Son of Dracula - 1943

Director:                 Robert Siodmak
Screenplay:             Eric Taylor
Original Story:         Curt Siodmak
Photography:          George Robinson
Editor:                    Saul A. Goodkind
Art Directors:         John B. Goodman and
                                 Martin Obzina
Set Decorators:      Russell A. Gausman and
                                Edward R. Robinson
Make up:                Jack P. Pierce

Cast
Count Alucard/Dracula           Lon Chaney, Jr.
Katherine Caldwell                Louise Allbritton
Frank Stanley                        Robert Paige
Claire Caldwell                      Evelyn Ankers
Dr. Harry Brewster                Frank Craven
Prof. Lazlo                            J. Edward Bromberg
Judge Simmons                      Samuel S. Hinds
Queen Zimba                        Adeline de Walt Reynolds
Sheriff Dawes                        Patrick Moriarity
Col. Caldwell                        George Irving
Sarah                                    Etta McDaniel

Much to Bela Lugosi’s dismay, when Universal decided to continue its Dracula franchise, they turned to their utility pinch hitter Lon Chaney, Jr. The Wolf Man was all his of course (“my baby” Chaney called the role). But the studio wanted to take as much advantage of the Chaney name as possible, casting him in many horror roles, such as Kharis the Mummy several times, and also as the Frankenstein creature when the occasion demanded. For “Son of Dracula” he was given the title role, in spite of having no physical resemblance to his “father”. Some have argued that his large, blocky physique was completely wrong to portray the elegant Count. However, Chaney always used his physicality well.



The character he portrays is named Count Alucard, and if you can spell that backwards you have a clue to his real identity. He is identified as “Count Dracula” in the credits, however it’s never really established within the story if he is supposed to be the original, or his son, or a more distant relation, or maybe just a good friend. He has come to America to seek fresh victims, describing it as a “young and virile race”. Yum. He arrives at the plantation home of the soon to be deceased Colonel Caldwell and his daughters Kay and Clair. He and Kay met in Hungary and are meeting secretly.


Kay has been engaged to Frank who raises strong objections to the Count, informing Kay that the Hungarian is an imposter. Kay tells Frank to trust her, that whatever she does, she still loves him and is doing the right thing for both of them. When Frank confronts the two after they have returned from a visit to the local justice of the peace, he fires his pistol at Alucard, but the bullets go through him and seem to kill Kay instead. In despair, Frank turns himself in to the sheriff for the murder of his love.


Dr. Brewster and Professor Lazlo, an authority on the occult and our Van Helsing stand-in, finally spell Alucard backwards and catch on to what is happening. Meanwhile a seemingly alive Kay tells the doctor that she and her husband plan a quiet life, and, oh yes, please tell Frank goodbye. Alucard (oh heck, let’s just call him Dracula, ok?) reinforces this request to the doctor in a quietly threatening and forceful scene.


Visiting him in jail, Kay explains to Frank that her plan all along has been to achieve immortality through Dracula, dispose of him, and then share the vampiric gift with Frank so they can exist happily eternally after. She tells Frank where to find Dracula’s coffin and how to destroy him. He does this, but also ends the movie by doing the right thing for the woman he loves.

Frank, as played by Robert Paige, is a more interesting character than one would imagine. Thankfully, he is no David Manners clone – a pretty boy who is essentially useless. It is also refreshing that he does not instantly fall in love with the younger sister and form a vampire fighting team with her. His love for Kay is true and lasting, and will not be changed by little things like death, undead-ness, shapeshifting into bats or a collection of coffins in the basement. Frank starts out as a bit of a stuffed shirt. But, the actor moves convincingly through cool and calm, to outraged jealousy, to murder, to end-of-his-rope madness. He finally arrives at a place where he has lost everything but the deep love he has for Kay. His final wordless scene is shocking and yet deeply touching.


Interestingly, our no-account Count has come to America as a classic gold digger. He is marrying into money and property, not to mention a “young and vital” blood supply. Kay turns the tables on him, when she reveals herself to be a gold digger as well, using him to attain eternal life, not diamonds or a home on the Riviera.


Chaney is a quietly commanding Count. He doesn’t try for any kind of European accent, which is probably just as well. But his vocal delivery is firm, quiet and dignified. His physical presence is just as imposing and hard to ignore. When he grabs Frank by the throat and tosses him aside, he looks as if he could easily do it even without any supernatural super strength. He may not be an ideal Count Dracula, but he isn’t bad at all.


There are a few noteworthy special effects, especially the scene when Dracula’s coffin rises from the swamp and he glides over the water towards Kay. This is also the first movie to show the transformation into bat and back again. The effect may seem rather primitive to us today, it’s not exactly Industrial Light and Magic, but considering the technology of the time it looks pretty darn good.


The story is supposed to take place somewhere in the deep south and the sets are outstanding. An early scene with Kay walking through the swamp to visit an old gypsy looks great by any standard. Some of the Mummy series (“Ghost”, “Tomb” – see reviews below) have Kharis traipsing around a very ordinary, non-atmospheric New England. SoD’s swamp and plantation have a nice, eerie feel to them.


I remember being disappointed by the movie when I was young. I grew up on the Universal films and loved them, but this one always seemed tame and a little boring. Now I can appreciate it much more. I believe it is one of the better Universal flicks from the forties. It has an adult tone and a well written script. The previous sequel, “Dracula’s Daughter”, I have reviewed below. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t get this movie confused with a 1974 mess of the same name starring Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr. Don’t even ask.


Families, …boy, you can’t live with them and you can’t kill them, right? At least not without a good wooden stake.

The Black Cat - 1934

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Released May 7, 1934

Reissued by Realart as “The Vanishing Body”

Director:                                Edgar G. Ulmer

Production Supervisor:         E.M. Asher

Screenplay:                            Peter Ruric

Story:                                    Edgar G. Ulmer and Peter Ruric

Photography:                        John J. Mescall

Art Director:                          Charles D. Hall

Make-Up:                            Jack P. Pierce

Cast

Hjalmar Poelzig           Boris Karloff

Dr. Vitus Werdegast     Bela Lugosi

Peter Allison                David Manners

Joan Allison               Jacqueline Wells

Karen                          Lucille Lund

The Majordomo            Egon Brecher

Thamal                       Harry Cording

Lieutenant                  Albert Conti

Sergeant                    Henry Armetta

Bus Driver                  George Davis

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“Supernatural... perhaps.  Baloney... perhaps not.”  The inimitable Bela Lugosi delivers that juicy line.

This movie is one of my favorites and I have seen it many times, but recently I saw it on the big screen for the first time.  It is such a delight to see these two men together.   It was the first teaming of two of the most unique actors in film – Lugosi and Boris Karloff, playing Dr. Vitus Werdegast and Hjalmar Poelzig, respectively  

Coming off the success of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”, Universal wanted to boost box office by using both of their top “monsters” in one movie.  It worked: it became the studio’s biggest hit of 1934.  This odd, perverse, and brilliant film is one of Universal’s best.  It contains torture, murder, eroticism, madness, devil worship, hints of incest and necrophilia – what’s not to like?  How it got so much past the censors is a mystery in itself. 

In the opening credits it is referred to as “suggested by the Edgar Allen Poe story”.  The movie has nothing whatsoever to do with Poe, other than sharing a sense of morbid dread.  The only other similarity is the brief presence in the film of a black cat, in order to justify the title. 

It begins aboard the Orient Express, leaving Budapest.  We meet a young newlywed couple, Joan and Peter Allison, on their way to a Hungarian resort for their honeymoon.  They meet Dr. Werdegast when he shares their compartment.  He is also going very near their destination, to “visit an old friend”.  Given the ominous way Lugosi delivers that line, you want to thank your lucky stars you are not the old friend he is going to visit.  He has spent the past 15 years after the war in a Russian prison “where the soul is killed”.  Now, bitter and hell-bent on revenge, he wants to find out what happened to his wife Karen, and their daughter. 

The “friend” he is going to visit would be architect Poelzig, who was the commander of Fort Marmorus – site of one of the bloodiest battles of WW I.  Poelzig sold out to the Russians, and left thousands of his men to die or be taken prisoner.  He then told Karen that her husband was dead, married her, and ran away with her and her young daughter.  Years later, after Karen’s death, he married the daughter (also named Karen).  Poelzig has since built his home on top of the ruins of Fort Marmorus, “the greatest graveyard in the world”. 

After leaving the train, the trio board a bus to take them to town.  The bus driver regales his passengers with the gruesome history of the area.  “The ravine down there was piled twelve deep with dead and wounded men.  The little river below was swollen red, a raging torrent of blood.”   In a close shot of Lugosi’s face, he slowly closes his eyes as the dark memories wash over his features with surprising delicacy.   Lugosi is not regarded usually as a subtle actor, but this moment demonstrates how powerful he could be by doing very little.

On the muddy road during a fierce rainstorm, the bus veers and crashes, killing the driver and leaving Joan slightly injured.   They are forced to seek refuge in Poelzig’s mansion.  This house is a character in its own right.  Designed by Poelzig, it is a masterpiece of cold, sleek, modern, Bauhaus simplicity.  When Peter struggles to find words to describe the atmosphere of the house, Werdegast says, “it may be an atmostphere of death.”

-->The three men share a drink and introduce themselves.  During this superficial joviality Werdegast sees the black cat.  In a fit of terrified rage, he throws a knife and kills it.  Poelzig looks up with a sly, malicious grin and explains that his old friend suffers from “one of the commoner phobias but in an extreme form…an intense horror of cats”.  Karloff  delivers that line with a  perfect combination of his famous lisp and a sinister hiss on the final letter of ‘cats’

Joan wakes from the narcotic injection that the doctor had given her when dressing her wound.  Still strangely affected by the drug, she enters the room with sensuous, feline grace.

  We see the couple in the background as she suddenly kisses her husband passionately.  But the camera’s focus changes to the foreground where we see Poelzig’s hand near a table, where sits a statue of a nude woman.  As the music and the kiss both reach a climax, his hand clutches the arm of the statue in a spasm of jealous lust.  He definitely has plans for Joan.

Poelzig, with his severe widow’s peak and pale face, embodies saturnine, lustful evil one second and genteel graciousness the next.  He would be your perfect host in hell.  (Karloff, incidentally, was one of the nicest gentlemen in the movies.)

After the couple return to their rooms, Werdegast demands to know where Karen and his daughter are.  Poelzig takes him on a journey into the bowels of the old fort, its atmosphere of death and destruction still intact.  He shows him the body of Karen, preserved and suspended in a glass case.  One of the most bizarre details of this movie is the gallery of embalmed bodies of five or six women so displayed.  Lugosi’s face is a mask of tender sorrow as he asks “why is she like this?”   Poelzig tells him that Karen and the child both died after the war.  He preserved her so that he could keep her beauty always.

Accusing Poelzig of murdering them, Werdegast draws a gun and attempts to kill him.  However, he cries out and falls back at the sight of the black cat.  Poelzig tells him they should not seek childish revenge; that he also had his soul killed by the war, “Are we not both the living dead?”  He suggests they play a game of chess to determine the fate of the innocent couple.  Poelzig, in addition to his other charms, is a Satanist.  He intends to sacrifice the bride that night during the Rites of Lucifer.

Peter decides that they have had enough of their host’s creepy hospitality and tries to arrange their leaving.  As the chess game begins, Poelzig deftly, and oh so politely, counters every move Peter tries to make -the car isn’t working, the phone is dead.    He says to his opponent, “You hear that, Vitus, the phone is dead.  Even the phone is dead.”

  Poelzig wins the game, and so as the couple try to leave, Peter is knocked out and imprisoned while Joan is taken upstairs to be made ready for the sacrifice.

           

During a moment of confusion in the ceremony, Werdegast helps Joan escape, and tries to rescue Peter.  Joan has seen his daughter and tells him that she is still alive, living in the house as Madame Poelzig.  He finds her body; Poelzig has killed her rather than let her father be reunited with her.  Now, completely unhinged with revenge, Werdegast ties Poelzig to a rack and begins to skin him alive (we see this only in shadow).   Peter, mistakenly thinking that Werdegast is attacking Joan, shoots him.  The movie ends with the lovers escaping and the inevitable explosion destroying the house. 

Boris Karloff has been considered by most people to be the better actor of the two heavies.   Lugosi plays the damaged but sympathetic lead role in this movie, but Karloff gets top billing (he is billed simply as “Karloff”, no first name). 

Lugosi had the handicap of a heavy accent and less than fluent English.  But in my opinion, he has a magnetism on the screen that overshadows Karloff.  He has such a dark, riveting intensity, you can’t look away.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be in the same room with him.  This elegant, distinctive actor was criminally wasted by Hollywood, and sadly, remains underappreciated by many to this day.

One of the marks of a good actor is the ability to listen to his or her fellow actors.  Part of the joy in watching these two actors work together is seeing the eloquent intensity and focus that each displays during their scenes.   

David Manners’ boyish good looks are useful for the role of the young bridegroom.  His bland amiability does no serious harm; unlike in “Dracula”, where he was as stiff as a coffin lid and could almost single handedly grind a scene to a halt.  But, three years later he appears more relaxed and almost holds his own with the two powerful leads.   In their scenes together, Lugosi and Karloff appear gracious and tolerant of this puppy in their midst.

Jacqueline Wells as Joan does a creditable job at what she was hired for – to look lovely, be frightened, and scream well.  And faint.  And faint some more.

Director Edgar G. Ulmer had a decent budget to work with as well as an A list cast.  He made many interesting movies, but later in his career was relegated to poverty row studios.  He also had experience as a set designer and here was responsible for the remarkable look of the house.  Ulmer also worked on the story and screenplay, which was one of the first to incorporate the horrors and atrocities of the Great War into a horror film.  

There is one unfortunate scene of comic relief.  Two local gendarmes arrive at the house to make a report about the accident, and have an argument about whose home town is lovelier.  Be patient, it passes quickly.  It is somewhat useful as a brief respite from the tension.

With love, I give this one 5 kisses.  It’s worth seeing for many reasons, but to hear Bela Lugosi say the word, “baloney” - for my money, that’s worth two kisses all by itself.

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The Mummy's Ghost - 1944

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Director:                         Reginald LeBorg

Screenplay:                   Griffin Jay, Henry Sucher & Brenda Weisberg

Original Story:               Griffin Jay & Henry Sucher

Photography:                William Sickner

Makeup:                        Jack P. Pierce

Cast

Kharis:                          Lon Chaney, Jr.

Yousef Bey:                  John Carradine

Tom:                             Robert Lowery

Amina:                          Ramsay Ames

Inspector Walgreen:    Barton MacLane

High Priest:                  George Zucco

Prof. Norman:              Frank Reicher

Sheriff Elwood          :  Harry Shannon

Coroner:                       Emmett Vogan

Dr. Ayad:                      Lester Sharpe

Night Watchman:         Oscar O'Shea

 (Before you start reading, you really should go back and read the first 2 parts of this.  1st -"The Mummy's Hand",  2nd -"Mummy's Tomb".  Then you will be able to truly appreciate the grandeur of the story.  For that matter, start with "The Mummy".  You'll be glad you did.)

Here we go again!  A few stock shots of the Sphinx and the pyramids establish that we are supposed to be in Egypt. We have moved ahead from "The Mummy's Tomb" and meet some old and some new characters.  George Zucco returns to play the REALLY old high priest once more.  He sends a new young priest, Yousef Bey, on a mission to reunite the lovers, Kharis and Ananka.  He is played by everyone’s ninth or tenth favorite old horror actor, John Carradine.

Carradine had a half and half career – half distinguished, as in many Shakespearean roles on stage, as well as in great movies such as “Stagecoach”, "The Grapes of Wrath”, "Drums Along the Mohawk"; and half cheese-filled ham rolls like this one.   He was an actor of great ability, but who also had a great ability to chew the scenery like nobody’s business. In this he manages, for the most part, to remain dignified and slightly underplay his role.  I give him credit, since it can’t be easy for an actor to sell something like this:

“I swear by the mighty power of Amon-Ra, whose anger can shatter the

 world and by the dread horror of Set, that I shall never forsake my

trust as a Priest of Arkam. Nor shall I rest until the Princess Ananka

and Kharis are safe once more in the Hills of Arkam.”

In "The Mummy's Ghost" we seem to have wandered away from the Valley of the Seven Jackals, and the priests of the sect of the temple of Karnak have now become the priests of the sect of the temple of Arkam.  On an historical note:  This is actually the first documented instance of a successful sects change.  And isn’t Arkam the same place where H.P.Lovecraft said that Miskatonic University was located?  Ok, maybe not.

This time it is Ananka who was cursed and doomed, with Kharis buried with her as her guardian into eternity.  Her mummy was discovered and  removed by Stephen Banning in “The Mummy's Hand” and brought to the Scripps museum.  This one is fresh and unique since it does not rehash the back-story by showing the archival film from 1932’s “The Mummy”. 

As a matter of fact, as soon as the High Priest starts into his spiel, we dissolve to a university classroom back in Massachusetts, where Professor Norman is lecturing the students about Kharis, etc.  Professor Norman, appeared in “Tomb” as the scientist who determined that it was indeed a mummy who was murdering the good townsfolk of Mapelton.  His lecture provides the exposition needed to get us back on track.  We are introduced to our young heroine Amina, an Egyptian exchange student.  Guess whom she is going to be the reincarnated form of?  No…really….guess.  We know this for certain when moody music starts up and she looks worried when the word ‘Egypt’ is spoken.  Her boyfriend, Tommy says, “What’s wrong with Egypt?  It’s as modern and up to date as any other country.”  Were we courting Egypt as an Allied country in 1944?   We also meet the other major character and real hero of the piece, Tom’s dog Peanuts. 

After we leave the lecture hall things start to heat up when Kharis appears.  Apparently he’s just been wandering around the countryside unseen for the past five years.  Yousef Bey arrives and starts brewing up some tana leaf tea, which brings Kharis tout suite.  They agree on the usual game plan – find Ananka and take her back to Egypt.  They go to the Scripps Museum where her mummified remains are on display.  Kharis reaches into the sarcophagus to cop a feel (give him a break, it’s been a long time), but her body disappears, leaving only the wrappings.  Bey tells him that her soul has entered another form.  Kharis has a hissy fit and busts up the museum, kills a guard, you know - the usual. 

For all the good natured ribbing I am giving this movie, I have to say – Lon Chaney did a pretty good job with this one, even though it was one of his least favorite roles.  He was able to convey some actual emotion from underneath all that costume and make-up.  He uses hand gestures, posture, his head and body; everything except his face and voice.  He somehow conveys anger, grief, and frustration with some simple movements and makes a more sympathetic character than we have seen in the other episodes.  This was another actor who could turn in a great performance when given a chance: “Of Mice and Men” proved that. 

Prof. Norman now does a spectacularly stupid thing, considering he was in the last movie and is fully aware of the existence of Kharis.  He has been entrusted with the sarcophagus containing the tana leaves.  He follows the directions on the side of the package and brews nine just to see what would happen.  Needless to say, Kharis gets a whiff of the tana-tantalizing potion and hot-foots it over to the Norman home.  The Professor is strangled, and so does not have to appear in the next movie.  It is actually one of the most effective scenes in the series.  Norman is alone in his dark office, lit by a single lamp.  Kharis appears at the French doors, and we get some nice POV shots between the two characters as Kharis comes closer. 

Meanwhile, Amina has been awakened by something and in a trance, follows Kharis.  She faints outside the Norman home and is discovered there by the police.  Suspicion falls on her, and Tom tries to help by planning to elope with her to New York.  She has also developed a new birthmark on her arm, and has a new Bride of Frankenstein white streak in her hair which no one remarks upon.

While Kharis is looking for her, she takes another trance induced stroll.  He recognizes her and carries her off.  Aminas hair continues turning whiter in each scene, and it continues to not be noticed by anyone. 

Honey, LOVE what you've done with your hair!

Carradine (surprise!) is instantly overwhelmed by her beauty.  The oath that he took above is sort of fading away.  He then has a nice little hammy scene where he argues with himself for and against making Amina Mrs. Priest of Arkam and not returning to Egypt as planned.  Kharis overhears this screwy monologue and gets mighty peeved, realizing how hard it would be to start dating again after all this time.  He takes care of the priest with one punch and throws him out the window. 

And what has our little hero been doing this whole time?  Peanuts witnessed the abduction and starts barking his head off to awaken the landlady who calls Tom and the police.  Peanuts has followed Kharis and Amina so can lead the search party to the right place.  Tom attempts to fight Kharis but is coldcocked by one sweep of a 3000 year old hand, leaving Peanuts to carry on alone.  He then barks out orders and leads the search party to follow Kharis.  Really, this dog is a natural leader.  I almost wish I could say I was making this up. 

Our hero, Peanuts (center) gets some support from fellow actors.

Tom shows up just in time to see Kharis carry a now fully white-haired-withered-mummified Amina into the swamp and disappear under the water. That would be the swamps of Massachusetts.  I’ll let you think about that one for a minute.

Ready for our last stop?  Jambalaya…crawfish pie…file gumbo!  That’s right!  Me-oh-my-oh, we are headed next to bayou country, Louisiana U.S.A.  Son of a gun, gonna have big fun with "The Mummy's Curse”.


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