[HorrorScience] Dracula's Mansion (1945)

Reading time: 8 minutes

Qualification

House of Dracula

Year

1945

Duration

67 minutes

Director

Erle C. Kenton

Distribution

Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Glenn Strange, Marta O'Driscoll, Lionel Atwill, Onslow Stevens, Jane Adams, Ludwig Stossel, Skelton Knaggs

Script

Edward T. Lowe, Dwight V. Babcock, George Bricker

house of Dracula It is the last film of the classic period of Frankenstein's monster, the werewolf and Dracula. It is true that years later they appeared again in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but that movie was a comedy, so I think it is most correct to consider that this one (known in Spanish as Dracula's mansion) is the last of them.

Dracula did not have as many films as Frankenstein's monster and in the crossovers he did not have as much prominence as the Wolfman, however we must not forget that it was the vampire who paved the way for the rest of the monsters after his successful Dracula (1931) which also had spanish version the same year and was followed by Dracula's daughter (1936), Dracula's son (1943) and finally the fleeting appearance of the vampire in Frankenstein's mansion (1944) which is the film that precedes this one.

The film begins with Dracula appearing at the home and medical office of a certain Dr. Edelmann, to ask him to cure him of his vampirism. The vampire's visits do not go unnoticed by Milizia and Nina, the doctor's assistants, Milizia being an old acquaintance of Dracula and the one responsible for awakening his instincts again.

[HorrorScience] Dracula's Mansion (1945) — Dracula letting himself be carried away by his instincts

While the doctor is treating Dracula's case, another patient shows up at his office, this time Larry Talbot, who assures that needs to be cured by the doctor before the night comes. Talbot appears anxious and impatient and, unable to be treated by the doctor, decides to go to the police station to be locked up. It will be there that the learned Edelmann will visit him to see first-hand how Talbot becomes a werewolf.

After also trying to help Talbot, the doctor explains that there is no miracle cure that will free him from his curse overnight but that he has a long-term project related to a plant that can help cure him, something that does not satisfy Larry, who decides to commit suicide by jumping off a nearby cliff shortly before nightfall. To try to save Larry, the doctor goes down to the caves near the coast hoping to find him.

After surviving the werewolf attack that ambushes him in one of the caves, the doctor find the body of Frankenstein's monster (and Dr. Niemann's skeleton) buried in the mud. He also discovers that those same caves are an ideal place to plant his miraculous flower and be able to cure his assistant, the hunchback Nina, and also Larry in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, the doctor's plans are cut short when he discovers that His blood is infected by Dracula's, which causes him to start acting errantly and causes an acceleration of his plans, to try to cure his patients before it is too late. Will he make it?

Dracula's mansion follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, although not necessarily in a good way, since it again makes the same serious mistake of using monsters as sporadic characters and focusing the story on new characters.

Once again, the werewolf is saved from this marginalization since Larry Talbot is once again used as a hero and villain at the same time, ensuring a higher screen share than the rest of the monsters, although this time I have to say that the character is quite irritating compared to what was seen in the previous films. Frankenstein's monster appears sporadically and only does something at the end of the film, but overall he doesn't add much. Dracula only appears in the first part and despite having some good scenes, It doesn't offer anything we haven't seen in previous films.. For example, in this film Dracula wants to get rid of his vampirism (something that personally seems a bit stupid and inappropriate for the character) but ends up giving in to his instincts, this being exactly the same thing that happened to Countess Zaleska in Dracula's daughter. The situation is repeated in one of the best scenes of Dracula, when Milizia plays the piano in front of him and changes the music to an increasingly sinister one as she falls under the influence of the vampire, something tremendously similar to a scene from Dracula's daughter, where Countess Zaleska tried to think of happy things to avoid falling into temptation but ended up playing a sinister melody as she succumbed to her instincts.

The two new monsters are Dr. Edelmann and the hunchback Nina. As you can see, they have repeated the same stereotypes that were seen in Frankenstein's mansion (a mad scientist and his hunchbacked assistant), so I can't help but make the comparison between the two in this movie and the two in the previous one (Dr. Niemann and Daniel).

The doctor starts off as a pretty bland character. and their scientific explanations are so particular that they are laughable even by the standards of these films. Fortunately, in the final part he becomes much more interesting by becoming the main villain (the scene with the carriage scaring the driver is very funny) and only then does he get to throw some shade at Dr. Niemann.

Por su parte la chica jorobada ni siquiera puede considerarse un monstruo, está deforme pero la tratan bien, no guarda rencor a nadie y no hace nada malvado, quedando pues muy lejos de Daniel, el jorobado de buen corazón pero propenso a los actos malvados debido a su inseguridad y rabia por ser deforme.

En términos generales, esta película me resulta bastante más aburrida que la anterior y también creo que los personajes nuevos no son lo suficientemente buenos como para salvarla, así que la considero bastante por detrás de las últimas películas de la universal. Resulta llamativo ni siquiera se dignen a explicar cómo vuelve Drácula a la vida, tras haber sido destruido en la película anterior, pese a que esta claro que la continúa (como demuestra la aparición del cadáver de Niemann).

Es curioso, porque si en lugar de convertir al doctor Edelmann en el villano, hubiesen dejado ese papel a Drácula, habríamos visto por fin a los tres monstruos principales pelear entre sí y habría hecho el final de la película mucho más placentero e interesante. De hecho, en la película Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, es Drácula quien controla al monstruo de Frankenstein, de manera que parece que la idea no era tan descabellada y podía haber sido usada en esta película para despedir a los monstruos clásicos compartiendo al menos, una única escena.

Curiosities about the film:

La película incluye escenas recicladas de otras, de hecho incluso el final de la película es el mismo que el de Ghost of Frankenstein.
La secuencia en la cual el monstruo de Frankenstein se encontraba enterrado en la arena fue más larga de lo previsto y el actor que interpretaba al personaje (Glenn Strange) pasó un frío insoportable y decía no sentir las piernas. Para ayudarle, Lon Chaney le dio de beber whisky, lo cual ayudó a solucionar el problema parcialmente pues Glenn se emborrachó tras esa escena.
Lionel Atwill estaba enfermo mientras se rodaba esta película y falleció a causa de un cáncer pocos meses después de su estreno.