Dracula's Daughter

Plot synopsis:
NOTE: "Dracula's Daughter" picks up from where "Dracula" (1931) ends.Two constables find Professor Van Helsing [Edward van Sloan] in the crypt standing over the bodies of Dracula and Renfield. They take Van Helsing into custody because "this is a case for Scotland Yard." Dracula's body is stolen by his daughter, the Countess Marya Zaleska [Gloria Holden]. Looking for release from the Dracula curse, she burns his body.Meanwhile, psychologist Jeffrey Garth [Otto Kruger]is called in to defend Van Helsing. Garth meets the Countess at a party, and she confesses to him that she is looking for release from 'an obsession'. He visits with the Countess, much to the dismay of his girlfriend and assistant Janet Blake [Marquerite Churchill]. Unbeknown to Garth, the Countess and her assistant Sander [Irving Pichel] search at night for young women to pose as models but really so that the Countess can drink their blood. One night, Lili [Nan Gray] is found in a 'post-hypnotic trance' with marks on her neck. Garth is called in, and he calls in Van Helsing. The diagnosis is 'wampire'.The Countess comes to Garth's office. She has decided to return to Transylvania and wants Garth to accompany her. He hedges and, while he's busy with Lili, the Countess and Sander abduct Janet. Lili reveals enough to cue Garth to the Countess's intent, but she has left for Transylvania with the entranced Janet. Garth pursues them. The Countess offers him a deal: "I'll release (Janet) if you'll stay with me." Realizing that the Countess has abandoned him for Garth, Sander shoots an arrow through her heart. As he re-arms to shoot Garth, Van Helsing and Scotland Yard arrive, and they shoot Sander. Janet awakens from the trance. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: comedy, murder

Review:
Van Helsing seeks the aid of his old student, psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth, to prove his innocence.Meanwhile, in a truly unusual scene, the body of Count Dracula is stolen from a pair of bumbling policemen by Countess Marya Zaleska and her pale, sinister servant Sandor.
Most tellingly, he notes that her apartment does not have a single mirror...a sure sign of a vampire, according to Van Helsing.It all ends in Transylvania as the forces of good and evil collide once more.Gloria Holden is striking as "Dracula's Daughter".
Never do we hear van Sloan's van Helsing voice any understanding or sympathy for the vampires he stalks.There's some odd comic moments...the two nitwit bobbies at the beginning in particular stick out like a sore thumb...and director Lambert Hillyer's vision of Transylvania seems more like a clichéd Germany, but "Dracula's Daughter" dares to be different from its more famous predecessor and in so doing, emerges as a bit of a classic itself..
Perhaps to make up for Lugosi's absence, the script features a creepy vampire acolyte in the figure of Irving Pichel: fine actor though he is, I think the make-up department went overboard in trying to make him look menacing!Otto Kruger and Marguerite Churchill are two of the oddest, and yet most likable, leads in a Universal horror film: not only their age difference is immediately apparent, as is their obvious intelligence, but they share a love/hate relationship all through the picture which is both fresh and endearing.
Instead they just tried to be original and create a new and different kind of vampire movie.Only returning character is professor Von Helsing (why did they ever changed his name?) played by yet again Edward Van Sloan.
"Dracula's Daughter" (Universal, 1936), directed by Lambert Hillyer, based on Bram Stoker's story, "Dracula's Guest," is a long overdue sequel to the 1931 classic, "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi, the film that started the Universal horror cycle of the 1930s.
With Dracula being one of the most famous of vampire movies, it's sequel, which ended the first cycle of horror, captures all the moods and atmospheric elements of a fine horror film, is sadly very underrated and seldom revived these days possibly because of its lack of "star names" heading the cast.
Later, a mysterious woman named Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), Dracula's daughter, along with her evil looking assistant named Sandor (Irving Pichel), take the body of her vampire father and burns it to ashes during a Black Mass.
Meanwhile, the mysterious Countess Marya Zeleska (Gloria Holden), who is Dracula's daughter, compels the policeman that is in charge to take care of the bodies and takes Dracula's body with her to bury him with her assistant Sandor (Irving Pichel) before dawn, expecting to be released from the family's curse.
Now, Countess Zeleska believes that Jeffrey can heal her and release her from her blood thirsty and she wants to bring him to her castle to spend the eternal life with her in Transylvania."Dracula's Daughter" is a great vampire movie, with the dramatic story of a vampire woman that wishes to be free from the curse of her father, Dracula.
Like "Bride", this sequel would be focused on a feminine version of the previous monster; it's name, "Dracula's Daughter".The film starts right after the original ends, with Count Dracula killed by Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), however, to his misfortune, he is arrested for the murder of the Transylvanian nobleman and sent to prison as nobody believes he killed an ancient vampire.
To make things worse, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) arrives and her seductive charms will prove too strong for Garth to resist them.Unlike "Frankenstein", where there was still material in the source novel to build up a sequel; in "Dracula"'s case things get complicated, as the monster is effectively killed at the end.
And finally, Edward Van Sloan returns as the experienced Van Helsing, and while his role here is more as a spiritual guide to Kruger, he gives another fine performance.The film's main weakness is without a doubt its low-budget, that not only forced the choice of Hillyer as a director, but it also made it have less production values than other sequels.
It's difficult to understand why Universal Studios choose this film as an official sequel to the legendary Bela Lugosi's "Dracula", more than five years after, since "Dracula's Daughter" works better as a female vampire film rather than the follow up to such landmark movie.
Is clear to see some lesbian undertones in the story, even for those times, and it was a clever idea to start the film exactly after the Lugosi/Dracula's death, with the same actor (Edward Van Sloan) playing Van Helsing again.
this sequel, starring the beautiful Gloria Holden in her first leading role, doesn't quite measure up to the former but has its own charms it's likely to be the first lesbian or bisexual vampire film ever made; though censors from the Production Code Administration made certain that Countess Zaleska's sapphic inclinations are not overt, it's still fairly obvious whom she prefers.
However, around the same time that this is going on; corpses begin appearing around London, and jailed Van Helsing is convinced that vampires are roaming the streets of London again.Unfortunately, this follow up doesn't feature the bloodsucking demon of the first film, and as the title suggests; follows his daughter instead.
The plot moves quickly on with two strands, one involving a friend of Van Helsing.....Dr. Jeffrey Garth....in pursuit of defending his colleague and the other strand involving the daughter of Dracula....Marya Zaleska....in London trying to rid herself of her family curse finding it an impossible task.
Gloria Holden is achingly beautiful as an exotic countess, a sympathetic woman who wants to cure herself of Count Dracula's vampiric curse.
(Edward Van Sloan reprises his role as Van Helsing from the 1931 film.)The subplot about Kruger's contentious relationship with his secretary is tiresome, but the cast is littered with familiar character actors and the climax at Dracula's castle features some nice Gothic sets.This B-production isn't much, but it's a nice little spook flick and only 71 minutes long..
In this sequel to Bela Lugosi's "Dracula," the story takes place right where we left off, right down to police walking into Dracula's castle to find Van Helsing (still played by Edward Van Sloan) and the murdered Dracula corpse, and Renfield at the bottom of the long staircase.Countess Zeleska (Dracula's daughter) comes into play when she visits her father's corpse and steals it to go and burn it to release herself from the same vampire curse.
Dracula's daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), with the aid of her manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel), steals Dracula's body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns it, hoping to break her curse of vampirism.
She'll do anything to free herself of this curse, including kidnapping the baron's daughter (Marguerite Churchill) who is Dr. Garth's assistant, and thwarting the hopes of her sinister manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel).We never do find out if Von Helsing goes to prison for murdering Dracula.
But its follow-ups generally are worth a look; Son of Dracula despite Lon Chaney Jnr's miscast Dracula was much better than expected, being a good-looking film with a lot of atmosphere and at least two scenes among the best of any Universal Studios Gothic horror film but House of Dracula while watchable was disappointing apart from a couple of effective sequences, nice sets and a few good performances but did suffer mainly from having too many ideas and not enough time to explore them.Dracula's Daughter however is the best of them.
Apart from Kruger the acting is good, Marguerite Churchill is amusing and Edward Van Sloan once again brings class to Von Helsing but the most memorable turns are from Irving Pichel and especially Gloria Holden.
Pichel is effectively sinister especially towards the end while Holden is unforgettable in the title, subtly creepy but somewhat tragic.All in all, not as good as the 1931 film but of the Dracula sequels Universal made to me Dracula's Daughter's the best one.
Lambert Hillyer directed this unusual sequel to "Dracula", as Gloria Holden portrays Countess Zaleska, who arrives in London to destroy the body of her late father, performing a ritual to forever free his soul from this world.
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936), sequel to Universal Pictures original 1931 masterpiece with Bela Lugosi, is a triumph of atmosphere and style.
He reasons that the one person on Earth who may vouch for him is a former pupil of his, the respected psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), but even his good friend questions the doctor's sanity.Elsewhere, a beautiful seductress in black going by the name of Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) steals Dracula's corpse from the police station and attempts a crude exorcism with the help of her ghoulish assistant, Sandor (Irving Pichel).
As Van Helsing tries to convince the law of his innocence, a woman steals the Count's body and burns it in a funeral ceremony; she is Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), daughter of Dracula, and by cremating her father's corpse, she hopes to break the vampire curse that has taken hold of her.After this course of action fails, the Countess seeks the help of noted psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth, who might be able to free her of her ghastly urges; but when Garth refuses to co-operate any longer, Zaleska kidnaps the doctor's beautiful assistant and whisks her to Transylvania, agreeing to release the poor girl only if Garth becomes her partner in death.
In short, she gives the family a bad name!Director Lambert Hillyer should receive some kudos for giving his lead character lesbian undertones, leading the way for all those buxom, sapphic Euro-horror lovelies of the 60s and 70s, and he does manage one of two fairly effective scenes set amidst swirling fog; points are lost, however, for the unnecessary inclusion of light relief in the form of Claud Allister as Garth's chinless toff friend, and Billy Bevan, Halliwell Hobbes and E.E. Clive as comedy coppers, whose laugh-free buffoonery doesn't suit the film at all..
Turns out she is Dracula's vampire daughter and wants to be free of the "Dracula curse." When she meets Garth, she becomes intrigued by his ideas of overcoming addiction through force of will and he becomes intrigued by the mysterious Countess.Gloria Holden is excellent and brings a strong screen presence to the film.
Edward Van Sloan is enjoyable as always, though he seems to have little to do except provide a link between the original film and this sequel.Some obvious continuity issues aside (Von instead of Van Helsing, among others), it's a very good classic horror film.
In the meantime, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), Dracula's daughter, steals her father's body and burns it in the hope of it releasing herself from the curse of vampires.
Dracula's Daughter (1936) 3 of 5 Dir: Lambert Hillyer Stars: Gloria Holden, Otto Kruger, Edward Van SloanFallowing right after the events of 'Dracula' (1931), 'Dracula's Daughter' finds vampire slayer Professor Van Helsing (the returning Sloan) on the wrong side of the law for the murder of the Count and his henchman.
There is no better sequence to display that vampiric desire than the scenes with the streetwalker Lili (played by Nan Grey), brought to the Countess' studio to pose, only to end up her victim.In many ways, `Dracula's Daughter' is better than the original `Dracula'  it moves quicker, and its characters are livelier.
The psychiatrist (Otto Kruger) is played somewhat tongue-in-cheek, especially in his love-hate relationship with his assistant Janet (a very pretty Marguerite Churchill) and Edward Van Sloan returns as vampire hunter Professor Von Helsing.
"Dracula's Daughter" is a direct sequel to the 1931 film.The beginning picks up from where "Dracula" left off, with Van Helsing having destroyed the undead Vampire.Gloria Holden - totally obscure apart from this movie - is well cast in the title role.
I was pleased to discover that Edward Van Solan was cast again as Van Helsing - he gives a better performance this time around.Otto Kruger is a bit too gruff and cantankerous as the man who attempts to help his friend and old tutor, Van Helsing.The film sensibly sets the film in England as it helps with the overall continuity.James Whale was originally slated to direct "Dracula's Daughter" - a shame he didn't..
this is the official sequel to Tod Browning's memorable and atmospheric universal horror classic an follows the daughter of Dracula, Hungarian countess Marya Zaleska.
The atmosphere is captured beautifully with striking B&W photography of impressive sets, the players are uniformly excellent, and the script is a good one that should satisfy all lovers of horror films.Gloria Holden is sympathetic (but evil) as the woman who confesses to being Dracula's Daughter toward the end, but only after her appetite for victims has been satisfied is she willing to seek escape from the cursed "undead." Otto Kruger is the psychiatrist she wants to help her rid herself of the curse from the other side and Marguerite Churchill is his frisky daughter.
Von Helsing and Irving Pichel makes a creepy impression as Sandor.Perfect film for the Halloween season, it makes a good sequel to the original even without the presence of Bela Lugosi..
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)directed by: Lambert Hillyerstarring: Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill, and Edward Van Sloanplot: Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) arrives and cremates the body of Dracula.
Meanwhile, Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) is arrested for the "murder" of Dracula.thoughts: After the success of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), I guess Universal Studios wanted to make another sequel to a horror film with a female replacing the male villain.
Irving Pichel, who appeared in a good number of westerns, is great as the freaky Sandor, Countess Zaleska's manservant.There are a great many creepy scenes in DRACULA'S DAUGHTER; I've already mentioned Holden's hypnotic gaze.
She was the perfect choice to play Bela Lugosi's daughter...she even resembles the original Count!Otto Kruger is an older leading man for this type of film, and it's refreshing to see him as the object of Holden's desire (this is a good time to say that the long-praised "Lesbian Scene" has been overstated; Holden seduces more males than the one female in this movie, and it's obviously Otto Kruger whom she wants)and I enjoy his playful quibbles with Marguerite Churchill.Irving Pichel provides ghoulish scenery as the pale servant, and also worth noting is the delightful return of Edward Van Sloan (now called Von Helsing).DRACULA'S DAUGHTER is for viewers who like the more subtle approach to horror.
That's in an outraged Sandor feeling both rejected and abandoned by his lover the countess for Dr. Garth who in fact had no use for her anyway!P.S Even though the film didn't have Bela Lugosi, even in flashback, repeating his role of Count Dracula the haunting and eerily beautiful Gloria Holden more then made up for it.
A psychiatrist named Dr. Jeffery Garth (Otto Krueger) tries to help with him become an attorney to defend him in court, A mysterious woman named Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) finds out that her father Count Dracula is dead and wants to be cured of her vampiric cravings by not telling anyone that she is a vampire.Originally neglected upon it's release as not being as great as the original 1931 classic, it has grown to become more appreciated and a very good sequel.
The acting is quite good and the film has a dark atmosphere to it much like the original masterpiece and Ms. Holden is quite sexy as the vampire beauty that loves the blood of men and women, it deserves a second chance..
Dracula's Daughter (1936) *** (out of 4) Countess Zeleska (Gloria Holden) shows up at the police station where Dracula's dead body is laying in rest after he was killed by Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan).
Pretty soon more bodies are showing up with their blood drained and soon the female vampire has her eyes on a doctor Otto Kruger).Sequels are hardly ever good but that was never the case at Universal when it came to their monster movies.
Several things could've been improved:  "Dracula" was obviously a dummy in the coffin, the psychiatrist was a very "cold" person (no "bedside manner" and rather egotistical), and it would've been interesting to have shown the Scotland Yard Inspector actual PROOF that she was a vampire at the end of the film (having her body turn into a skeleton, or something).Even with these minor faults, it's a good atmospheric film; Holden is superb as the Count's daughter!
This was a funny and interesting tale about the daughter of the famous Count Dracula and his death at the hands of Professor Van Helsing.It stars Otto Kruger, an actor whose career spanned 50 years and over 100 roles, as a psychiatrist trying to discover whether Van Helsing was mad or a murderer, and who came under the spell of Dracula's daughter, played by Gloria Holden in only her second role.Marguerite Churchill provided most of the humor in this film as a Countess, who was Kruger's assistant.
Definitely someone to look for in the classics.Edward Van Sloan reprises his role as Professor Helsing, a part he played in the 1931 movie Dracula with Bela Lugosi.
While just about every fan in America anticipated a sequel to Dracula that featured Bela Lugosi, Universal Studios instead decided to give the role to Gloria Holden and have her play Dracula's daughter.
The subtle lesbian tone of the seduction scene, where Nan Grey's street waif succumbs to the Countess, is pretty remarkable for the time.The film is set immediately after Dracula, and Edward Van Sloan returns as VON Helsing (why not Van?), which is more than can be said for Dr. Seward, Jonathon Harker and Mina!All in all a worthy sequel to the Lugosi classic..
Released a full five years after the classic Universal horror film "Dracula," the sequel, "Dracula's Daughter," yet picks up a few scant seconds after the original left off.