Tonight we finished watching THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943), a movie covering the return of Armand Tesla, a vampire of Romanian extraction who is temporarily destroyed through the traditional stake through the heart during World War I. In World War II, however, incompetent Nazi bombers accidentally hit the cemetery in which he’s buried, and when the caretakers find Armand’s body with a stake through the heart, they quite helpfully withdraw the stake and rebury the body.
Chaos then slowly ensues.
The cinematography is actually quite clear and well done. Bela Lugosi, in all his Eastern European beauty, makes for a wonderfully evil vampire, tall and singular; a surprise was the appearance of the Renfield-analog as, of all things, an apparent werewolf, although the moon has no credited (nor creditable) role in this particular movie. His evil is apparent when his hirsuteness is out of control, so we breath easily when he’s well-shaven.
Sadly, the female roles are less distinctive and forceful, despite the heroic attempts of Lady Jane Aimsley (Frieda Inescort) to transition from passive female to emphatic harridan. The men’s roles overwhelm all, and so the movie seems off-balance.
And, like many movies, the characters seem plot-driven, rather than the plot seeming character-driven. This makes for a movie that slowly becomes more and more predictable, until, as your fingers rub the belly of the kitty in your lap, you want to cry out, “No, don’t say ‘Yes, master!’ Say, ‘I’ve been waiting for you, I think you’d go well with some olive oil and mushrooms!’ Anything but what the plot calls for!” But the characters were not that self-conscious, even with the championship level mustache of one of the cemetery caretakers.
I was pleased to note the ending included a standard pointer to one of the better definitions of good and evil, with, in this case, emphasis on the latter: evil tends to eat itself, and thus never makes it to dessert. Nevermind the Nazi role in the ending, but that of our uber-henchman, the big R. His realization of his relegation to unnamed late minion is emblematic of evil and how it should be treated.
But, in the end, it’s a blunt enough movie that it should only be watched when fighting off a head cold.
