The Wolf Man / Gaily Gaily

THE WOLF MAN, 1941, Universal, 70 min. Dir. George Waggoner. Although Universal had already released a bang-up werewolf movie in the early 1930s, this is the one that is best remembered. Graced by the high-caliber performances of Lon Chaney as tragically cursed Larry Talbot and Claude Rains as his father, one of the prime reasons the film looks so good – i.e., an A picture – is the superbly atmospheric art direction and production design by Jack Otterson and associate Robert Boyle.

GAILY, GAILY, 1969, MGM Repertory, 107 min. Beau Bridges stands in for famed screenwriter Ben Hecht in Norman Jewison’s whimsical adaptation of Hecht’s memoirs of his youth working on a newspaper in early 20th century Chicago. Melina Mercouri is the brothel madam who feels protective toward the innocent Bridges, and Brian Keith is Bridges’ alcoholic newspaper editor mentor.