The Wolfman (George Waggner, 1941)

After eighteen years away living in the US, Larry Talbot, the second oldest of two offspring of researcher Sir John Talbot, returns home to Talbot Castle in Britain to assume the role of oldest son following the passing of his older brother, John Talbot Jr., that role eventually to take over the estate. Immediately upon his arrival home, Larry falls for Gwen Conliffe, the daughter of antiques store owner Charles Conliffe, she who quietly returns those affections despite already being engaged to Sir John's groundskeeper, Frank Andrews. One evening when Larry, Gwen and her friend Jenny Williams visit the travelling gypsies, who are in town like they are every autumn, to have their fortunes told, Jenny, in the forest, is mauled to death by who Larry states is a wolf, Larry, in the process, being bitten himself and able to beat the wolf to death with the cane with the wolf head handle he purchased from Conliffe's. The aftermath of the incident shows a different picture from Larry's story: while Jenny is indeed found having bled out from the neck from an animal bite, it is not a wolf found beside her but the beaten dead body of Bela, the gypsy fortune teller. In addition there is no indication of Larry himself being bitten by a wolf. While Larry sticks to his story despite the evidence to the contrary, he begins slowly to believe that he is turning into a werewolf, especially upon Bela's mother, Maleva, confiding to him that Bela himself was a werewolf. Larry has to decide what to do to protect those around him he loves, such as Gwen, from himself and what he may end up doing in his transformed state.