Brilliant follow-up to Dracula, Tod Browning’s 1931 classic, Dracula’s Daughter picks up right where its predecessor left off, with professor Von Helsing charged with the murder of the notorious Count. As the good professor attempts to extricate himself from blame, we are introduced to the beautiful Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula’s daughter, who has come to London hoping for assurance that her erstwhile father is truly dead. As the story develops, we learn that she too, is a vampire, but that she does not revel in the fact as her sire did. Instead, the Countess elicits the assistance of Jeffrey Garth, a prominent psychiatrist, and friend to Von Helsing, in hopes of freeing herself from her terrible affliction. Notable for its incorporation of cinema’s first female vampire, and its depiction of vampirism as a loathsome state of being, Dracula’s Daughter is a beautifully photographed and superbly paced film, and noticeably less dated than its oft-corny progenitor. (Dracula fans should be aware that neither Tod Browning or Bela Lugosi have anything to do with this picture, though Edward Van Sloan does reprise his role as Von Helsing.)
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Universal Studios DVD
19 Mar 2005 12:53 PM | Submit Comment
