| Son Of Dracula (1943) |
| Directed by Robert Siodmak Written by:Curt Siodmak story Eric Taylor screenplay Robert Paige .... Frank Stanley Louise Allbritton .... Katherine 'Kay' Caldwell Frank Craven .... Dr. Brewster J. Edward Bromberg .... Prof. Laszlo Samuel S. Hinds .... Judge Simmons Lon Chaney .... Count Alucard In the 1940's Universal was mainly concerned with tossing as many horror programmers out there as fast and as cheaply as possible.Some of them were good, others not so good.And every so often in spite of some major screwups like miscasting, rushed scripts and the ilk a minor gem emerged anyway.Such is the case with Son Of Dracula. Kay Caldwell is having a party at Dark Oaks plantation for her European guest Count Alucard.However the Count fails to show up.Kay's fiancee Frank wants to marry her quickly and take off on a long honeymoon (hotcha!).Kay refuses and tells Frank that no matter what happens to trust in her.Frank feels that Kay may have fallen for this mysterious Count. Later that evening Kay's father is killed.Strange marks are found on Caldwell's throat.Hmm.Then the Count shows up and moves into the guest house.When the will is read Kay only gets Dark Oaks which is what she wanted.Her sister Claire(Evelyn Ankers wasted in a small role)gets everything else. Kay and the Count secretly elope.Frank follows them and confronts them.Frank is thrown through a door by Alucard.Frank pulls out a pistol and shoots his rival.But the bullets pass through him and Kay falls to the floor seemingly dead.A little beside himself Frank flees into the night.He winds up at Dr Brewster's house and confesses.Brewster goes to Dark Oaks and finds Kay seemingly alive and quite spooky. However Frank goes to the police and confesses the murder.Even though the doc states he talked to Kay afterwards they all go to Dark Oaks.There they find Kay in the crypt in a coffin.Frank is put in the pokey.Brewster calls in Prof Laszlo, vampire expert from MEMPHIS(?).The two agree that they are up against a descendant of Dracula in the guise of Alucard. While Frank is in jail he is visited and vampirized slightly by Kay.She informs Frank that she only married Alucard to gain immortality.She in turn will pass this on to Frank after he destroys the Count.Then they can haunt Dark Oaks forever.Frank escapes jail and the race is on for a final fatal showdown with the Count... There is a heck of a lot to like in this film.The use of the swamp locale is nicely done and adds a creepy tone.The scene where the Count and his coffin rise up from the bottom of the swamp and he glides across the water to Kay on shore is a novel idea.A general air of doom and gloom hangs over this film like Spanish Moss. Okay now everybody and his brother has taken potshots at Lon Chaney being miscast as the Count.A truck driver in an opera cape;about as European as an Iowa farmboy etc.Get over it.He conveys a really nasty physical prescence not seen before or even matched until Christopher Lee over 15 years later.He could rip your spine out for grins and seems like he is fighting the urge to do just that whenever he is confronted by a local yokel.He is trying hard to be urbane and human although he really wants to turn you into a bloody drinking fountain. If you can catch this on cable someday take the time to watch it.This really is a well done film. |
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