Rent Son of Dracula (1943)

Spoilers follow ... - Son of Dracula review by NP

Once you have been introduced to the non-descript but bombastic strains of Universal’s familiar opening music, and a hand wiping away cobwebs on the credits to reveal the film’s title, you might be lead to believe this isn’t going to be a measured, skilfully balanced exercise in horror. By this time, the name Lon Chaney (no longer ‘Jr’) topping the bill pretty much guarantees a monster stomp-around to give the kids a scare and amuse the adults. Veteran Evelyn Ankers also stars (she and Chaney often shared a fractious relationship professionally, but she starred in many films with him). However, it is a black wigged Louis Allbritton who plays the female lead, Katherine Caldwell, the flowing robed maiden with a faraway look in her eye who has the dubious privilege of marrying the curiously named Alucard. But hang on – Alucard backwards is … oh, of course.

It could be argued that the chunky, out-doorsy Chaney is miscast in many of his horror roles. He is, I think, no more suited to playing a seductive vampire lord than he is to playing a cadaverous mummy or a sympathetic Frankenstein monster. And yet, with that in mind, he makes a particularly good job of the role here. Restrained for the most part, quietly spoken and disinclined to overplay the titular character, it comes as little surprise that, rather than the son, he is playing Dracula himself!

The story, by Universal veteran Curt Siodmak, is very good – creepy, and tinged with a macabre sense of romance and lost love. The loser is Frank Stanley, the hero, who is not afforded any kind of ultimately conclusive ending. Robert Paige plays him exceptionally well, making his decline a convincing emotional journey. The other Siodmak, Robert, co-directs this effectively too, making the most of the supernatural elements. The first meeting of Alucard with his bride, features the vampire emerging as mist from a floating coffin, and then appearing to hover above the water. Although the effect is attempted very economically, it is a great moment. Later on, Stanley shoots at Alucard; Katherine shelters behind him, and the bullet passes harmlessly through the Count and into his wife, apparently killing her. Later, the image of the bat biting its victim is captured in silhouette. All terrific stuff.

The story follows the machinations of the original film – Dracula has a face-off with his knowledgeable nemesis, in this case Professor Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg), and is overcome by the power of goodness; later, a child is found with mysterious bite marks. And yet events are handled so engagingly that there’s never a sense of restatement.

This is a refreshingly sinister and engaging film, sometimes unfairly lumped in with the Universal ‘quickies’ produced around this time. It is very intelligently and respectfully written, and to my mind, Chaney has never been better.