USA, 1943
69m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American horror film directed by Lew Landers.
Plot Summary
During World War I, an English family troubled by the vampire Armand Tesla, think that their problems are solved when they finally manage to defeat him. But later, during World War II, Tesla's grave is disturbed by German bombs and the vampire is revived. He ensnares his former familiar, a werewolf, and starts planning his revenge.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Lew Landers
Copyright MCMXLIII by Columbia Pictures Corporation
Columbia Pictures Corporation presents
Produced by: Sam White
Screen Play by: Griffin Jay
Based Upon an Idea by: Kurt Neumann
Additional Dialogue by: Randall Faye
Directors of Photography: John Stumar, L. William O'Connell
Film Editor: Paul Borofsky
Musical Score: Mario C. Tedesco
Musical Director: M.W. Stoloff [real name: Morris Stoloff]
Special Effects by: Aaron Nibley
Art Direction: Lionel Banks
Associate [Art Director]: Victor Greene
Set Decorations: Louis Diage
Cast
Bela Lugosi (Armand Tesla)
Frieda Inescort (Lady Jane Ainsley)
Nina Foch (Niki Saunders)
Miles Mander (Sir Frederick Fleet)
Roland Varno (John Ainsley)
Matt Willis (wolf man/Andreas Obry)
Gilbert Emery (Dr Walter Saunders)
Leslie Denison (Detective Lynch)
William C.P. Austin (Detective Gannett)
Sherlee Collier (Nicky as a child)
Donald Dewar (John as a child)
Billy Bevan (Horace)
Harold De Becker (2nd civil defense worker)
Jeanne Bates (Miss Norcutt)
Tom Chatterton (Ben the butler)
Sydney Chatton (Peters the desk clerk)
Ottola Nesmith (Elsa the governess)
George McKay [cemetery caretaker] *
Links
Extracts included in
Vincent Price's Dracula (1982)
Production Notes
Censorship
In the UK, the final shot of Tesla's face melting in the sunlight was cut by the British Board of Film Censor's.
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.24 p.55
Books
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (2nd edition) by Phil Hardy p.86 – credits, review
- Censored Screams: The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties by Tom Johnson p.160 – note
- Cinematic Vampires by John L. Flynn pp.54-56
- Classic Movie Monsters by Donald F. Glut pp.56-57 – article
- Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1982 by Michael R. Pitts pp.196-198
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.15
- Fear Itself: Horror on Screen and in Reality During the Depression and World War II by Melvin E. Matthews Jr pp.167-171
- Feature Films, 1940-1949: A United States Filmography by Alan G. Fetrow p.401
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.328
- Horrorshows: The A-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theatre by Gene Wright p.193-194 – credits, review
- The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide by Stephen Jones pp.27-28 – credits, review
- Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare, Charlie Ellbé and Kristopher Woofter (eds.) pp.xi-xvi, 143n11, 323
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.400; 401 – credits; still
- Unsung Horrors by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton (eds) pp.440-442 – illustrated review (by Mathew E. Banks)
- The Vampire in Science Fiction Film and Literature by Paul Meehan pp.103, 139-141, 144
