"You think I don't know the difference between a wolf and a man?"

It's a full moon tonight. Let's talk about werewolves.

This week's Thursday Thriller is The Wolf Man.

This 1941 George Waggner film is a cinematic landmark -- the first watchable werewolf movie. It was preceded by 1935's painfully boring Werewolf of London.

Lon Chaney Jr. plays Larry Talbot, the prodigal son of Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains), a rich guy who dabbles in astronomy. Larry comes home after his brother died in a hunting accident and starts tinkering with dad's telescope, through which he spots a pretty girl getting dressed across the street.

The movie is a major studio release from the 1940s, so the voyeuristic moment involves earrings. Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) is dressed from neck to wrists to ankles throughout the film. Still, Larry likes what he sees and ambles over to the shop Gwen works at to make creepily knowing comments about her jewelry, purchase a walking stick with a silver wolf's head for a handle and to get turned down for a date no fewer than three times.

Still, because it's the 1940s, when a woman says no, she means, "I'll be waiting out front with a friend at 8." It's like that stupid Christmas song people have been arguing about for the past decade.

So off Larry goes to the gypsy carnival with a gal on each arm. The other girl Jenny (Fay Helm) gets attacked by a wolf and Larry beats it off.

Er, I mean, he clubs it to death with his silver-handled cane.

Larry takes a fang in the process, and becomes the proud recipient of the curse of the werewolf. Bodies start turning up and as Larry can't account for his whereabouts he deduces he has something to do with it. Problem is, Sir John and his educated society friends won't hear it because in their rational world, lycanthropy is little more than a mental illness.

Chaney gives a great performance as a man condemned to kill, to live with the guilt, and no one will believe when he tries to confess. To our jaded modern eyes the transformation sequences leave something to be desired, but the end result is an iconic monster designed by Jack Pierce. There's also a balls-trippy hallucination sequence.

The Wolf Man is an undisputed classic. If you haven't seen it it's time and if you have, it's time to see it again. It streams on Starz.

Happy Full Moon.