Review: The Return of the Vampire (1943)

Last night Svengoolie ran The Return of the Vampire (1943) starring Bela Lugosi as the vampire, Armand Tesla. End result, lots of Tesla jokes during Sven’s interludes, and between me, my Bonnie Bride and a friend of ours who we were texting with during the movie. Great fun at Tesla’s (the vampire, the inventor, and the car) expense. I’ll leave the jokes to your imagination, but there were a lot of them.

The Return of the Vampire (1943) poster - IMDB

The movie itself is a pretty good take on the vampire story, opening with the initial introduction of Tesla at the end of World War 1, where the gallant heroes drove a Spike, no not the one from Buffy, through his heart. Then during World War 2, and after a bombing raid on England by the Germans, a couple of guys tasked with cleaning up a graveyard found the spiked Tesla, and removed the spike before reburying him. Of course, that means Tesla is now back on the prowl, seeking vengeance on those who staked him out 20+ years earlier. Hopefully that is enough of a plot synopsis to give you an idea of what’s going on.

Tesla has a sidekick, a werewolf named Andreas (Matt Willis), who initially recovered his soul after the initial elimination of Tesla, only to be enslaved again on Tesla’s return. Andrea is a conflicted character due to suffering the domination of the vampire, being a werewolf while under Tesla’s influence, and still trying to maintain his soul and break free of Tesla’s control. Willis turns in a good performance as the conflicted servant.

Bela Lugosi as Armond Tesla - IMDB

Lugosi, as always, is brilliant as The Vampire, any Vampire, whether the name is Dracula as he had done for many years at Universal Studios, or now as Tesla at Columbia Pictures. Unfortunately Lugosi was heavily type-cast in Hollywood due to his Eastern European accent, which is a darn shame as he was an excellent actor.

In The Return of the Vampire, Lugosi’s Tesla is pitted against Lady Jane (Frieda Inescort), Tesla’s surviving antagonist from WW1, and Sir Fredrick (Miles Mander) of Scotland Yard, as they work to prevent Tesla’s nefarious plans of revenge. Lady Jane is challenged in convincing Sir Frederick that there is a vampire on the loose. Even in the end, he is still a little none believing.

The backdrop of WW2 and the bombings of London by the Germans as a backdrop for the film does play an important role in setting up both the opening and closing of the film. This makes sense as the film was made during the war. Not just the bombings of London, but also providing a cover-story for his arrival in London as a foreigner during the German occupation of Europe.

It is also a good film with a touch of comic relief provided by a number of members of the supporting cast, including a couple of bumbling detectives and a couple of workers from the graveyard scenes. Surprisingly they didn’t provide any Tesla jokes, not even a reference to a Tesla Coil. Sorry, I had to go there. It is not as good as Lugosi’s first vampire film Dracula (1931), but it is a solid entry into the genre. If you take the time to watch it, think about any Tesla jokes you can come up with.

Thanks for stopping by.

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