The Curse of the Werewolf – 1961

A Hammer Film production released by Universal Pictures
Copyright MCMLXI by Universal Pictures Company Inc. – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios England
Technicolor 88 mins
Storyline
Spain: A wandering beggar falls foul of the sadistic Marques Siniestro and is flung into a dungeon, where he remains for years, virtually forgotten. Then a young mute servant girl also upsets the Marques and, to teach her a lesson, she is put in the cell with the beggar, who rapes her and promptly dies. The girl kills the Marques and escapes, but now she is pregnant by the beggar. It seems that her baby will be born on Christmas Day and local legend has it that there is only one fate in store for an unwanted child conceived in such circumstances and born on the Lord’s birthday…
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Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits |
Art Director | Don Mingaye | 32 | 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 25 |
Assistant Director | John Peverall | 40 | 1921 | 3 Oct 2009 | 88 | 20 |
Associate Producer | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 49 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 |
Based on the novel "The Werewolf of Paris" by | Guy Endore | 60 | 4 Jul 1900 | 12 Feb 1970 | 69 | 1 |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 44 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 |
Casting | Stuart Lyons | 33 | 1928 | 23 Feb 1998 | 70 | 8 |
Continuity | Tilly Day | 58 | 1 Jan 1903 | 1 Jan 1994 | 91 | 12 |
Directed by | Terence Fisher | 56 | 23 Feb 1904 | 18 Jun 1980 | 76 | 31 |
Director of Photography | Arthur Grant, BSC | 46 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 30 |
Editor | Alfred Cox | 1925 | 2005 | 80 | 21 | |
Executive Producer | Michael Carreras | 33 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 83 |
Hair Stylist | Frieda Steiger | 28 | ||||
Make-up Artist | Roy Ashton | 51 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 |
Music Composed and Conducted by | Benjamin Frankel | 54 | 31 Jan 1906 | 12 Feb 1973 | 67 | 3 |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds | 38 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 |
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 48 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 |
Production Manager | Clifford Parkes | 12 | ||||
Screenplay by | John Elder (Anthony Hinds) | 38 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 |
Sound Editor | Alban Streeter | 31 | 1930 | Living | 91 | 7 |
Sound Recordist | Jock May | 56 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 29 |
Special Effects | Les Bowie | 47 | 10 Nov 1913 | 27 Jan 1979 | 65 | 32 |
Supervising Editor | James Needs | 41 | 17 Oct 1919 | 2003 | 83 | 111 |
Wardrobe Mistress | Molly Arbuthnot | 52 | 19 Dec 1908 | 1 Nov 2001 | 92 | 48 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances |
Alfredo | Clifford Evans | 48 | 17 Feb 1912 | 9 Jun 1985 | 73 | 2 |
Beggar | Richard Wordsworth | 45 | 19 Jan 1915 | 21 Nov 1993 | 78 | 4 |
Chef | Charles Lamb | 60 | 20 Nov 1900 | 19 Mar 1989 | 88 | 4 |
Cristina | Catherine Feller | 22 | 1939 | Living | 82 | 1 |
Dominique | George Woodbridge | 53 | 16 Feb 1907 | 31 Mar 1973 | 66 | 9 |
Don Enrique | Peter Sallis | 39 | 1 Feb 1921 | 2 Jun 2017 | 96 | 2 |
Don Fernando | Ewen Solon | 43 | 7 Sep 1917 | 7 Jul 1985 | 67 | 5 |
Footman | Desmond Llewelyn | 46 | 12 Sep 1914 | 19 Dec 1999 | 85 | 2 |
Gaoler | Denis Shaw | 39 | 7 Apr 1921 | 28 Feb 1971 | 49 | 4 |
Isabel | Joy Webster | 27 | 1934 | Living | 87 | 2 |
Jose | Martin Matthews | 1 | ||||
Leon | Oliver Reed | 22 | 13 Feb 1938 | 2 May 1999 | 61 | 9 |
Marques Siniestro | Anthony Dawson | 44 | 18 Oct 1916 | 8 Jan 1992 | 75 | 1 |
Marquesa | Josephine Llewellyn | 1 | ||||
Old Soak | Michael Ripper | 47 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 |
Pepe Valiente | Warren Mitchell | 34 | 14 Jan 1926 | 14 Nov 2015 | 89 | 4 |
Priest | John Gabriel | 46 | 27 Sep 1914 | 28 May 1998 | 83 | 1 |
Rico Gomez | David Conville | 31 | 4 Jun 1929 | 24 Nov 2018 | 89 | 2 |
Rosa Valiente | Anne Blake | 52 | 4 Nov 1908 | 27 Jan 2000 | 91 | 3 |
Senora Zumara | Serafina Di Leo | 48 | 7 May 1912 | 23 Oct 2007 | 95 | 1 |
Servant Girl | Yvonne Romain | 22 | 17 Feb 1938 | Living | 83 | 3 |
Teresa | Hira Talfrey | 34 | 14 Sep 1926 | 3 Oct 2011 | 85 | 1 |
Vera | Sheila Brennan | 30 | 1931 | Living | 90 | 1 |
Young Leon | Justin Walters | 9 | 1952 | 1978 | 26 | 1 |
Yvonne | Renny Lister | 26 | 24 May 1934 | Living | 86 | 1 |
Footnotes
Before this film was made, Hammer planned to make one about the Spanish Inquisition, but there were rumours that the Catholic Office would take a very dim view of such a movie and try to have it banned. The project was therefore abandoned, but not before Bernard Robinson’s sets had been constructed. Not a company to waste resources, Hammer transferred the action of Guy Endore’s novel “The Werewolf of Paris” to Spain and Anthony Hinds wrote the script for “The Curse of the Werewolf”, the first of many screenplays written by him under the pseudonym John Elder.
Welsh actor Clifford Evans returned to Hammer in 1963 to star as the vampire-killer in “The Kiss of the Vampire”.
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection