She-Wolf of London (1946)

 She-Wolf of London (1946)

Despite its title and the reasonable expectations an audience would get from it being a Universal Studios’ production, this film contradictorily still presents us with a fairly predictable mystery and resolution.

A pair of cousins expect to be married soon, but the nearby violent murder of a child, (though the script implies it’s just one of a series of recent murders, it’s later verified this is the first one,) causes one to suspect a dormant family curse has been activated when she wakes up the morning after with blood on her fingers.

Would audiences at the time had made the same connection with menstrual blood I did? The character is much too mature for menarche, and the times weren't quite ready for the thematic and graphic qualities of Ginger Snaps to be brought to the big screen, but is it odd that I thought this the singular most interesting and exciting aspect of the movie?
To be fair to me, I watched Detention, another film with a similar female waking scene, just a couple of days ago. I am afraid, however, that nothing is made of this, and it's immediately dropped.

The 'wolf-bride' refuses to see her fiancé and puts her wedding on hold.

Is the revelation that the two ladies are cousins by-adoption-only meaningful?
An investigating cop suspects the culprit is a werewolf but is told by his supervisor to keep his mouth shut.
Why the seeming attempts at a coverup?
Later, even as this same cop is dying, he is still able to mention in his last breath that it was a female werewolf who attacked him.

The would-be groom to the self-suspected ‘wolf-girl’ is naturally upset she won’t see him and so he begins to shadow the home…
Will he discover the truth behind the killings? Will he become a victim himself?

There only so much I can do to write around the mystery before spoiling it; but don’t worry, you’ll figure it out yourself despite the production’s outright cheats and many efforts at misdirection (wolf attack noises; violent dog reactions; day-after found evidence, etc.)

A very minor film which was included in The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection set only because of its theme and not necessarily because of a connection to the Lon Chaney Jr. series or its immediate predecessor.
There’s nothing truly wrong with it, it’s just that there’s not that much there.
I am glad they included it, even when it's not close to being essential.

A more stylish production team (i.e. Lewton/Tourneur) could have done, and did, wonders with the nearly same subject matter.

With June Lockhart, Don Porter, Sara Haden, Eily Malyon, Jan Wiley, and Lloyd Corrigan.