House Of Dracula

House Of Dracula

In 1945 Universal Pictures brought us another classic Monster Rally film, again promising all new thrills and chills with Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mad Doctor, and The Hunchback in House of Dracula.  This would be the last of the serious Universal Monster rally films, though the monsters would come together again for one final film in 1948 when they meet the comedic duo Abbott and Costello.   This would also be the last film that Lon Chaney Jr would do under contract with Universal as they ended his contract soon after this film, he would appear again in Universal Pictures, but no longer as a contracted actor.   This would also be the last time that Lionel Atwill would appear in a Universal Monster film, as he would die only five months after the release of The House Of Dracula as a result to his battle with cancer.  This would also be Glen Strange's second appearance as Frankenstein's Monster, as well as John Carradine's second appearance as Dracula, though it would be a role that Carradine would go on to play several more times in his career.  Another point of interest with this film is that for the role of the hunchback, rather than casting a male actor who would be made up to be hideous or evil, they cast the beautiful Jane Adams, who plays the role as a sympathetic character, and she is not monstrous in anyway whatsoever and is one of the truly good characters in the film, and this was pretty impressive for the time period that the film was made. 

House of Dracula features a horror film star studded cast including Lon Chaney Jr as Laurence "Larry" Talbot/The Wolfman, John Carradine as Count Dracula/Baron Latos, Jane "Poni" Adams as Nina (The Hunchback), Onslow Stevens as Dr Franz Edelmann, Martha O'Driscoll as Milizia Morelle, Lionel Atwill as Police Inspector Holtz, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster, Skelton Knaggs as Steinmuhl, and Ludwig Stossel as Ziegfried.  The casting for the film was well done, and the film comes across as a more serious monster film than it's predecessor, and also with a story that works much better, and links all of its characters together in a sensible way.   This is really as much of a tragedy as it is a horror film really, as we again see Larry Talbot seeking to cure himself of his curse, which is also the same for Nina, who is searching for a cure to her misshapen body.   The good Dr Edelmann is trying to help them.   Though Count Dracula also seeks out Dr Edelmann's assistance, but we all know that unlike the other monsters there is no pity for him, he is a true monster, and instead of letting Edelmann help him, he lusts after his assistant Milizia, and seeks to turn her into his bride, he also tricks Dr Edelman by reversing the blood transfusion turning Edelmann into a monster, but more of a Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde type mad scientist than a vampire.  Overall the cast was great in this film and they all played their parts very well. 

House of Dracula was directed by Erle C Kenton, and written by Edward T Lowe.   In many ways House of Dracula is superior to its predecessor The House of Frankenstein.   The House of Frankenstein came off being more comedic, and lacking any sense of real horror, House of Dracula however is more of a return to real horror, with a much more serious and well done story with the good-turned evil Dr Edelmann, and Dracula the monster who pulls the strings (even if he is departed of early in the film).   This film has as much drama as it does horror, and the viewer finds them feeling sadness and pity for both Talbot and the beautiful hunchback Nina, we want to see them cured, we want to see them be able to live happy and normal lives, I think we root for them the way that we root for anyone who feels cursed by the body that they are in, we want them to become "normal" as they wish to be.   Sadly though we don't feel that same pity for the Frankenstein monster, which this point in the Universal Monsters cycle, he is little more than this animated piece of meat that knows only purpose and that is destroy, which is sad, and unfortunate, because like the Talbot, and even like Nina, he is also cursed, and he is also a creature to be pitied.   I always felt bad for the Frankenstein Monster, and I feel like in these films his tragic story was just ignored, as he becomes little more than the tool to be used to cause destruction.  This of course is not the fault of those playing him, but in the writers, who for some unknown reason can't seem to feel that that aspect of the monster would work well in these films as a plot point.  

I would be lying if I were to say that I didn't enjoy all of the Universal Monster films, even the weakest links in the chain were still films that I absolutely love.  I would honestly say that House of Dracula is the best of the original monster rally series of films that Universal was making in the early-mid 1940s, though it was the follow up in 1948 with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein would take the place as my favourite of all of the monster rally films, and wouldn't be until Monster Squad in the 1980s that a film would come along and place the monsters together in a way that would come close to the 1948 classic.    House of Dracula though, is a great film and I absolutely love it, it has some decent writing, and a fair treatment of the classic monsters.   I highly recommend checking out this classic Universal Monster film, it might not necessarily be a must-see film, but it is definitely a great classic that I would not suggest passing up.   All of these films can be found in the Wolfman Legacy Collection from Universal.  I highly recommend collecting all of the Universal Monster Legacy Collections, they are some of my favourite classic horror films.   There was something just a little more magical about a horror film from this era, the black and white film, the beautiful music, it all seemed more magical, and more terrifying.