The Return of Dracula
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''The Return of Dracula'' is a 1958 American
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Paul Landres Paul Landres (1912–2001) was an American film and television film editor, editor and director. He directed episodes of ''The Lone Ranger (TV series), The Lone Ranger'', ''Maverick (TV series), Maverick'' and ''Flipper (1964 TV series), Flipp ...
, and starring
Francis Lederer Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 Prague – May 25, 2000) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born American film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was Franz (Czech František) Le ...
,
Norma Eberhardt Norma Eberhardt (July 8, 1929 – September 16, 2011) was an American actress who began her career as a fashion model. Her film credits included '' Live Fast, Die Young'' and ''The Return of Dracula'', both released in 1958. Biography Early lif ...
, and
Ray Stricklyn Lewis Raymond Stricklyn (October 8, 1928 – May 14, 2002) was an American film actor, stage actor, television actor, soap opera star and publicist. His acting career took off with B-movie Westerns that placed his boyish good looks playing opp ...
. It follows
Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
, who murders an artist aboard a train in
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
, and proceeds to impersonate the man, traveling to meet with his extended family in a small California town. The film is primarily in black and white, aside from one brief color sequence. It is one of a handful of horror films that use the melody of " Dies Irae" as its opening theme tune. Others include '' The Shining'', ''
The Car ''The Car'' is a 1977 American horror film directed by Elliot Silverstein and written by Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack and Lane Slate. The film stars James Brolin, Kathleen Lloyd, John Marley and Ronny Cox, along with real-life sisters Kim ...
'' and ''
The Mephisto Waltz ''The Mephisto Waltz'' is a 1971 American horror film about an occult-murder mystery. It was directed by Paul Wendkos and starred Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Bradford Dillman and Curd Jürgens. The name of the film is taken fr ...
''. It was released in Los Angeles as a
double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...
with ''
The Flame Barrier ''The Flame Barrier'' is a 1958 American jungle adventure/ science fiction film produced by Arthur Gardner and Jules V. Levy, directed by Paul Landres, and written by Pat Fielder and George Worthing Yates. The film stars Arthur Franz, Kathleen ...
'' on May 21, 1958.


Plot

In
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
, Investigator John Meierman and several assistants attempt to trap
Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...
inside his tomb in a cemetery, but upon opening his casket, they find it empty. Nearby, Dracula, who has fled, boards a train. He murders Bellac Gordal, a
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
artist en route to the United States to visit his extended family in the small community of Carleton,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Dracula proceeds to impersonate Bellac, assuming his identity. After arriving in California, Dracula, posing as Bellac, is met by Bellac's widowed cousin, Cora, and her children, the young Mickey, and teenaged Rachel. Rachel is especially eager to meet her cousin, as she has a shared passion for art, specifically clothing design. The family quickly finds Bellac's behavior eccentric, as he maintains a social detachment from them. The day after Bellac's arrival, Mickey's beloved cat goes missing and is subsequently found mutilated in an abandoned mineshaft. Unbeknownst to the others, Bellac has established a secret resting place in the abandoned mine, replete with a coffin where he goes to sleep. Rachel is disappointed by his absence one day, as she hoped to show him the town, but she eventually meets him at dusk— he explains he spent the day painting. Rachel departs to her night shift at the local parish house, where she tends to elderly and infirm residents, including a blind woman, Jennie. After Rachel finishes her shift, Bellac awakens Jennie, who offers to give her the ability of sight before biting her neck. In the morning, Rachel is beckoned to the parish house and is driven there by her boyfriend, Tim. Rachel finds Jennie feverish and hysterical upon arriving, claiming a man entered her room through the window. When she attempts to get out of bed, Jennie collapses and dies. After Jennie's funeral, Cora and Rachel are approached by Mack Bryant, a detective appointed by Meierman. He asks about cousin Bellac and mentions that an unidentified man was thrown from a train to his death in Germany. Bellac appears at the home, and Bryant examines his immigration records and passport before meeting with Meierman outside to divulge his findings. Bellac visits Jennie's tomb in the mausoleum and awakens her from the dead. Later, Bryant hears Jennie's voice beckoning him in the woods near the train station. When he goes to investigate, he is fatally mauled by a white wolf (portrayed by a white German Shepherd Dog). That night, Rachel invites Bellac to attend a
Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
costume party A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock chara ...
at the parish house the following day, but Bellac declines. Rachel confronts Bellac about his isolation from the family, but he remains evasive. Rachel later falls asleep while reading and has what seems to be a nightmare in which Bellac asks her to remove Jennie's crucifix pendant from her neck and offers her eternal life. In the morning, Rachel finds the crucifix lying on the floor, suspecting it was not a dream. Meierman visits the parish house and confronts Reverend Whitfield with his findings. Meanwhile, before departing for the Halloween party, Rachel finds a portrait of herself in Bellac's room depicting her inside a coffin. When Bellac appears downstairs, Rachel grows terrified when she realizes his reflection does not appear in a mirror. Tim arrives moments later, and Rachel leaves with him to the party in a
trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
-like state. Whitfield and Meierman confront Rachel at the party, asking her to help them entrap Bellac. After finding Jennie's crypt empty, Meierman, Whitfield, and other police stake out the cemetery, where they soon witness Jennie returning to her crypt. Simultaneously, Rachel leaves the party and flees to the abandoned mineshaft to visit Bellac. As Meierman drives a stake through Jennie's heart, killing her, Bellac collapses before Rachel. Tim arrives at the mineshaft, having followed Rachel there, and finds her hysterical. Tim attempts to escort Rachel out of the mine, but Bellac blocks their exit. Bellac momentarily hypnotizes Tim, but Tim approaches him with Jennie's crucifix, forcing Bellac to fall into a shaft below. He is impaled through the back and chest on a large wooden post and disintegrates into a clothed skeleton.


Cast


Production

Filming of ''The Return of Dracula'' took place in October 1957.


Release

''The Return of Dracula'' premiered theatrically in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on May 21, 1958 as a
double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...
with ''
The Flame Barrier ''The Flame Barrier'' is a 1958 American jungle adventure/ science fiction film produced by Arthur Gardner and Jules V. Levy, directed by Paul Landres, and written by Pat Fielder and George Worthing Yates. The film stars Arthur Franz, Kathleen ...
''. To promote the film,
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
advertised that 12
insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
had refused to assume any liability risk for those admitted to see the feature. When shown on U.S. television, it was retitled ''Curse of Dracula''. In the UK, it was released theatrically as ''The Fantastic Disappearing Man''. Later in 1958, the
Hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
film ''
Horror of Dracula ''Dracula'' is a 1958 British gothic horror film directed by Terence Fisher and written by Jimmy Sangster based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of the same name. The first in the series of Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee as Count Dra ...
'' appeared in theaters in both the UK and the U.S. and ''The Return of Dracula'' was eclipsed as a result, due to
Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
's new stardom as the Count.


Critical response

Geoffrey M. Warren of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' dismissed the film, writing that it "could have been put off indefinitely and no one would have ever known."


Home video

''The Return of Dracula'' was released on DVD by
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
in 2007 as a '' Midnite Movies Double Feature'' with Landres' previous film, '' The Vampire'' (1957). It was re-released on DVD as an exclusive release from
BestBuy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
.


Legacy

On October 27, 1971, Lederer reprised his role of Count Dracula on an episode of ''
Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone ...
'' titled "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In this story, Dracula tells his grandson how he fought the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


See also

*
List of American films of 1958 A list of American films released in 1958. The musical romantic comedy film '' Gigi'' won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. A-B C-F G-K L-R S-Z See also * 1958 in the United States References External links 1958 filmsat the Inter ...


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Return Of Dracula, The 1958 films 1958 horror films American black-and-white films American supernatural horror films American vampire films Dracula films American films about Halloween Films scored by Gerald Fried Films directed by Paul Landres Films set in California United Artists films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films