Son of Dracula

Plot synopsis:
Kay Caldwell [Louise Allbritton] and Frank Stanley [Robert Paige] have always been in love, even since they were children. But when Kay returns from traveling in Hungary, she seems changed. First, she begins to express a morbid curiosity with the supernatural. Then, she brings back with her a gypsy fortune teller, Madame Zimba [Adeline DeWalt Reynolds]. Finally, she has invited Hungarian Count Alucard [Lon Chaney, Jr] to be a guest at Dark Oaks, the southern plantation where Kay lives with her father Colonel Caldwell [George Irving] and her sister Claire [Evelyn Ankers].On the night of Alucard's arrival, Kay throws a welcome party. But only Alucard's baggage arrives on the train; no Alucard. Madame Zimba warns Kay that Alucard is not who he says he is and that death looms over Dark Oaks. True to her word, Madame Zimba suddenly dies of a heart attack after seeing a bat. Later that evening, Colonel Caldwell also dies of a heart attack, and Alucard arrives at Dark Oaks.Days later, at the reading of the will, it is discovered that Kay inherits the plantation and Claire all the money. With no resources to care for the plantation, Kay should be worried, but she is not. In fact, she admits that this is the way she wants it. In addition, Kay does not intend anymore to marry Frank and appears to be seeing Alucard, but no one can find out where Alucard is staying or what happened to the two large boxes that arrived with his baggage. Claire and Dr. Harry Brewster [Frank Craven] wonder if Kay might be insane, and Brewster calls his Hungarian friend Professor Lazlo [J. Edward Bromberg] to inquire about the legitimacy of Count Alucard. Could he really be Count Dracula?One night Kay goes into the swamp where Alucard issues forth from a coffin buried under the water. Later that night, Kay and Alucard are married. Distraught, Frank shoots Alucard but kills Kay instead and escapes to Brewster's house. Brewster goes to Dark Oaks but finds Kay seated in bed and quite alive. Nevertheless, the next day Frank confesses to murder and, when the Sheriff goes out to Dark Oaks, they find Kay's lifeless body lying in a coffin. Frank is taken to jail, and Professor Lazlo arrives from Hungary to offer his help. As Lazlo educates Brewster about vampires, Alucard appears and confirms that he is indeed the son of Dracula. Lazlo frightens off Alucard with a crucifix, and Lazlo and Brewster set out to kill him and to cremate Kay.That night, Kay comes to Frank in his jail cell. She confesses her undying love for him, tells him that she did this for the immortality, and offers Frank the opportunity to share immortality with her, but he must first destroy Alucard. Frank escapes from jail and sets Alucard's coffin afire. The sun rises, and Alucard is destroyed. Frank then goes to Dark Oaks where he kisses Kay's body goodbye and sets her on fire, too. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: gothic, murder

Review:
Its star, Lon Chaney Jr., famous for his previous role in the horror cycle as Lawrence Talbot in THE WOLF MAN (Universal, 1941), which would be followed by some more sequels throughout the 1940s, might have seemed an unlikely choice in playing the blood- sucking vampire, but on the contrary, Junior Chaney brings new life into the old vampire, sporting the usual black cape and an added touch of a mustache.
Overlooking the hypnotic glassy eye stare created at best by Bela Lugosi in Dracula (Universal, 1931), he very well has proved himself as the fine horror film actor, for the time being anyway.Unlike the previous Dracula outings (Dracula and Dracula'S DAUGHTER), which had taken place either in Transylvania or England, SON OF Dracula is set on American soil and stays there.
It begins somewhere in the South where Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) and the family physician friend, Doctor Harry Brewster (Frank Craven) are at a train station awaiting for the arrival of an honored guest to Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), Count Alucard, whom she had met previously while visiting in Budapest, and is to be driven over to the Caldwell estate, but all they find are his crates and boxes (some of which consists of his native soil).
After the arrival of Professor Lazio, more dark secrets are eventually revealed.Reportedly dismissed as just another horror film upon its release, SON OF Dracula does have its share of bonuses that would have made the 1931 Dracula a visual experience had such advanced technology in special effects been available, along with some real clever touches, including the visiting count using an alias by spelling his name backwards; a very creepy musical score, compliments of Hans J.
The story begins with the arrival of Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.) to America, as the mysterious Carpathian noble has been invited to the country by Katherine 'Kay' Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), a young rich woman with a morbid interest for the supernatural.
Brewster (Frank Craven), as they suspect that there's something wrong with the strange foreigner.Director of many B-Movies before this job, Robert Siodmak would become Universal's most important exponent of the noir style and "Son of Dracula" definitely forecasts his brilliant future in the genre.
The film shows his great talent to combine haunting and atmospheric visuals with a great screenplay (by his brother, Curt Siodmak), and it moves away from the series' roots in German Expressionism to what would be called Film Noir, creating what seems to be the missing link between Universal's horror films and their subsequent Noir movies.While Robert Siodmak's talent is almost unquestionable, the films owes a lot of its success to Curt Siodmak's cleverly written script.
With clever plot twists and a good dose of suspense, Siodmak's plot also feels like horror themed hard-boiled fiction.Many has been written about Siodmak's choice of Lon Chaney Jr. to play the Count's descendant, but while there's no doubt that he was not the best choice for the role, he wasn't really too bad in it.
Robert Paige as the film's "hero" (for lack of a better word) is very effective and his usual co-star Louise Allbritton makes a great femme fatal.
Edward Bromberg are brilliant as the vampire hunters and it could be said that despite the miscast of Chaney the whole cast makes a great job."Son of Dracula" is a top-notch film considering it was conceived as a B-movie.
One of the better sequels of the Universal Studios' films, it's main flaw may be that those expecting a typical Universal horror may be disappointed by its dark Noir theme and its pessimistic tone.Often forgotten among the many other films in the series (not unusual considering that the first two Frankenstein sequels were masterpieces), "Son of Dracula" is a worthy sequel to Browning's classic and definitely superior to the previous "Dracula's Daughter".
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.
Evelyn Ankers is as always, very easy on the eyes, and though she is given little to do here, she does it fetchingly.Which brings us the the protagonist, Kay Caldwell, (Louise Allbritton) the melancholic daughter of an aristocratic line, and the proprietress of its creepy plantation mansion--"Dark Oaks." This is a juicy assignment, and Miss Allbritton runs with it to the full.From the moment she arrives on the veranda, a striking brunette clad in a billowing, peignoir like gown, she delineates her literally spell-bound character by offering the audience a spell bindingly detached characterization.Who can resist her otherworldly gaze, as, staring outside of the frame, she smoothly articulates her certainty in telepathy, eerily chiding Miss Ankers for scoffing at ESP, and later her asperity at local gossip: "What can they know of these occult matters?-blind fools!" Visually, she is unforgettable, aided by Vera West's outré costumes, (even Miss Allbritton's day wear is mysterious--as witness her scalloped black waistband peplum ensemble with black under-dress, in the will reading sequence) and a black wig, which connects her with another black wigged anti-heroine from that same year--Jean Brooks in Lewton's "The Seventh Victim." To abet these characterizations, and to conceal what seems to be a somewhat paltry budgetary outlay by Universal, director Sidiomak fills the screen with interesting visuals--Miss Allbritton's unforgettable trek through the nocturnal bayou to visit the gypsy, the gypsy's ensuing death in a bat attack, Chaney gliding across the misty swamp, and unsettling, shadowy close-ups of an unhinged Mr. Paige speaking through the bars of a prison.Photographer Robinson is with him all the way, and composes and lights his shots to consistently interesting effect, (note the superb introduction to "Dark Oaks," with the camera panning through a creaking gate at night, whilst the whole frame is overlaid with the violent twist of brambles and vines) by foregrounding his shots with interesting objects on right or left--thereby lending depth and texture to his visual tableaux.The ending with Mr. Paige finding his former love, Miss Allbritton, literally buried within the childhood detritus of her own attic, to which, after placing his ring on her finger, he sets afire, provides a fitting finale.
This was the first movie to use Alucard as an anagram for Dracula.This was considered a lousy horror film for many years--most people complained that Chaney looked WAY too healthy to play an undead vampire and they found the plot slow.
When Lon Chaney, Jr., looking like he's just eaten about two dozen Big Macs, introduces himself at the Louisiana estate of Dark Oaks, as Count Alucard (spell it backwards), the fun begins.
"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.
He's ok as Dracula, but much better as the Wolf Man. Anyhow, He travels under the alias "Count Alucard" (Dracula spelled backwards) to America to marry a woman who is secretly just trying to gain eternal life so that she can spread it to her real love interest who she was supposed to marry in the first place.This is a pretty original story.
Lon Chaney, Jr. makes his debut as Count Alucard as Universal Pictures sought to revive the Dracula series.
As incidents similar to what ravaged his native land start to happen both Craven and Bromberg suspect the undead are alive and well.Although no one could ever be a vampire like Bela Lugosi, Chaney does a pretty good job in the role completing a monster trifecta of playing Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, and the Wolfman for Universal.
Directed by Robert Siodmak, "Son of Dracula" has good story, atmosphere in the Louisiana swamps and special effects.
Count Alucard (Lon Chaney, Jr.) finds his way from Budapest to the swamps of the Deep South after meeting Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), of the moneyed Caldwell clan that runs a plantation called Dark Oaks.
Robert Siodmak directed this second sequel to "Dracula", casting Lon Chaney Jr. as Count Alucard(backwards!) who arrives at the southern plantation Dark Oaks at the invitation of Katharine Caldwell(played by Louise Albritten) who is engaged to Frank Stanley(played by Robert Paige).
The name of the movie is "SON of Dracula," and Chaney is playing an off-shoot of the Count, not the actual King of Vampires Himself.
Having already appeared as The Wolf Man, The Mummy AND Frankenstein's Monster, Lon Chaney dons a black cape to play yet another classic Universal horror character, Count Dracula (NOT his son, as the title would have us believe).
Travelling under the oh-so-clever pseudonym of Count Alucard, Dracula arrives in America, the guest of occult obsessed beauty Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), who intends to marry the vampire and gain immortality.For much of its running time, Son of Dracula is quite a shambolic affair, the sloppy plot seemingly going nowhere slowly.
Lon Chaney Jr. is miscast as Alucard/Dracula, very much so, but he gives it a good go and really when viewing the film these days it barely matters.
The effects team deal in some nice mist moments to keep the atmosphere suitably eerie, and with the gorgeous Allbritton's portrayal of Kay Caldwell; Universal Monster Movies slips into film noir territory.
Any fan of the Dracula movies will certainly find this one entertaining and watchable with a good cast headed by LON CHANEY, JR., looking more distinguished than usual as Count Alucard with his eye on making LOUISE ALBRITTON his plantation wife so he can inherit Dark Oaks.ROBERT PAIGE, reliable Universal contract player, and EVELYN ANKERS, as Albritton's sensible sister, along with FRANK CRAVEN as a concerned doctor, head the supporting cast.
Son of Dracula (1943) Lon Chaney Jr. plays Count Alucard, who travels to a Louisiana plantation to unite with a love interest.
Katherine is his latest and Alucard takes her as his bride, while having to contend with her former love interest who is intent on defeating the count while saving his childhood sweetheart.This has got to be one of the worst casting decisions ever, especially in the part of a horror icon like Dracula.
I assume Universal felt Chaney could effectively portray the legendary Count Dracula here, or at the very least could capitalize on his success as the Wolf Man; capitalize on his part as Frankenstein, or continue to reap rewards by trading on the name of his more talented father, horror Icon Lon Chaney.
Amidst atmosphere Southern plantation swamp (Universal backlot)locations, Count Alucard (Lon Chaney) visits a "morbid" woman (Louise Allbritton).
Like the son of another famous Universal monster, this third entry in the series (not counting the 1931 Spanish Dracula) is a solid film all round: marvelous atmosphere, gripping narrative, superb handling.
The film's musty Southern setting ought not to work but it does somehow, for how can one deny the effectiveness of Dracula Jr.'s coffin rising from the depth of a swamp; indeed, substituting his castle in Transylvania with an equally gloomy and mysterious Southern mansion was an inspired touch.Much has been said of Chaney's inappropriateness for the part: well, I liked him overall and he was quite effective in his various confrontations with Paige (particularly during the climax, one of the best in the Universal canon) or vampire hunters J.
The rest of the cast is ably filled as well: Paige and Albritton are unusually animated although, admittedly, their roles aren't those of the typical Universal leads; Bromberg makes a fine Van Helsing surrogate and Craven is equally good as the practical town doctor suddenly coming face to face with the supernatural; Evelyn Ankers and Samuel S.
This time Lon Chaney portrays the legendary bloodsucker Dracula (technically just a descendant, not really his son) and, although I deeply respect him as a horror legend, he clearly felt more comfortable wearing his Wolf Man make-up rather than the vampire cloak.
Local doctor Brewster begins to suspect something is not quite right about Count Alucard and questions Katherine's intentions.Well, this is the first Universal Dracula film that I've watched and it might be a superfluous sequel to the original.
Son of Dracula (1943) its probably one of my favorite sequels from the Universal horror films, its dark, chilling, eerie and fun.Its quite an spectacle, it has all the important elements for a horror film of the time, and does it in its own way and in such a way that makes these tiresome clichés really effective, much of that goes to the direction by Robert Siodmak, a respected figure in film.The Dracula scenes are fantastically executed, they could have been cheesy (and in a way some of these scenes are cheesy, but for the time they did a great job) but they managed to make them work.
Son of Dracula looks far better than most film noir!The other thing that makes this film pure magic is the performance of Louise Allbritton as Kay. Every time I watch this film, I always wish the film had been ALL about her.
Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr) finds his way from Budapest to the swamps of the Deep South; his four nemeses are a medical doctor (Frank Craven), a university professor (J.
I also thought the casting of Lon Chaney Jr was a bit strange -- he does a great job, but he was already known as the Wolfman...Overall, I think a stronger film than the predecessor (Dracula's Daughter), but not without its flaws..
It is more likely southern Mississippi or the Mobile, Alabama area because the sheriff's office is clearly marked "County Sheriff." If it were in Louisiana, the office would be marked "Parish Sheriff." Also, another reviewer states Edward Van Sloan reprises Van Helsing in this movie; I think they were referring to Dracula's Daughter.I am not exactly when the rule about vampires having to be invited into your home became canon(a quick consult of David Skal's V_Is_For_Vampire doesn't reveal), but Alucard barges into the Dark Oaks "big house" against the servant's wishes.
Hell--before I even watched it--I read many a book or video review of how awful it was.Ok, maybe I can kind of see the point; so Lon Chaney isn't Hungarian--but, then again--he wasn't exactly Welsh when he made the "Wolf Man." Basically, suspension of disbelief has been the mantra of many a movie & this is a damn good one.Chaney definitely acquits himself in the role of Alucard/Dracula (nevermind the parallels to Chris Lee) and the rest of the cast is first rate.
If you like Lon Chaney Jr., the classic Universal Monsters, great black and white movies, and horror films then I strongly recommend that you check out this film today!.
Son of Dracula (1943) *** (out of 4) Some locals become concerned when the Hungarian Count Alucard (Lon Chaney, Jr.) relocates to the Southern swamps and soon a dead body shows up with bite marks.
Edward Bromberg) who believes that Alucard is actually Count Dracula who has set his eyes on a local woman (Louise Allbritton).SON OF Dracula has fanboys constantly fighting about the true identity of the lead vampire.
Still there is plenty to enjoy for the fans of the genre, such as the typical horror atmosphere and some phony but fun looking early special effects.Nevertheless, you are probably better of watching the other 'Son of' movie; "Son of Frankenstein" or the other official sequel to "Dracula"; "Dracula's Daughter".6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Lon Chaney Jr. may not be the best Dracula ever to appear on the screen, but he is at least doing okay in the role of the "son."  This film has a surprising amount of appropriate gloomy atmosphere, given the improbable story line and locale.
And yes Chaney does a fine job as Count Alucard, really, Dracula.I found the first part of the film good...
This film is actually much better than you might think - much better than some of the others in this Universal series, like House of Dracula, for example, which features a whole roster of horror characters, but no plot whatsoever.
Son of Dracula, on the other hand, does have a fairly reasonable plot, special effects which are excellent for the period, and a very good performance from Lon Chaney Jr. as the Count.
After creating a new monster icon in THE WOLF MAN, Uni finally set its' sights on their original monster success, the one and only Dracula, who gets his own reboot in SON OF Dracula.They cast Lon Chaney Jr in the title role (the only man to have played all 4 of the classic Universal monsters) and brought him to the US (much as they did with the Mummy series), in a story that sees Dracula begin an unholy matrimony with a morbid young woman, who will ultimately prove to be his undoing.As a lover of Universal monsters, I enjoy all of them and their sequels for the Saturday night fun they provide and the memories of how I responded to these movies as a kid.
Son of Dracula is an underrated Universal gem which is sadly overlooked because of people being prejudice to Chaney playing Count Alucard(Spell it backwards you're in for a surprise).
The word of course is 'vampire', and Kay Caldwell's (Louise Allbritton) admonition to Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) not to mention it sets up an ominous betrayal against her mentor and husband, Count Dracula (Lon Chaney Jr.).
But his son, Lon Chaney, Jr. wound up playing Dracula in this sequel and I think he would've made his dad very proud.Count Alucard, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the U.S. invited by Katherine Caldwell, one of the daughters of New Orleans plantation owner Colonel Caldwell.
A plantation owner's daughter Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) who's deeply into the supernatural awaits the arrival of a Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.) whom she met in Budapest who has much influence over her much to the char gin of her fiancé Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) who is madly in love with her.
Son of Dracula (1943): Lon Chaney Jr, Louise Allbritton,Robert Paige, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Craven, J.