The Return of the Vampire

Year:

1944

Duration:

69 min | Argentina:70 min

Genres:

Drama | Horror

IMDB rate:

6.2

Director:

Lew Landers

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1944-01-01

Filming Locations: Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Cast

Actor

Character

Nina Foch

The Return of the Vampire

Bela Lugosi

Armand Tesla

Frieda Inescort

Lady Jane Ainsley

Miles Mander

Sir Frederick Fleet

Roland Varno

John Ainsley

Matt Willis

Andreas Obry

William Austin

Det. Gannett

Jeanne Bates

Miss Norcutt (uncredited)

Billy Bevan

Horace - Civil Defense Worker (uncredited)

Sydney Chatton

Peters - Desk Clerk (uncredited)

Sherlee Collier

Nicki as a child (uncredited)

Frank Dawson

Old Man (uncredited)

Harold De Becker

Horace's Friend - Civil Defense worker #2 (uncredited)

Leslie Denison

Det. Lynch (uncredited)

Donald Dewar

John as a Child (uncredited)

Gilbert Emery

Dr. Walter Saunders (uncredited)

Jean Fenwick

Girl on Street (uncredited)

Olaf Hytten

Ben - Lady Jane's Butler (uncredited)

Nelson Leigh

Sir Frederick's Office Assistant (uncredited)

Stanley Logan

Col. Mosley (uncredited)

Audrey Manners

Nurse (uncredited)

George McKay

Cemetery Caretaker (uncredited)

Marianne Mosner

Nurse (uncredited)

Ottola Nesmith

Elsa Walter - Governess (uncredited)

Clara Reid

Old Woman (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

This appears to be the first horror film ever made in which both a vampire and a werewolf are characters, anticipating Universal's House of Frankenstein (1944) (released 11 months later) and House of Dracula (1945), as well as the the recent "Underworld" and "Twilight" movies.

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The Columbia Gower studios were rather cramped so the production moved to Fine Arts Studio for the cemetery sequence.

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The action of the prologue takes place beginning 15 October 1918, while the balance of the film takes place in late summer, early autumn of 1940 (according the the Regent Hall concert program shown).

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Goofs

In the establishing shot of Tesla's book (which shows Tesla's picture on one page and the text on the other) the text is in a fairly small font and the lines spread wide across the page. In the second close-up insert of the text itself, the font is considerably larger and the lines considerably narrower.

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When the page of Tesla's book on Vampirism is shown at the beginning of the film, the text printed on the page consists of five brief paragraphs which are then repeated to fill out the page.

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When Nina Foch is introduced to Lugosi, she is the granddaughter of Dr Saunders (Uncredited Gilbert Emery) and Lugosi comments on having met her grandfather. The next time they meet - Lugosi summons from sleep, she asks why he summoned her - he says 'you read your FATHER's manuscript'. In the prior scene he acknowledged that her grandfather was Dr Saunders but in the next scene refers to his notes as written by her father.

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Quotes

Andreas Obry: You're not my master. You're evil no longer. You must be detroyed.

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Narrator: [Opening lines before main title] The imagination at times sees the fantastic and the grotesque. that the imagination of man can soar into the stratosphere of fantasy is attested by the... [main title] Narrator: The Return of the Vampire. Is this interesting? Interesting? Yes No | Share this Share this: Facebook | Twitter | Permalink Hide options Andreas Obry: [to Tesla] Master, it's night again... beautiful, dark, silent night with the fog creeping in. Time for you to awaken, Master. Time for you to go out.

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Armand Tesla: [to Lady Ainsley] You're a very brilliant woman, but a foolish one to pit your strength against mine!

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Faq

Q

What is 'The Return of the Vampire' about?

A

Twenty-three years earlier, in 1918, Nicki Saunders (Nina Foch) was bitten by vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) when she was a young girl. When a World War II air raid over London releases him from the grave where Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) and Professor Walter Saunders (Gilbert Emery), Nicki's grandfather, staked and buried him, Tesla takes over the identity of Hugo Bruckner, a famous German scientist who recently escaped from a Nazi concentration camp, and presents himself as a new assistant at Lady Jane's sanitarium, where Nicki is currently making plans to marry Lady Jane's son John (Roland Varno). However, Tesla's plan is not to do scientific research but to avenge his 'death' at the hands of the Ainsley and Saunders families.

Q

How does the movie end?

A

When Tesla summons Nicki telephathically, Lady Ainsley and Scotland Yard's chief commissioner Sir Frederick Fleet (Miles Mander) follow her into the cemetery, arguing all the while about the existence of vampires. An air raid interrupts their pursuit, although Fleet manages to shoot Wolfman Andreas Obry (Matt Willis) in the shoulder. When Andreas begs Tesla to save his life, Tesla refuses. Andreas remembers Lady Ainsley's words about goodness being stronger than evil. He grabs a crucifix and holds it between Tesla and Nicki. At that moment, a bomb hits. Andreas carries Tesla's body out of the crypt and into the morning sun. He drives a stake through Tesla's heart, then collapses next to him. When Lady Ainsley and Sir Frederick catch up to her, Nicki says that it was Andreas who destroyed the vampire. After looking at Tesla's badly decomposed body, Lady Ainsley asks Fleet whether he believes in vampire now. He pooh-poohs her, then turns to two plainclothes policemen and asks them You two fellows don't believe in vampires, do you? To his surprise, they both reply that they do. Sir Fredrick then turns to the viewer and asks And do you people?

Q

A Note Regarding Spoilers

A

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

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