My Review of House Of Dracula (1945)

 

Written by Edward T. Lowe

Directed by Erle C. Kenton

Milizia: "Your world is coming closer to me. But I'm afraid."

Count Dracula: "It is a world without fear. It is like the music. Beautiful. Beautiful."

Following the events of the previous movie, it was time to shift the focus back on to the Count himself - Dracula (John Carradine). He's alive and in need of assistance and Dr Franz Edelmann (Onslow Stevens), whether the latter liked it or not.

This movie seemed to have a theme about seeking out cures. Franz was doing research of curing people of their afflictions and most of the characters here wanted to be cured. Oddly enough, Dracula was one of them. I say oddly because if anyone, he'd seemed the type to love who he was.

With Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) showing up to Edelmann's place looking to cure his lycanthropy, it felt business as usual. It's been a consistent thing with Larry in every appearance he's made but this time around, he actually got his wish this time around. He even got a hero moment as well.

As for Dracula, things didn't go as well for him. He was fixated on Edelmann's assistant, Milizia (Martha O'Driscoll) and paid the consequences of messing with blood transfusion. Then again, so did Edelmann as he took on a more monstrous look and killed poor Nina (Jane Adams).

Yes, despite Dracula being the title villain of the movie, he's disappointingly removed from the main action once again. It doesn't help that Edelmann's role more or less was the same as Niemann's in the previous movie or that Edelmann's role also felt like a substitute for another monster they could've used as well.

I'll admit that Larry Talbot did have a much better role compared to the previous movie. He's still mopey and self pitying but at least he got what he wanted and managed to defeat Frankenstein's monster by the end of this movie. Frankenstein's monster was also underused again.

- Some of these monster would appear in later movies with Abbott & Costello.

- Elements of this movie stemmed from an unmade Wolf Man vs. Dracula film.

- Standout music: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 Moonlight by Beethoven.

- Chronology: An unspecified time since the events of House Of Frankenstein.

House Of Dracula probably should've been the end point for this universe but then we wouldn't have gotten things had it ended here. Two of the three monsters are somewhat wasted, two characters are clear substitutes for two other monsters and one got cured.

Rating: 6 out of 10