O Filho de Drácula

I keep shouting at sexy movie girls not to go walking alone at night in creepy forests. But they keep ignoring me-- thank goodness! In her flimsy flowing gown Allbritton (Kay) cuts a memorable figure as she traipses through the creepy studio woods on her way to a star-crossed future. Actually, the real star in terms of screen time is Frank Craven as the bloodhound doctor. As it turns out, he's got to put the plot puzzle together. Seems Alucard (Chaney) has followed the mysterious Kay to her southern home to make her his blood-supping wife. Trouble is she's already in love with homeboy Frank (Paige) who's not about to give her up, especially to a weirdo foreigner. Good thing the doc senses something is wrong and goes into action. The ending is kind of surprising and tragic, unusual for the genre.

Many of the gloomy visuals are impressive, thanks probably to director Siodmak, later to make his name in film noir (check out his distinguished list). Plus, the form-changing dissolves are well-done, adding a good spooky touch. However, I can't help feeling Chaney is miscast as the Count. His brawny presence and dialogue delivery lack the wickedly polished undertones needed for such a sinister figure. Then too he gets little screen time to possibly expand. No doubt he's top-billed for marquee value and his Wolf Man reputation. Too bad we don't see more of Madame Zimba (Reynolds). Her old lady hag is about the scariest visual in the 70- minutes.

Anyway, it's a decent horror flick with some good moments even though the central evil fails largely to gel. Plus count me now as a big fan of Louise Allbritton who can come traipse through my woody yard any time.

Katherine "Kathy" Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) is the fiancée of Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) and sister of Claire Caldwell (Evelyn Ankers) and lives in Dark Oaks farm, where her father runs a plantation. After traveling to Budapest, Kathy invites her friend Count Alucard (Lon Chaney) to visit Dark Oaks. On the day of the arrival, the count is the guest of honor of a ball in the farmhouse, but only his luggage comes in the train. During the night, Alucard that is actually Count Dracula arrives and kills Kathy's father. The family friend Dr. Harry Brewster (Frank Craven) suspects of the mysterious Alucard and asks information about his family to his friend Prof. Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg). Meanwhile Kathy is the heiress of Dark Oaks and she secretly marries the Count Dracula. Frank follows her and accidentally shoots Kathy to death. When Dr. Brewster meets Kathy at home, he realizes that she got married to Dracula and is also a vampire.

Directed by Robert Siodmak, "Son of Dracula" has good story, atmosphere in the Louisiana swamps and special effects. However, Lon Chaney Jr. is miscast, creepy but too old to be the "romantic pair" of Louise Allbritoon and without the style of Bela Lugosi. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Filho de Drácula" ("The Son of Dracula")

Before the era of home video formats, people simply had to rely on written reviews of "Son of Dracula," almost all of which were negative. In particular, Lon Chaney, Jr., has endured years of abuse for his performance as Dracula (or his son, depending on your opinion). But now the film is readily available and the truth is easy to see: it's pretty good. Not brilliant, but pretty good. Chaney's performance is actually one of his best for Universal; certainly his most atypical. Chaney excelled at characters who were out of control and childlike, but his Dracula is supremely in control, and seething with menace. It is his iciest, most restrained performance. Those who still berate Chaney for his "lack of range" should be forced to admit that he played Dracula far more effectively than Bela Lugosi could have played Lennie. Interestingly, the rest of the cast is equally "miscast:" doomed hero Robert Paige was normally a musical leading man, while femme fatale Louise Albritton was usually a blonde comedienne. Both are quite effective in the horror genre. Frank Craven does well as the folksy doctor who is forced to take on the Van Helsing role (though J. Edward Bromberg is the official Van Helsing surrogate). This is one of the most unusual Universal horror films, in that it is more horror noir than melodrama--fitting, given that it was directed by noir master Robert Siodmak. It also represents the only time Dracula, or any relation thereof, is seen outside of Europe. "Son of Dracula" contains one of the creepiest scenes in any Universal horror film, the one involving "Queen Zimba" (played by the delightfully ancient Adeline de Walt Reynolds), and the most downbeat ending. All in all, "Son of Dracula" is one of the most interesting Universal efforts from its second horror cycle, and the fact that it has endured such a bad rap over the decades is totally unfair.

I thought "Son of Dracula" was the pits when I was a kid. I simply found it slow and tedious and lacking in the kind of mesmeric atmosphere that makes the best vampire entertainment really tick. But, reviewing the film recently, I found myself enjoying it thoroughly. Go figure...

It's still no masterpiece, of course. Shoehorning Count Alucard/Dracula into a Louisiana swamp-and-plantation setting has always struck me as a weird and arbitrary move. (Though Dracula does get some interesting dialog about how he's attracted to America because it's a youthful and vigorous land.) And the human protagonists are too drippy for my tastes. The supposed hero is Frank Stanley, but his character is too thinly developed to be truly sympathetic. In fact, in an early scene he expresses a sort of jerky glee when the local voodoo woman drops dead of a heart attack, so I suppose you could say he's aggressively unsympathetic!

As usual, the vampires stand head and shoulders above the boring humans. Some people are critical of Chaney's performance, but I think he's pretty good. He's definitely a different sort of vampire from Lugosi - he's less ethereal, and more aggressively powerful. You could say he foreshadows Christopher Lee's forceful portrayal of Dracula in the 1950s-70s films from England's Hammer Studios. Louise Allbritton is even more effective in her role as the female vampire, and, in an interesting twist, she's allowed to have a set of motivations and ambitions that are totally different from Dracula's. In fact, in many ways she's the main character.

In the end, then, I think this movie stacks up pretty well to other films in the Universal series. It's not as eerie as "Dracula" or "Dracula's Daughter," probably because it's a more modern and technologically advanced film. (The primitiveness of the early entries in the series actually makes them scarier!) But it's certainly easier to watch than its predecessors, thanks to its more glossy look, full music score and occasional nifty special effects. You gotta love that mist stuff...

On a side note, I do think that Cheney is playing Dracula's son, and not the original Dracula himself. I'm surprised to see so much controversy about that point on this site. The film is called "Son of Dracula," after all, and J. Edward Bromberg identifies Alucard as a "descendant" of Dracula. Sure, Alucard admits to being a "Dracula" at one point, but not necessarily THE Dracula. As father and son, they would have the same surname - right? Oh, never mind, this is giving me a headache!

One more odd matter of continuity. Bromberg's character says at one point that Dracula was destroyed "in the 19th century." But, since the Universal films had a contemporary setting, wasn't he destroyed in the 20th century in this particular universe? Just thought I'd mention that.

Well, Universal brought us Dracula's Daughter first and then felt compelled to find his lost son seven years later. One can only thank the powers to be that we didn't get movie titles like Dracula's Niece or Godfather of Dracula. This film details the story of a rich American woman, played with gusto by Louise Allbritton, who sends for Count Alucard(Dracula backwards) to make a pact with. She fears death and wants to be given the Count's knack for eternal life. She marries this Count, yet wants to be rid of him after she receives her "gift." The Count is played by none other than horror legend Lon Chaney Jr, possibly creating the huskiest Dracula ever on screen. Chaney is decent in the role, although it is clear it was a role made for another actor...like a John Carradine, slender and articulate. Chaney is forceful in some of the scenes and does an adequate job considering the muddle of a script involved. Certainly not Universal's best, but certainly watchable and entertaining.