The Curse of the Werewolf stars Leon Corledo (real name: Oliver Reed Curse of the Werewolf), a man with macabre origins. He grew up in the home of Don Alfredo Corledo. Don Alfredo is a kind and loving adopted father.
When Leon leaves Don Alfredo to look for work, he realizes that he is becoming increasingly violent. Despite Leon’s love for the lovely Christina, he eventually loses control of his curse and transforms into a werewolf who terrorizes the Spanish countryside.
The plot is already amazing, but wait until you know more about the movie. Who knows? You might even think that they are more interesting than the cursed werewolf movie itself.
To decide for yourself, here are the most interesting facts about The Curse of the Werewolf full movie:
Some Interesting Facts About the Movie
Here are the most interesting facts about The Curse of the Werewolf:
Fact 1: The Curse of the Werewolf 1961 is the first werewolf movie shot in color.
The Curse of the Werewolf 1961 has a lot of fun facts up its sleeve. The first one? It’s the first werewolf film shot and released in color.
Before 1961, no one dared to shoot the werewolf curse movie in color because of many reasons. For one, shooting a colored werewolf movie costs a lot of money. Second, the process is time-consuming. Lastly, shooting a colored werewolf movie had never been done beforehand.
With some preparation and a higher budget, the director and producers of The Curse of the Werewolf movie pulled everything off.
Fact 2: No werewolf in the first half of the movie.
Svengoolie Curse of the Werewolf might be a werewolf film, but no werewolf is shown during the first half of it.
Rumor has it that the director and producers purposely did not show a werewolf in the first half of the movie to establish the characters more strongly.
This totally makes sense as The Curse of the Werewolf movie centers around Leon Corledo (aka wolfman Oliver Reed), a mysterious man with terrible origins.
Fact 3: The wolfman is not born by a werewolf but it is a curse.
Interestingly, the movie lets go of the most popular legend of its time. This legend says that a person bitten by a werewolf will become a werewolf.
Instead, The Curse of the Werewolf features the old idea that the child born on Christmas Day will be a victim of a werewolf curse.
In many European cultures, such a kid was thought to be competing with the claimed birth of Jesus Christ. Hence, the curse is a punishment for blasphemy.
Fact 4: Producers used Yvonne Romain to lure male viewers.
Even though the two never share the screen in the final picture, the most famous advertising photos of the film show Yvonne Romain and Oliver Reed in full werewolf make-up. This led to people thinking that Romain was the damsel in distress for Reed’s monster.
In fact, producers used Yvonne Romain in hopes of luring male viewers into theaters with her huge bosom.
Fact 5: The transformation happens without a full moon.
The Curse of the Werewolf full movie foregoes another popular myth of its time— werewolf transformation only happens during the full moon.
In this movie, Leon first transformed under the moonlight. However, as the film progressed, he did not only transform during the full moon.
Fact 6: The movie is censored and cut short in the UK until 1992.
Back in the 60s, Hammer was always at odds with the BBFC (British Board of Film Censors).
Unlike in the U.S. where movies must be cut to get particular ratings, film scripts had to be submitted to the BBFC before films got made. Then, the producers were told which parts to cut.
Due to more run-ins with the board, Hammer Curse of the Werewolf was censored and cut short in the UK. Things changed in 1992 though.
Fact 7: The mute girl’s father may be the beggar instead of the jailor.
Word of caution: What we’re about to describe is gruesome.
In the film’s most terrible scene, the mute girl is now a full-grown beautiful woman (Yvonne Romain). She gets imprisoned along with the mad beggar because she refused the Marques’ advances.
Thinking of him as a friend (or at the very least someone worth pitying), the mute was horrified when the mad beggar sexually assaults her. Their terrible encounter ends with him dying and her being pregnant with a monster.
Due to this scene, many viewers theorized that the man is the real father of the mute girl. If this is true, this is probably one of the worst scenes in werewolf movies.
Fact 8: Settings of the movie are originally intended for another movie.
The Spanish location for the movie Curse of the Werewolf was forced upon writer Anthony Hinds.
This happened after Michael Carreras had the studio back-lot outfitted for a film about the Spanish Inquisition, according to a Hammer documentary. The Catholic League of Decency threatened to ban the Spanish inquisition movie, so they used the set for The Curse of the Werewolf instead.
Fact 9: The 4K scan version of the movie is released in April 2020.
Of course, we can’t simply expect that a movie from 1961 will be available in 4K.
Fortunately, The Curse of the Werewolf 1961 full movie defied the odds. The 4K scan version of the film can now be enjoyed by fans all over the world.
Fact 10: The only werewolf movie using twelve-tone musical scores.
Another first for the curse werewolf movie involves music.
ComposerBenjamin Frankel’s movie score is known for featuring twelve-tone serialism. This is rare in film music, which makes the werewolf curse movie extra special.
The moral behind the plot
The Curse of the Werewolf is a somber and introspective movie that follows a fairytale-like path. The film does it with careful imagery, creating an experience that is more concerned with emotional effectiveness than with fright.
Given this, the plot has one notable moral behind it: Love triumphs over the curse.
If you give a second thought to the storyline, you will find the curse is brought upon not by the werewolf himself but by the cruelty and greed of the count and the hatred of the beggar.
The curse is finally triumphed over by love in the climax where a mob of townspeople seeks mindless revenge. As the tenderness from Leon’s adopted father showed up, so is the moral. On his tearful journey toward his son, he carried the silver bullet that only he can fire. After all, only love can save the cursed, as the film and most fairy tales suggest.
