Customer Reviews

Dracula's Daughter

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've only seen this movie once .. at AMC's monster fest 2000
i just recently ordered the VHS .. the point im makin only one time is the only time i needed to see it to know that it is a classic ,Gloria Holden got fame for the known part as Dracula's Daughter .. i dont see nothin wrong with it sure theres a lil bit of comedy not that much .... seriously how is that gonna hurt it .. there was a lil comedy in Dracula , when martin tries to get the spider away from Reinsfield ... so whats wrong with comedy.. absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G
this movie is a classic horror film that after 3 and a half years still roams thru my mind after only watchin it once
i am very impatient for it to come in .... if any body reads this its the truth its a classic and if u like classic horror films ... i highly i mean HIGHLY recommend this classic

Five years after Bela Lugosi captivated audiences with his definitive portrayal of Count Dracula, Universal released the first Dracula sequel. Dracula's Daughter is a rather strange film, taking up where the first movie left off but going in a direction all its own. You won't find Bela Lugosi here - in the 1930s, killing a character off actually meant something - but you will find Edward Van Sloan reprising his role as Van Helsing (although I didn't really even recognize Van Sloan for some reason). Van Helsing has just dispatched Count Dracula when two policemen burst into the lair underneath Carfax Abbey, see Renfield lying dead on the floor, and arrest Van Helsing for his admitted murder of Dracula. No one is buying the learned professor's vampire defense, and he calls on the one man he thinks can help him - his former student Dr. Garth (Otto Kruger). Strangely enough, he never even mentions the Sewards or Jonathan Harker, although they alone could have provided testimony to help his defense. Dr. Garth doesn't believe Van Helsing's story about Count Dracula, but he agrees to help his former teacher as best he can.

At this same time, Dr. Garth is becoming acquainted with a newly-arrived aristocratic European in London - little does he realize that Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) is herself a vampire. The Countess solicits the help of Dr. Garth in overcoming a terrible compulsion in her life, but the doctor keeps getting pulled away from his talks with the desperate woman by the discovery of new victims of unexplained blood loss. He eventually puts two and two together, but by then his obviously love-struck assistant (played by the lovely Marguerite Churchill) has fallen into the clutches of Dracula's Daughter. This film does finally return us to Transylvania and the Count's forbidding castle, and it is here that the final drama plays out.

This is actually a very good movie, but Gloria Holden, despite delivering an impressive performance, never seems to exhibit the strength and presence of a true vampire. Of course, this may be explained in part by the fact that the Countess views her affliction as a curse and wants to be released from it. Additionally, Dracula's Daughter features nothing rivaling the suspense of Count Dracula's silent attacks on his victims, although the scenes featuring a young victim named Lili (Nan Grey) are played to great effect. This film also toys too frequently with comedy, and this robs it of any truly malevolent power. An anticlimactic ending also proves a bit of a disappointment.

Thanks to Gloria Holden's memorable performance and the unusual nature of the plot (a vampire seeking release), Dracula's Daughter does manage to secure an important place for itself in the Dracula pantheon. It does not, however, come across as a strong vampire film - even Professor Van Helsing is relegated to a secondary player in the action. We barely get a glimpse of the bestial nature of the vampire lurking within the heart and mind of the sophisticated European Countess, making this a horror film quite incapable of disturbing the sleep of its recent viewers with bad dreams.

The plot of this direct sequal to Tod Browning's "Dracula," staring Bela Lugosi and Edward Von Sloan, is the daughter of Count Dracula wanting to rid herself of being a vampire. The seeks the help of a doctor, whom she winds up falling in love with. After she realizes that she can't cure herself of being a vampire, she decides that she wants the doctor, whom she loves, to be with her...forever.

As a horror film, "Dracula's Daughter" can not stand up to "Dracula," but the film is more of a horror/drama then a straight up horror flick. You can really feel sympathy for the Count's daughter, because she really wants to change, but comes to the sad realization that she can not. On a subliminal level, this film can sympathize with someone who is addicted substances, because they often want to change, but feel that they can not.

The plot is solid, and the cast is great! Looks is a really strong part of this film. The direction and production looks great! This film, also, stays true to the vampire rules set fourth in "Dracula" that later films, like "Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein" break.

All in all, "Dracula's Daughter" is no "Dracula," but it is a great movie and sends a powerful message to the audience. This film is worth the time and money and is a great chapter to the "Dracula" series.

That line from the movie (spoken by the head of Scotland Yard) pretty much sums up what's wrong with it: the few drops of weak comedy in the mix dilute what could have been a pure horror movie of good caliber. Instead, we get a movie where the chilling atmosphere is constantly interrupted by unecessary and silly moments: the doctor's secretary prank calls him out of jealousy; two policemen bicker about who's going to guard Dracula's body, complete with a silly little background score, and so on.

Despite all this, the movie is still worth seeing by fans of vampire movies. Gloria Holden gives a solid performance with her deep, dark eyes and low, husky voice. She's a vampire with a few quirks: she desperately fights against her dark urges, and is a female who prefers other women as her victims, which gives a surprising (for 1936) turn to the sexuality that is usually the undertone of the vampire myth.

I constantly wanted to slap Janet, the doctor's silly and annoying secretary, which I suppose proves that Marguerite Churchill did her acting job well. Otto Kruger is also good as the skeptical Dr. Garth, and we welcome back Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing from the original "Dracula."

If you're a fan of the old black and white horror films, you will probably like "Dracula's Daughter," if you don't mind the intrusion of inappropriate humor now and then.

This movie takes place after the events of Universal Studios' 1931 classic, "Dracula." If you have not seen "Dracula," then the events will not look right because this takes place in England rather than in Transylvania.

For this movie, policemen come across the dapper gentleman with a stake in his chest, a man with a broken neck, and a Dr. Van Helsing, who confesses to killing the well-dressed man (Dracula). He is taken into custody and rather than ask for legal counsel, he asks a Dr. Garth to come to his aid. This does seem odd because if it follows "Dracula," then where is Harker and Seward?

Dracula's daughter goes by the name Countess Marya Zaleska. She is looking for the body of Dracula and wishes to be free of the evil and torment. She then goes to see if Dr. Garth can help her fight the evil urges.

I mentioned that this seems to be confused with comedy and horror. There are quite a few puns and a lot of joking and laughter, with the exception of Countess Zaleska and her henchman, Zander. With all the laughing, I am not sure if the director and writers are trying to highlight a life that the countess can't have, or if they were just trying to make this movie less scary. Either way, it is a little disconcerting.

It is interesting just as the other Universal Studios classic monster movies, but it doesn't have the finesse that the other did. I would recommend for the collector, but not otherwise.

"Dracula's Daughter" is an unusual and little known entry in the Dracula cycle of films. Not a great success at the time of release it tended to be lost in all the attention focused on Bela Lugosi's 1931 version of "Dracula". In its own right it is a very glamourous and sleekly put together production which deserves to be viewed on its own merits and not just be regarded as a sequel of sorts.

The story does begin from where "Dracula" concluded but Bela Lugosi is not in this film despite one scene showing Dracula's body on a funeral pyre. In this film the exotically beautiful Gloria Holden, a Broadway actress and only occasional movie actress plays the hauntingly beautiful and mysterious "Countess Marya Zaleska" who in actual fact is Dracula's own daughter and she arrives in London to firstly claim her father's body and secondly destroy it to hopefully remove the father's curse of vampirism from the House of Dracula.

This film does follow and extremely different slant on the old vampire legend in that it depicts the daughter as a reluctant vampire and one who would go to any lengths to remove the stain of her affliction from her existence. This approach is what makes "Dracula's Daughter" a unique viewing experience where for once a vampire is portrayed with some redeeming qualities.

Gloria Holden brings a great deal of style and mystery to her playing and her hesitant delivery and obvious confusion about
why she lusts after female victims creates an obvious sympathy in the viewers mind for her...a far cry from our feelings about Dracula and his motives!! Her attempts to fight her vampire affliction, combined with her entrapment of unsuspecting females in the London mist supposedly to paint their portraits, helps create a multi dimensional character from what could be a stock horror character. Gloria Holden has the exotic European looks to go with this part and her presence really lifts the film from simply being another second string Universal production. Irving Pichel is included and plays a most sinister manservant for the Countess called Sandor. His gruesome makeup is alone enough to give you nightmares.

Other followons from the first film are Edward Van Sloan who reprises his role as Professor Von Helsing the famed Vampire hunter. I this production he finds himself quickly arrested for Dracula's murder! As to be expected he does come to the rescue before the conclusion of the film.

The overraul look of this film is very impressive and it is easy to see that since the first "Dracula" in 1931 film techniques have improved immensely. The action and dialogue is alot more fast paced in this version and there is none of the primitive quality that was a standout feature of Logosi's film. The eerie scenes in the forest when the Countess cremates her father's body are beautifully done and the scenes set in a mist shrouded London are also very effective for their time and a vast improvement on the original version.

As with other early Universal horror films such as "Werewolf of London" there is the necessary comic relief provided by the almost Keystone Cops type representation of the Police Force and the scenes when the police are guarding Dracula's body and then when the Countess mysteriously appears seemingly from nowhere, are great pieces of acting and add to the mystery of the piece. A unique bit of casting is also seen in the use of famed Hollywood reporter Hedda Hopper early in the film as a London socialite interested in the occult.

While not a classic film "Dracula's Daughter" is nevertheless an interesting piece of cinema with great characters and an original story to tell . This different slant that it takes on the Vampire legend alone makes it noteworthy and a film to definately include in your horror collection.

Stunning Gloria Holden gives the viewer an enhanced, and rather original, glance at the Dracula legend, in this take on the "vampire seeks help from psychiatrist" approach which seems an eerie, but still intriguing, spoof of both folklore and science.

There are many plot deficiencies, most notably a lack of continuity, and the main character's motivation seems to change from one scene to another. The psychiatrist's clearly sincere desire first to cure the vampire, later to eliminate her evil presence, certainly seems ambitious in the first part, considering that therapy for those dead for centuries is uncharted territory. Characters are individually interesting but do not blend well - the relationship between any of them is never well defined.

Comic relief is rich in the bumbling cockney police officers, and the elegance Dracula's daughter displays often rather breathtaking. Whatever the puzzlement in plot and characterisation, the individual characters are classic.

Eerie and impelling without being gruesome, this film should be welcome on the shelf of any Universal monster flick fans collection.

After years of being dismissed as an unworthy follow-up to DRACULA, this film is gaining a reputation as being among the best vampire movies from the thirties; its a well-conceived and unfailingly intelligent sequel. This 1936 Universal thriller handed Broadway actress Gloria Holden the juiciest role of her brief screen career in DRACULA'S DAUGHTER, a reluctant vampire - who simply regards herself as a normal woman afflicted by a hereditary disease is aided by a handsome psychiatrist she is attracted to...........Nothing works, however, and soon she is imitating her Papa - saying things like "I never drink........ wine" and mesmorising females with a magic ring to satisfy her unquenchable bestiality. Unlike her predecessor, she's dispatched not by Professor Van Helsing (again Edward Van Sloan), but by a Transylvanian peasant with a bow and arrow, an inventive variation on the old sharpened stake that would become a fixture in the later Hammer epics. Inexplicably, Universal neglected to capitalise on the immense popularity of their 1931 gem DRACULA, and waited an incredible five years before producing this informal sequel, minus Lugosi. Nan Grey, a former Warner Bros. contract player who signed with Universal in 1933 went on to bigger roles, but she was never more affecting as she is here as the doomed Lili. Hedda Hopper, who gave up acting to become one of the film capital's most dispised gossip columnists, is seen here, playing a slightly asinine society matron early in the movie. The film failed to satisfy the contemporary thrill-quotient, despite a highly charged performance by lead Gloria Holden and some atmospheric camera work.

With this familiar cryptic line, Countess Zaleska (Gloria Holden) establishes her credentials as Dracula's slave. Although a sequel, this film stakes out its own turf. The exorcism scene, as Zaleska consigns Dracula's body to the flames in the mist-enshrouded woods, is one of the all-time great moments of Universal's classic horror flicks. Despite her legacy, Zaleska despises her blood lust, and seeks a cure. With Sandor, her peculiar henchman, Zaleska reluctantly searches for victims. When evil is ascendant, she attacks both men and women with equal fervor. The otherworldly segment of the impoverished street girl, Lily, is another outstanding virtue of this movie, from the encounter on the foggy bridge to the grim result. Lily's suffering projects a tenderness that is unusual in a horror flick. Under hypnosis, she articulates her ordeal, but the shock is too much. Holden is beautiful in a cold and aristocratic way that suits the vampire persona. Edward Van Sloan again appears as Van Helsing. Irving Pichel adds a central European refinement to his mysterious menace as Sandor. While Zaleska despises her eternal existence, Sandor lusts after power. Otto Kruger is unsympathetic as Dr. Garth, and Marguerite Churchill's repartee is a lame attempt at sophisticated wit. The hilarious Whitby police constables are more effective comic relief as they guard the coffin containing the defunct Dracula. Abbott and Costello with a British accent. All serious collectors of classic horror flicks need this one for their movie shelf. ;-)

DRACULA'S DAUGHTER excels is in setting out a kind of space, a dream space if you like, where melancholy, archetypal anxieties are played out. This is a film full of disturbing inversions and unexpected connections. For instance, the film opens with Van Helsing arrested for murder - the hero/saviour of the Dracula story has suddenly become a villain, a murderer, a lunatic. This brings brilliantly to the surface the subtext of the original story, and Van Helsing is emasculated and sidelined here, his intellectual buffoonery has no place in this tragic tale of sexual dismay.As with the great horror films, DAUGHTER dramatizes an intrinsic conflict, that between desire, which is subversive, transgressive, fragmentary, and the Law, duty, order, wholeness. Desire is signaled as female, passive, hereditary, linked to the body; the Law is male, rational, scientific. But these boundaries aren't as clear-cut as one might think. For instance, both Marya and Jeffrey are hypnotists. Indeed Jeffrey begins the film outside the Law, defending a murderer; when faced with the threat from desire, which transcends uniform identities and sexualities, he aligns himself with the Law, however ineffectual.The diffusion of desire is represented in doubling, e.g., the two women fighting for Jeffrey, but also in alternate homosexuality's - Janet interrupts Jeffrey's homoerotic shooting with his Scottish friend, just as he interrupts her surrender to Marya. Desire is often seen as a threat to life, to wholesome fertility - and yet it is, here, the hereditary force in a world of cold bachelors and desperate virgins. Although Hollywood convention had to be accommodated, Marya is far from being demonized: she is a somnolent, tragic, Garboesque figure, helplessly in thrall to this 'disease' which consumes here, which is only a 'disease' because society says so. Her pained declaration of her inability to refrain confirms as much, and her assaults and their filming suggest themes more fully realized in PEEPING TOM.The film is set in England, despite its American provenance, and in the five intervening years since the Browning/Lugosi DRACULA, there has been the rise of one vampiric force consumed with blood-lust brooding from the East, Nazism. Whether certain connections about Empire and Hitler are just my fancy, I don't know, but it's nice to see the Transylvanians as people for a change, rather than the usual cowering peasants.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5

Grade: A- 92%