such a thin role deserves. Lynn Badly plays Christine, a local prostitute and the object of Etoile's affections. She also brings some life to her role as a sweet but in no way timid heroine. Entertainer Roy Castle (best known for his children's show Record Breakers) provides some comic relief as a twitchy photographer.

Rintoul was clearly cast more for his beefcake looks than for his acting. However, I do remember enjoying his reading of an audiobook of Susan Cooper's The Boggart when I was a child, so it's not that he doesn't have charisma, it's just there's none to be seen here.

But of course, the real star of the show here is Peter Cushing, one of the stallwarts of British B-movie horror. Cushing seems to elevate the movie to a higher class by his very presence, playing an intelligent and rational coroner, Professor Paul, who seeks to find the werewolf before the police do, not to destroy it but to understand it. It's no accident that the film drastically improves when Cushing becomes the focus, who not only lights up the screen but delivers a welcome note of doom to the story.

If you're at all familiar with this particular genre of horror, you'll know what to expect from Legend of the Werewolf. Cheap sets, corny red-screen shots and thin plot abound. But it also retains some charm from its cast, and especially from Peter Cushing.