Director: Erle C. Kenton
Writer: Edward T. Lowe
Stars: Onslow Stevens, John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr.
1 Hour, 6 minutes
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Synopsis
Dracula appears in his bat form outside the window of a woman. He goes downstairs, enters, and introduces himself as Baron Latos to Dr. Edelmann, a well-known expert in psychiatry who lives in a castle in Visaria. Dracula wants Edelmann to go with him to see something in the castle’s basement. On the way, they talk about how vampirism is a psychological disease (reminiscent of Dracula’s Daughter). Edelmann doesn’t believe that a man can turn himself into a bat.
When they get to the basement, Dracula’s coffin is there. He admits who he is, and explains that he wants to be cured of his affliction. The next day, Dr. Edelmann works with mold spores taken from from a rare plant, and his hunchback assistant, Nina, will be the recipient of the benefit. He thinks can cure a great many things with his spores.
The baron shows up the next night, and Dracula shows up. Edelmann is ready to start treatments. Meanwhile, out in the waiting room, Larry Talbot doesn’t have an appointment. Tonight’s the full moon, and he can’t wait for the doctor to become available, so he leaves.
Edelmann finishes up with Dracula’s first treatment, and hears that Inspector Holtz wants to see him. Apparently, Talbot has turned himself in to the local police to be locked up. Edelmann and Talbot talk, and we get that story again. Edelmann is skeptical, but Talbot changes and proves him wrong as he and Holtz look on. Edelmann’s nurse, Miliza has the hots for Larry.
Edelmann does some X-Rays, and determines that Talbot has pressure on his brain. This condition leads to self-hypnosis, which changes his metabolism. Edelmann thinks his mold can fix the problem, but it’s not a quick fix; he’ll have to be locked up again tonight. Talbot says “no way” and jumps off a cliff. They lower Edelmann down the cliff on a pulley, and he finds a cave. Inside the cave, the Wolf Man attacks, but changes back to Talbot before actually killing Edelmann.
It turns out that the cave that they’re standing in is ideal for growing the spores that’s needed to cure Larry. It also just happens to have the skeleton of Dr. Neimann and the Monster of Frankenstein, whom everyone knows is indestructible.
They move the spore plants down to the cave and start to study the Monster. It’ll take a month for the spores to grow, so Larry just has to hang out. Edelmann sets up all the equipment to revive the monster, but changes his mind about it at the last minute.
Dracula’s working on charming Miliza as she plays the piano, but she breaks the spell. She gets distracted and doesn’t give Dracula his shot. Nina the hunchback sees Miliza with Dracula; she notices he doesn’t leave a reflection in the mirror as they go out. Nina tells Edelmann what’s happened. Edelmann wants to do another transfusion, but Edelmann passes out. Dracula mesmerizes Nina and makes her pass out. Dracula switches the transfusion around and gives his blood to Edelmann.
Dracula goes up to Miliza’s bedroom, but Edelmann holds him off with a cross while Talbot grabs Miliza. Dracula goes and hides in his coffin with Edelmann right behind. The sun starts to come up, and Dracula goes all skeletal; he’s dead again.
That night, Edelmann watches as his reflection in the mirror disappears; he’s turning into a vampire. He has visions of releasing the Frankenstein Monster upon the town. He rushes down to the lab and turns on the machines…
There’s only enough spores for one operation, and Edelmann wants to fix Nina’s back and let Talbot wait. Edelmann knows he’s running out of time. Nina says no, let Talbot have the operation, so Edelmann uses the spores to expand Larry Talbot’s skull to release the pressure he saw there.
Larry has his doubts that the cure works, but everyone says wait and see. He watches as Edelmann hops on a carriage and sucks all the blood out of Siegfried. Except his monologuing speech goes on so long that everyone in town sees him do it. The town chases him home, but the inspector blames Larry Talbot, the known monster. Edelmann and the nurses back up Talbot’s story.
Talbot confronts Edelmann, since he saw the whole thing. Edelmann tells him what’s going on with Dracula’s blood. He still wants time to cure Nina’s back with the spores, then he wants to die, with Larry’s help if necessary.
It’s the night of the full moon. Edelmann tells Larry to look on the moon with the expectation of a new life. Meanwhile, the villagers are marching on the castle to arrest or kill Edelmann. Larry goes outside, and the moon rises. He’s cured!
Meanwhile, in a rushed ending, Edelmann goes back and wakes up Frankenstein’s Monster. Edelmann strangles Nina, and the Monster attacks the policeman. Talbot shoots Edelmann and pushes a bookcase on top of the monster, which catches fire.
Talbot and Miliza get a happy ending.
Commentary
Again, Hollywood didn’t have much idea of what psychiatry was really about. It was a fairly new idea for most people, and there was plenty of misunderstanding. Penicillin was invented in 1928, and that may be where the idea for these nearly-magical “spores” came from. What Psychiatry couldn’t fix, maybe spores could. What a miraculous time to be alive… at least until they drill a hole in your skull to relieve the pressure.
The story moves really fast, with no padding or slow spots. It actually could have used some more fleshing out in some areas. There’s a lot going on, but it does mostly all make sense, although it feels a little rushed.
Dracula gets lots more to do here than he did in House of Frankenstein. He still doesn’t interact with the Wolf Man or the Monster, but at least he’s not a simple pawn of a maniac like last time. Frankenstein’s Monster gets less than a minute of screen time, and the Wolf Man’s monster form really doesn’t get much more. None of the actual monsters interact.