Son of Dracula (1943)
Producer Carl Laemmle Jr changed history of horror cinema when he hired director Tod Browning to make the first official adaptation to Bram Stoker's classic novel "Dracula". This was the beginning of Universal Studios' tradition of Gothic horror that reigned triumphant through the 30s and early 40s. Robert Siodmak's "Son of Dracula", an alternative sequel (it doesn't make any reference to the earlier "Dracula's Daughter") to Browning's classic, is probably the last classic in the long line of films Universal produced about the monsters they gave life in the 30s.
"Son of Dracula" takes place decades after the first film, when the Dracula's story is now considered a mere myth. 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. Soon Kay finds herself in love with the strange Count, something that worries her boyfriend Frank (Robert Paige) and family's friend Prof. Brewster (Frank Craven), as they suspect that there's something wrong with the strange foreigner. (IMDB José Luis Rivera Mendoza)
To my mind(a) Lon Chaney is far too well fed looking to make a passable Dracula (b)lean and hungry Europeans such as Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee fit the bill better (c) Americans with the possible exception of Glenn Close in "Dangerous Liasions" just DON'T do aristocracy well! On the plus side I did like the menage a trois between Dracula, his new birde Kay Caldwell and her former swain Frank, esp when after sneaking into the latter's jail cell in the form of a bat and drinking a portion of his blood, she explains that she STILL feels love for him!
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