Movie Review: Dracula's Daughter (1936)

Dracula's Daughter (1936) directed by Lambert Hillyer

In this semi-sequel that's clearly out of continuity with Bela Lugosi's film, Von Helsing (Edward Van Sloan, who played Van Helsing in Lugosi's film, though why the change from Van to Von happened is an unsolved mystery) starts off the story killing Dracula and Renfield in a modern-day London sewer.  He's busted by the London cops and faces a murder charge. Of course, he wants to tell the truth, i.e. that he destroyed a vampire who technically died five hundred years ago. The Scotland Yard folks don't think much of this defense and claim no English jury will think much of it either. Von Helsing calls on psychiatrist friend Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger) to defend him. Jeffrey reluctantly agrees. He has a new and interesting case on his hands--Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) needs help fighting off a special evil that has been dominating her will. Viewers know that Dracula has dominated her--she's stolen Dracula's corpse and ritually burned it in hope of releasing herself from the vampiric curse she inherited from the famous vampire. Yes, she is Dracula's daughter!

The movie sort of focuses on her attempt to free herself from the curse, but her attempts are often half-hearted. She's preys on the vulnerable but to distract herself, she works as an artist. When she sends out her Igor-like assistant to hire a new model, she winds up half-seducing the model before she gives in to her thirst and attacks the model. The Countess is the most conflicted character I've seen in a long time. Gloria Holden plays the character seriously and is effective at being creepy. The attempt to make her sympathetic and menacing at the same time doesn't work. I blame the writing, not the acting.

The film's lack of atmosphere and visual style emphasizes the mundaneness of the plot. The characters talk a bit about the relationship between psychiatry and folklore, but not nearly enough to be satisfying or thematically interesting. Either the Von-Helsing-faces-a-murder-charge plot or the Dracula's-daughter-wants-to-escape-the-curse plot would make an interesting film. The mixing of the two plots doesn't work well. Neither is developed enough to grab the viewers.

Only recommended for a Dracula completionist. I watched it as part of the Dracula Legacy collection.