The Return of the Vampire

This beautifully shot B&W 1940s vampire film is loaded with the kind of old fashioned, spooky atmosphere that fans of classic Gothic horror will love. The fogbound sets are deliciously creepy, the graveyard & crypt sets nothing short of fabulous! The spooky music adds a lot as well. Bela Lugosi, about 60 here and well into the undeserved waning days of his career, is damn good. Tall, imposing, and as strong a screen prescence as ever, he raises questions as to why the often heartless and stupid film industry did not make better use of his talents. He shows here that he could certainly still carry a film and command the screen. But the script needed work. Matt Willis as the talking werewolf is laughable. When he's seen entering the graveyard carrying what looks like a package of Chinese laundry, I howled! I just couldn't see him running shopping errands in his werewolf garb! And no explanation is offered as to why the vampire's slave turns into a werewolf, a state he retains regardless of whether or not the moon is full. He's a wolf even in broad daylight. Still, this is a fun, somewhat creepy film, and Lugosi is always worthy of your time.

Pop quiz: How many times did Bela Lugosi portray Dracula on film? If you answered "twice," in the 1931 "Dracula" and in 1948's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," give yourself a silver crucifix. If you answered "three times," well, you're kind of right, too. In "The Return of the Vampire," Lugosi plays a hickeymeister identical to old Dracky, but because this is a Columbia picture and not a Universal, he is here saddled with the name Armand Tesla. By any other name, and all that. Less creaky than the original "Dracula" but at the same time far less amusing than "A&C Meet Franky," this film is a modest little outing that nevertheless succeeds in the entertainment department. The picture's setting--1941 London during the Blitz--and the bloodsucker's assistant--another sympathetic werewolf--add some novel touches to the usual vampire fare, and Frieda Inescort makes for a very pretty and no-nonsense adversary for the nocturnal neck nosher. Indeed, she is probably the single best aspect of the picture. Bela is fine, of course, but his screen time is limited to a few memorable scenes. With an uncluttered screenplay and a running time of only 69 minutes, the picture does move along quite briskly; you won't be bored, that's for sure. I'm still unclear as to just why Frieda's Lady Jane character doesn't recognize Tesla, after having helped "slay" him 23 years before the main action in the film, but I suppose that this is a minor matter. My suggestion: Rent this one out along with the 1959 film "The Alligator People" and have a Frieda Inescort horror double feature one rainy night. You could do a lot worse.

It's interesting that even though Bela Lugosi enjoys an eternal reputation of playing the most imitated vampire of all (the legendary Count Dracula), the actor really didn't star as a true bloodsucker in that many motion pictures. But he's nothing less than the real deal here, in an enjoyably misty and moody horror offering which was produced by Columbia Pictures, yet could be easily mistaken for any one of the 1940s classics that Universal Studios was churning out at this time.

Though Bela looks and sounds much like Dracula with his trademark flowing cape and piercing eyes, this time he plays a different character called Armand Tesla, a vampire who rises from his grave in ravaged WW II times to seek revenge many years after being destroyed with a metal spike. Frieda Inescort is a welcome change of pace as a female "Van Helsing" type of protector, and the Lon Chaney-ish Matt Willis is cast as a pitiable servant named Andreas, who becomes corrupted by Tesla and is transformed into a werewolf that TALKS! Adding this hirsute Renfield character in fangs and fur was possibly an effort by Columbia to compete with Universal's current monster rally, FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN. Nina Foch is the pretty young damsel in distress whom the vampire plots to possess. Fans of Bela Lugosi and the classic old Universal monster movies will not want to skip this one. *** out of ****

This has got to be one of Bela's most underrated performances, a bright spot among the dreariness of Monogram potboilers. Columbia allows him to both reference Dracula while at the same time expanding the definition of vampirism by having him play Dr. Armand Tessla, the "depraved Roumanian scientist" who is so obsessed with evil that he actually becomes a bloodsucker. (there is also a nifty sketch of Lugosi drawn in a book about his character) Lugosi is alternately sinister, avuncular, lovestruck, arrogant, and commanding. His voice, usually cause for laughter at its ripe indelibility, is used extremely effectively as a whisper when he is calling Nina Foch into the graveyard. ("Just a little bit further--further--further!") This is actually quite eerie. His exchanges with Matt Willis are atmospheric and believable, in that someone undead would naturally have supernatural acolytes surrounding him. (so what if they sprout facial hair; that just gives the acolyte more "texture") I have to disagree with viewers who think Willis is ridiculous as a talking wolf; I happen to think he's the best thing in the film. Willis' natural speaking voice is kind of strange, half Southern, half something..and when he's the werewolf with those teeth his line readings are really creepy. My favorite is when he's saying "as if they could tell what happened!" and then he chuckles. He is really effective. The whole production is sort of tongue in cheek and the Britishness at its height. (Frieda Inescort: "The Gerries have rather taken things out of your hands") The WWII element adds more interest, and Lugosi has a droll line that he is going out of his hotel but, "whether I can be reached is another matter." A jarring note is Foch's boyfriend, who has "Lady Jane" as his mother and yet speaks with a German or Dutch accent. All in all, a must for Lugosi fans and all other horror film fans interested in how Columbia does this kind of movie as opposed to Universal.

Return of the Vampire is, despite its title not a sequel to Mark of the Vampire.

In this vampire movie, a vampire is staked during World War 1 but then in the Second World War, two gravediggers bury him again after an air raid. They don't realise this corpse is a vampire after pulling the stake out his chest. He regenerates and gets a job in a lab. He has the help of a werewolf that can talk and killings once again start...

One of the best things about this movie is that talking werewolf. I don't think I've seen another movie with one. Unusual.

The cast is lead by Bela Logosi as the Dracula-like vampire. I've never heard of anybody else in this.

Return of the Vampire is worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of Bela.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.