Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains and Bela Lugosi. | Directed by George Wagner | Written by Curt Siodmak | Universal

With the recent release of Universal’s big-budget Wolfman remake, it’s only fitting that the studio pays tribute once again to the film started it all with The Wolf Man: Special Edition.

In 1941, Universal revived the werewolf sub-genre, untouched since Werewolf of London (1935). With a script by Curt Siodmak (The Invisible Man Returns, Son of Dracula, I Walked With a Zombie, House of Frankenstein, and starring Lon Chaney Jr., Universal loaded the cast with other big names such as Claude Rains (The Invisible Man), Warren William (largely forgotten today, but an established leading man in the ’30s), Ralph Bellamy (Rosemary’s Baby), Bela Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. The studio seemed so proud of the cast, in fact, that The Wolf Man became one of the two classic Universal horror movies (the other is The Black Cat), whose opening sequence shows footage of the actors with their respective credits.

The film wastes no time introducing us to Larry Talbot (Chaney), who has returned to Wales to reconcile with his father (Rains). With the death of his older brother, Talbot is now the sole heir to the family estate. But after an encounter with a gypsy (Lugosi) goes awry, he’s bitten by a werewolf and, well, we know what happens when the full moon rises.

The Wolf Man has already been released on DVD twice over the last decade. This two-disc edition repeats much of what’s on previous versions, including Tom Weaver’s excellent commentary track and the featurette Monster by Moonlight! However, the second disc features some great new material, including Kevin Brownlow’s Universal Horror, a 90-minute documentary, which covers The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) through to Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Its a must-see for any classic horror fan, but for those specifically looking for more on the werewolf, there’s another new documentary worth checking out.

Siodmak’s original treat for the film called for Talbot’s affliction to be psychological rather than physical, and it’s a good thing Universal insisted otherwise or we could have missed out on one of the greatest movie monsters of all time. The man responsible for that look, as well as many other Universal monsters and madmen, of course, Jack Pierce, who’s the focus of He Who Made Monsters.

Sadly, this 25-minutes featurette shows how poorly Pierce was treated by the studio. As makeup and foam rubber technology advanced, he continued to work with the cured cotton and collodion tools that gave monsters such realism. His resistance to dropped these old ways led to his termination from Universal in 1948. The highlight of the doc is seeing an aging Pierce reunited with Boris Karloff as a secret guest on a 1957 episode of the TV show This Is Your Life.

But the real hero here is Lon Chaney Jr. Pure in Heart, another new featurette, showcases the hardships the actor endured at the hands of his father, who did not want his son to follow in his footsteps, insisting he learn a trade instead. After Chaney Sr.’s death in 1930, Lon Jr. dropped his plumping business and went to Hollywood. He played heavies, copes and mountain men until landing the part of Lenny opposite Burgess Meredith in Of Mice and Men. Playing the role for the true pathos that it warranted, he set the standard for many of his performances to follow. From Man Made Monster (1941) to Spider Baby (1968), he was known for playing emotionally vulnerable characters prone to fits of aggression. Many of his roles featured crying scenes; catharsis for a man who fought with many personal demons, including alcoholism.

Of The Wolf Man, Chaney Jr. once said, “That’s my baby.” And it truly is. While plenty of actors — including Chaney Jr. himself — have played Dracula, the Mummy and Frankenstein’s Monsters, Universal’s Wolf Man was uniquely his. As this special edition proves, any one taking on the role since has had some mighty big paw prints to fill.