The Return of the Vampire

Infobox Film | name = The Return of the Vampire


caption =
director = Lew Landers
producer = Sam White
writer = Randall Faye
Griffin Jay
starring = Béla Lugosi
Frieda Inescort
Nina Foch
Miles Mander
Roland Varno
music =
cinematography = L.W. O'Connell
editing = Paul Borofsky
distributor = Columbia Pictures Corporation
released = 1944 (UK)
runtime = 69 min.
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:41117
imdb_id = 0037219

"The Return of the Vampire" is a 1944 film, released by Columbia Pictures starring Béla Lugosi, Nina Foch, Frieda Inescort, and Miles Mander.

Plot summary

Armand Tesla, a former Romanian scientist who became a vampire because of his obsession with the occult, moves to London. He has a werewolf servant named Andréas (Matt Willis), and preys on one family until he is staked in 1918. When his grave is disturbed by Nazi bombs during World War II, gravediggers who have to rebury the overturned graves decide not to bury Armand with the stake, pulling it out. He then claws out of the ground. He seeks out Andréas, who now, after being turned back by Armand, has the power to change form at will, and sets out to take revenge on the family that had staked him. In the end, Andréas is shot trying to give Nikki (the doctor's daughter) back to Armand. The vampire tells the lycanthrope, "I no longer had need of you." After changing back, Andréas, who finds a cross buried in corner of the church Armand has made a home, pulls it out and starts forcing Armand up the stairs toward the sun. A bomb dropped from a passing German bomber lands in the church causing an explosion, destroying the building. Andréas finishes the job by dragging Armand into the sun, finishing Armand and releasing Nikki of Armand's spell. Then Andréas is finally dead of his bullet wound, resting forever in peace.

This is one of only three films in which Bela Lugosi played a genuine vampire, the other two being "Dracula" and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein". In "Mark of the Vampire", Lugosi played a supposed vampire who turns out to be a fake. In "Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire", Lugosi played a mad scientist who has a delusion that he is a vampire.

Actor Matt Willis as the werewolf had a completely different portrayal than Lon Chaney's in Universal Studios' "The Wolf Man".

External links

*imdb title|id=0037219|title=The Return of the Vampire

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