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London: Back in 1918, Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) and professor
Saunders (Gilbert Emery) have staked vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi)
and freed his werewolf servant Andreas (Matt Willis) from his curse. Now
the second World War is on, and London is under almost constant attack by
German bomberplanes. Lady Jane is still cruzading against vampirism, with
Andreas being her most loyal companion after Saunders' death, but exactly
this is what gets her into trouble with the law, as Scotland Yard's Sir
Frederick (Miles Mander) wants to reexamine the death of Armand Tesla,
which could be considered cold-blooded murder. However, another German
attack puts an end to Sir Frederick's plans, as the cemetary on which
Tesla is buried is hit, and two gravediggers, thinking to do the right
thing, remove the stake from Tesla's body when they find his coffin open -
with the expected consequences. Tesla soon makes Andreas his slave
again, and he gets access to Lady Jane's estate by posing as a German
scientist she herself has helped to free from Germany, and he soon starts
to suck Nicki (Nina Foch), professor Saunders' daughter and the fiancee of
Lady Jane's son (Roland Varno) dry, as well as killing other people in the
neighbourhood. Sir Frederick of Scotland Yard is baffled by all of this,
but Lady Jane is quick to put two and two together and figure who's the
villain of the piece. But knowing Tesla's a vampire is one thing, doing
something against it is something completely different. Ultimately,
Lady Jane sees no other way to track down the vampire than to use Nicki as
bait - which turns out to be a less than perfect plan when she loses Nicki
out of her sight. But not all is well when she arrives at Tesla's hideout
either, because he soon gets into a fight with Andreas and tries to kill
him - but only manages to lose his hypnotic power over him. When Tesla's
just about to suck Nicki dry though, a German bomber bombs the place he's
hiding out at, and when Tesla comes to, he finds himself not only be
threatened by daylight, but also by Andreas, who has picked up a stake and
uses it on Tesla just before he breathes his last. Only Nicki is saved. Not
exactly a great film, as it wades way too deeply in vampire clichés -
though the World War II backdrop is a pleasent change -, features a
silly-looking werewolf and a few too many plotholes, Return of the
Vampire is nevertheless a likeable movie, thanks to a subtle,
atmospheric directorial effort, a script that by and large stays away from
silliness, a competent ensemble cast, and of course, a great, subtle
vampire performance by Bela Lugosi. As mentioned before, maybe not a great
film, but as far as vintage horrors go, pretty good nevertheless.
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