DanTheMan 2
Due to Universal's despicable treatment of Bela Lugosi, he sadly only ever played his most famous role of Dracula onscreen twice. Thankfully, that didn't stop Columbia from giving both the audience and Lugosi what is essentially the best Dracula sequel that Universal never made. The Return of the Vampire, low-budget though it is, is in many respects more ambitious than Universal's later limpwristed blights for the poor Count, at least story-wise. There's a notable attempt at imitating the older Universal look with plenty of atmospheric fog-filled sets and long contrasting shadows, director Lew Landers is to be applauded for his efforts here, packing the film with plenty of dynamic camerawork, lots of spooky moments and some gorgeously staged shots, a remarkable achievement for such a cheap film. Lugosi's portrayal of the titular vampire, Armand Tesla, is obviously the film's main draw and his playfully lithe performance is an utter delight, marvellously embodying the sinister character, even if he is looking noticeably trailer; Frieda Inescort's Lady Jane Ainsley makes for a brilliant folly to Tesla's undertakings while the rest of the supporting cast is a joyful enough bunch to watch. While a pretty straightforward, almost by-the-numbers, flick, The Return of the Vampire is a criminally underlooked little gem of a film with plenty of off-beat touches that have such an endearing quality to them and superb photography.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/01/24
Full Review
Ted B
3.0 stars; Probably a 2 star movie.. Butch, I gave it extra credit for being original and creative in a 1944 movie environment.
Imagine, using Germany bombing London às a means to open the vampires grave for a second chance at terrorizing the countryside.
And then having his sidekick being a werewolf.. Who thinks up this stuff?. Somebody must put in some overtime to come up with these plot twists...
Well. I do bring a little bias to these things, as I was such a midnight Shock Theater back when I was a kid.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
09/26/23
Full Review
CodyZamboni
Solid, old school horror, that was not produced by Universal. Bela Lugosi plays Armand Telsa, who could be Dracula's twin brother. Effective use of eeire shadows and fog to enhance the spooky mood. Props to the filmmakers to feature a strong woman in the lead role. Supporting cast standout, Nina Foch, is so attractive, especially in the many scenes where she is clad only in nightgowns,
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This isn't an official sequel to the 1931 Universal Studios film Dracula but it really feels like it, except that Lugosi's name is Armand Tesla and this is made by Columbia. This would be the actor's last major studio movie.
Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) is stalked by Tesla twice, once during the first World War and again during the second. The first time they crossed paths, she ended up staking him and freeing Andréas, a werewolf, from his curse. He becomes her assistant and his makeup would go on to be used again in 1956's The Werewolf.
Twenty four years later, during the blitz, some cemetery workers find the body of Tesla and remove the stake from his heart, thinking that it's shrapnel. Now Tesla walks the Earth again, with Andréas back in thrall, taking the name of Hugo Bruckner, a scientist who has escaped from a concentration camp and is coming to work with Ainsley. Meanwhile, Sir Fredrick Fleet of Scotland Yard believes that Ainsley is a murderer and that there's no way there can be a vampire.
Director Lew Landers also made 175 other movies, with probably The Raven being his best-known film.
It's pretty wild that Columbia did everything they could to make their own Dracula movie. Universal did threaten to sue, as they had the Lon Chaney Jr.-starring Son of Dracula coming out. If you think you may have seen this before, it is the movie playing in Iron Maiden's video for "Number of the Beast."
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
joe m
Passable, but not the best of the vampire genre.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
When a vampire's body is unearthed by a bombing raid on London during WWII, his stake is removed and he rises from the dead. With the help of his werewolf henchman, seeks revenge on the woman who staked him two decades earlier. Since Universal owned the rights to the Dracula franchise, Columbia had to make several changes to the story. The fact that the movie takes place in contemporary England, and that the vampire's assistant is a werewolf, are the only new twists in this movie, which in all other respects is a typical vampire movie from the golden age of monsters.
Bela Lugosi delivers his lines with his usual flair. Althought he only played a vampire two other times on film - in the original Dracula and in the Abbott and Costello movie - he slips smoothly into the role he made famous. Nina Foch, cast as the requisite damsel in distress, is the only other actor of note and she does a credible job. The rest of the cast was nondescript, at best.
Though I wouldn't call it a great movie it features a strong performance by Bela Lugosi and plenty of gothic atmosphere in the form of foggy graveyards and decaying crypts to make the film a more than passable example of the genre.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Read all reviews
>
