House of Dracula *** (1945, Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Onslow Stevens, Glenn Strange, Lionel Atwill, Martha O’Driscoll, Jane Adams) – Classic Movie Review 2,770

The first true meeting of Count Dracula (John Carradine), Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) is here in Universal Pictures’ 1945 American horror film sequel House of Dracula.

‘The Super-Shock Sensation Of All Time… All Together… All Terrific… Bringing All NEW Thrills.’

Universal Pictures’ 1945 American horror film House of Dracula finds Count Dracula (John Carradine) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) visiting Dr Franz Edelmann (Onslow Stevens) for cures their vampirism and lycanthropy, but Edelmann becomes obsessed with reviving a catatonic Frankenstein’s monster.

It’s a monster mash! The Dracula scenes are completely separate from the Frankenstein’s Monster and Wolf Man scenes in House of Frankenstein (1944), so the first true meeting of all three monsters is here in director Erle C Kenton’s welcome 1945 sequel House of Dracula. It is also Universal’s last serious Frankenstein film.

This time, Lon Chaney Jr is the main star as the Wolf Man, aka Lawrence Talbot, and Onslow Stevens plays Dr Franz Edelmann, who tries to cure both him of his lycanthropy and Count Dracula (John Carradine) of his vampirism.

It starts when Dracula, calling himself ‘Baron Latos’, arrives at Dr Edelmann’s office asking him cure his vampirism. But this is only a trick to get near Edelmann’s beautiful assistant Milizia Morelle (Martha O’Driscoll) and turn her into a vampire.

Next up, Talbot arrives at the office seeking a cure for his lycanthropy. But Edelmann fails and Talbot tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. Edelmann searches for Talbot and finds he survived the fall but has turned into the Wolf Man, who attacks him but suddenly returns to human form.

In a cave, they find the catatonic Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange), still clutching the skeleton of Dr Niemann. Edelmann takes the Monster back to his lab, and, his efforts to cure the monsters having sent him crazy, finally revives the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange).

Lionel Atwill plays the Police Inspector again as he did in House of Frankenstein, this time Inspector Holtz, while Jane Adams plays Edelmann’s hunchbacked assistant Nina. As Nina is a hunchback, she was billed as one of the monsters in the film, but her character is portrayed sympathetically and the use of an attractive actress to play a misshapen person is notable for the time. Jane ‘Poni’ Adams died on May 21 2014, aged 95.

Jane ‘Poni’ Adams died on May 21 2014, aged 95.

This cheaply made Universal Studios chiller is a heady brew, and it is fast moving, sprightly and dynamically handled and energetically performed. All in all, it is undeniably good vintage monster fun, thanks to the imaginative use of its horror themes, the sterling cast and the iconic presence of classic monsters together at last.

Also in the cast are Skelton Knaggs as Steinmuhl, Ludwig Stossel as Siegfried, Jane Nigh, Fred Cordova, Dick Dickinson, Joseph E Bernard, Beatrice Gray, Gregory Marshall, Harry Lamont and Casey Harrison.

Alas there is no Boris Karloff this time, no doubt to save money as he had cost $20,000 in House of Frankenstein, though he does appear in a dream sequence. And sadly there is again no Bela Lugosi either, Carradine having previously stepped in for him in House of Frankenstein (though the film had been conceived with Lugosi reprising his role of Count Dracula). Footage of Chaney Jr as the Monster from The Ghost of Frankenstein and Boris Karloff from Bride of Frankenstein is economically recycled.

The film was developed with the title Wolf Man vs Dracula (with Lugosi) but eventually went into production on September 17, 1945 as House of Dracula with a screenplay by Edward T Lowe, who took elements from the original script while adding in Frankenstein’s monster to the plot. Many cast and crew returned from House of Frankenstein, including John Carradine as Count Dracula, Glenn Strange as the monster, and Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man.

The film finished shooting on October 24 1945 and was released on 7 December 1945.

It is Lionel Atwill’s fifth appearance in a Universal Frankenstein film.

Universal Pictures advertised ‘All New!’ but that just wasn’t true. The film reuses large sections of music from previous Universal films, recycled Universal footage, and sets and props from other Universal horror films. 

The cast

The cast are Lon Chaney Jr as Lawrence Stewart Talbot / The Wolf Man, John Carradine as Count Dracula, Martha O’Driscoll as Milizia Morelle, Lionel Atwill as Inspector Holtz, Onslow Stevens as Dr Franz Edelmann, Jane Adams as Nina, Ludwig Stössel as Ziegfried, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein’s Monster, Skelton Knaggs as Steinmuhl, Ludwig Stossel as Siegfried, Jane Nigh, Fred Cordova, Dick Dickinson, Joseph E Bernard, Beatrice Gray, Gregory Marshall, Harry Lamont and Casey Harrison.

House of Dracula [The Wolf Man’s Cure] is directed by Erle C Kenton, runs 68 minutes, is made and released by Universal Pictures, is written by Edward T Lowe Jr, based on a story by George Bricker and Dwight V Babcock, is shot in black and white by George Robinson, is produced by Joseph Gershenson and Paul Malvern, is scored by William Lava and Edgar Fairchild (music director), and is designed by John B Goodman and Martin Obzina.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,770

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