The first version of what would eventually morph into the 1941 film with Lon Chaney Jr. actually started just a decade earlier, as a potential vehicle for then-overnight-sensation Boris Karloff, and written and directed by Robert Florey ("Murders in the Rue Morgue"). Instead of a Welsh aristocrat named Larry Talbot who transforms under the light of the autumn moon after being bitten by a wolf, this early treatment instead revolves around Christoph, a young boy in the Swiss-Tyrolian [sic] Alps who was nurtured by a she-wolf who's pack had slaughtered his mother. When he grows to be an adult, he transforms into a Werewolf during times of anger, stress, and grief. However, the ensuing story, including a scene in which Christoph transforms during a confessional and murders the priest and Christoph later unknowingly falling in love with a prostitute, made Universal worry about upset reactions from the Catholic Church, causing this to be shelved for nearly a decade, until Curt Siodmak reworked the idea from scratch into the film we know and love today.
The Wolf Man (Robert Florey) has been suggested to play 13 roles. Click below to see other actors suggested for each role, and vote for who you think would play the role best.
