She-Wolf Of London

"She-Wolf of London" features a well-used plot. Unlike "WereWolf of London," which was contemporary, "She-Wolf" has a period setting, somewhere around the turn of the 20th century. Beautiful young Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart) lives in the family mansion with her "aunt" Martha Winthrop (Sara Haden) and Martha's beautiful daughter Carol (Jan Wiley). Phyllis is engaged to semi-dashing Barry Lanfield (Don Porter), of noble birth, but she suddenly calls off the engagement. 

Meanwhile, what Scotland Yard detective Latham (Lloyd Corrigan) is convinced is a werewolf has killed a small child in a nearby park. More killings follow, with Phyllis awakening to discover her dressing gown damp, her slippers muddy, and (barely seen) blood all over her hands. She's sure she's inherited "the curse of the Allenbys" (the title the film had in England), though we're never really told what the curse is. 

"She-Wolf of London" -- no connection other than title to the later TV series -- is ponderous, extremely gabby and set-bound. Very little happens on screen, and what does happen, happens slowly. The movie seems a great deal longer than "WereWolf of London," though it's almost 15 minutes shorter. The plotting is crude and hackneyed; almost anyone will realize what's going on fifteen minutes in; it's a long, weary wait until the "explanation." 

Production values are very strong, though the park with its dead, dried bushes tends to look a little silly, even with the frequent "fog." Undoubtedly, the huge mansion sets were built for other movies, and merely redressed for this one, but that was standard practice for studios in those days (and often even today). 

The acting is perfectly competent, though none of the Americans in the cast even try to do an English accent; since the British actors do have accents, it tends to make scenes with both Brits and Yanks sound rather strange. 

But movies like this weren't intended to be convincing; all they had to do was to keep the audience from walking out for an hour. Since "She-Wolf of London" isn't really terrible, it probably achieved that goal. (Bill Warren)