House of Dracula (1945)

House of Dracula was an American horror film released by
Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel
to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of
combining Universal's three most popular monsters:
Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man.











>>Cast:

-Lon Chaney Jr....Lawrence Stewart Talbot
The Wolf Man (as Lon Chaney)
-John Carradine...Count Dracula
-Martha O'Driscoll...Miliza Morrelle
-Lionel Atwill...Police Inspector Holtz
-Onslow Stevens...Dr. Franz Edlemann
-Jane Adams...Nina
-Ludwig Stössel...Siegfried (as Ludwig Stossel)
-Glenn Strange...The Frankenstein Monster
-Skelton Knaggs...Steinmuhl


John Carradine (Count Dracula).

>>Plot:

The main plot is that Dracula and Larry Talbot are both
seeking a cure for their respective monster afflictions from
Dr. Edelmann (Onslow Stevens).





Dracula actually appears to be searching for a cure for his
vampirism. Somehow Dracula survived his destruction by
sunlight exposure from the previous film House of
Frankenstein and initially seeks to be cured of his vampirism
at the hands of the doctor as he seems apparently tired of his
monster nature. But after re-meeting the doctor's beautiful
assistant whom he knew in his alias of "Baron Latos", Dracula's
monsterous nature reasserts itself and infects Edelmann
through a blood transfusion of his vampire blood, which turns
Edelmann into a Jekyll and Hyde like creature. Though
Edelmann succeeds in destroying Dracula, Edelmann realizes
that he is slowly degrading into a murderous monster himself.



Lawrence Talbot soon arrives at Edelmann's castle, seeking a
cure for the curse that turns him into a werewolf (As with
Dracula, his return from destruction dealt at the end of the
previous entry is not explained, but his recuperative ability
via moonlight has already been established in the earlier
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man). The Frankenstein Monster
plays a minor role in this film, only being found during
Talbot's attempt at suicide by drowning in the ocean late in
the film. The Monster does not actually go into action until
almost the climactic finish, which results in Talbot finally
being cured of his affliction and falling in love with
Edelmann's attractive assistant, Miliza Morrelle (Martha
O'Driscoll) and killing the Hyde like version of Edelmann.
The Frankenstein Monster is burned to death in yet another
fire destruction of the castle he is in.



Also appearing in the film is Jane Adams, whose character,
Nina, is a hunchback and was thus billed as one of the
monsters in the film. In fact, her character is portrayed
sympathetically and the use of an attractive actress to play
an otherwise misshapen individual is notable for the time.





Although Glenn Strange appears as the Monster in most of the
film, footage of Chaney as the Monster from The Ghost of
Frankenstein and Boris Karloff from Bride of Frankenstein was
recycled. In the Ted Newsom documentary "100 Years of Horror",
Carradine suggested his portrayal of Dracula was meant to reflect
the description of the character in the 1897 Bram Stoker novel.
Universal only agreed upon Carradine having a thin moustache.

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