DRACULA'S DAUGHTER

[RedKing]

This is an often overlooked film-overshadowed by both the original DRACULA and it’s more popular other offspring of the Count movie-SON OF DRACULA as well as it’s own history-originally DRACULA’S DAUGHTER was to be a huge production directed by James Whale and starring both Karloff and Lugosi that would have topped even BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (supposedly)! However things fell through as the bottom began to fall from the horror market and the Laemmles were loosing their ownership of Universal. However, as it is, DRACULA’S DAUGHTER is a compelling film. Gloria Holden as the title character, Countess Marya Zaleska, gives a wonderfully dark and angst ridden performance as the haunted vampiric daughter of Dracula, hoping that his death will release her from her own curse. Like BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, this movie picks up at the conclusion of the original film and finds Van Helsing(Edward Van Sloan again) in hot water for “murdering” Count Dracula. He calls in an old pupil of his ,Dr Garth,to help him out and Garth, now a prominent psychologist, also runs into Countess Zaleska, Dracula’s daughter, who wants his help to rid her of her vampiric urges as if they were a psychosis. This treatment obviously doesn’t work so the tortured Countess embraces her darkness and decides that Garth will be her lover for eternity. As usual for Universal, production values are top notch, especially of note are the gowns worn by Gloria Holden and Margeritte Churchill(as Dr Garth’s secretary). The chemistry between Otto Kruger as Garth and the beautiful Margeritte Churchill as his socialite secretary is outstanding and in fact, they look and act like couples from the screwball comedies of the day that happened to have fallen afoul of Dracula’s daughter. Universal regular EE Clive is also quite funny in his small role of Sgt Wilkes of the Whitby police at the beginning of the film. Scared silly of the dead bodies of Dracula and Renfield he meets his end at the hands, or teeth, of the Countess.