Although technically only Dracula once, Lugosi did get to offer a façade version for MGM and in-everything-but-name version for Columbia, so despite many other characters in his rogues gallery, he did don the cape and occupy a variation on his most famous role. The notoriety of the twist on “Mark of the Vampire” none withstanding, not to mention, Lugosi only speaking at the very end when “out of character”, he’s still very much in presentation quite effective. And even if named Armand Tesla with vampirism “forced upon him due to obsession on the subject” in “Return of the Vampire”, a near identical (but older) Dracula during the Blitz as the Nazis were very much a danger to the Brits, including a werewolf assistant even, Lugosi very much adapted so many of the characteristics of his famous role in that film as well. So I don’t think we were necessarily deprived of Lugosi as Dracula more than once.
In “Mark of the Vampire” Lugosi basically creeps about, from a deteriorating castle with all the same “accoutrements” from Dracula’s Transylvanian castle or Carfax Abbey to emerging in a window of a hall while the butler and maid shrug, shudder, and shriek. But he’s more of a boogeyman that pops in and out like his sidekick, Borland, in Browning’s remake/satire/detective Gothica of Dracula (1931) than the preeminent star. Now in “Return of the Vampire”, Lugosi very much is treated as the star. He’s very much in form even if he was no longer paid as such. Cool that three different major film companies—Universal, MGM, and Columbia—cast him as a form of vampire. Granted, Lugosi was never going to be top billed with Lionel Barrymore at MGM for “Mark of the Vampire”, but when the cast is essentially contract players at Columbia, he wasn’t competing against recognition for the star power and name value he brought to the film. Look at the secondary casting for both of the films and you will find bit players often in Universal monster pictures…it always made this period of horror quite special to me.
You could call this a collection of ideas derived from the Universal brand, even. The film has Bela Lugosi(still dominating the screen with his quiet menace)as Armand Tesla, a very reminiscent clone to Dracula in nearly every way except name. He has a werewolf assistant named Andreas(Matt Willis)whose Full Moon Curse is controlled by the vampire.
The location is London during WW2 and Tesla's greatest adversary is Lady Jane Ainsley(Frieda Inescort) and, Sir Frederick Fleet(Miles Mander)is one in the making, though he has a hard time believing in vampires despite all the chaos that surrounds him.
With his werewolf assistant lending a hand, not to mention his powerful way of hypnotizing the control of young Nicki(Nina Foch), Tesla will be quite a difficult vampire to kill.
What could be considered the film's major weakness is that Jane actually put a spike through Tesla's heart, yet this didn't turn his body into dust as so often happens in the vampire pictures. But, perhaps Columbia Pictures wanted to mix things up a bit..why make their film operate exactly by the rules set by Universal monster films about vampires? The spike, in this film, remains stuck there only holding Tesla at bay as war ravages the countryside. 23 years later, a Nazi attack disrupts the burial plots of cemetery lots and Tesla's body shows the spike sticking from his heart. When two gravediggers pull out the spike, he awakens from his slumber to seek revenge on a much older Ainsley..the fact that later Tesla takes the identity of Dr. Hugo Bruckner and Lady Jane can not even recognize who he is after having plunged a spike in his heart is a major story flaw, but it has been quite a long time so I'm sure his face doesn't necessarily come back from the shadows of the subconscious immediately. Purists might balk at the idea of desecrating a vampire surviving a thrust to the heart by a pointed object, but it's something that might leave your mind if you get into this little horror picture. I didn't mind the decision to stray away from the norm, though. Interesting concept regarding how vampire Tesla can actually command his male servant Andreas(Matt Willis)to turn into a werewolf..a werewolf who remains in a suit throughout the movie, known in circles to tickle funny-bones.
I do applaud Columbia Pictures for their noble effort in at least attempting to capture the spirit of Universal. And, whether his name is Tesla or Dracula, it was fun seeing Lugosi once again donning the cape. Director Landers does handle the fog-lit cemetery rather successfully. I read that Lugosi was paid merely a small sum to portray this vampire. I thought the setting of England, under attack by the Nazis with all the bomb and gunfire wreckage, to be an interesting place for Tesla the vampire to roam. The film is beautifully shot..it's clear Columbia forked out some cash in order for their vampire film to achieve that polished look that the viewer is used to seeing in Universal's horror product. The camera throttles the viewer with his deeply evil eyes as they force victims to do as he wishes.
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