Todd’s Serial Blog

DRACULA RETURNS: A UNIVERSAL SERIAL IN 13 CHAPTERS

Producer: Morgan B. Cox
Director: Lewis D. Collins
Photography: Gus Peterson
Script: Joseph Polland
Paul Huston
Barry Shipman
Music: Charles Previn
Make Up: Bud Westmore

Cast:

Larry Talbot: Lon Chaney, Jr.
Miliza Talbot: Martha O’Driscoll
Count Dracula: Bela Lugosi
Frank Raymond: Milburn Stone
Jack Halsey: Dennis Moore
Steinmuhl: Skelton Knaggs
The Frankenstein Monster: Glenn Strange
Kharis, The Mummy: Tom Tyler
Nina: Jane Adams
Inspector Krohl: Harry Cording
Hawkins: C. Montague Shaw
Miller: Edward Keene
Dr. Matthews: Bryon Foulger
Maleva: Maria Ouspenskaya

RECAP:

In her hotel room in Valaria, Miliza is getting ready for bed. There is a knock at her door. Opening it Nina enters and says she has Raymond with her and he has terrible news. Raymond says that he, Talbot and Halsey made it into Dracula’s castle and while Steinmuhl and the Monster were away retrieving the parts for the castle’s generators. Before they could find and destroy the Springfield Death Ray, Kharis attacked Talbot and Halsey. They are Dracula’s prisoners.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: STEINMUHL’S VENGEANCE

Milliza wants to head for the castle immediately but all talking stops when Kharis crashes through the outside window and advances on the three of them. Raymond jumps on the mummy but is easily thrown off. The two women back against a wall and scream as Kharis moves in for the kill.

Not wanting to die at the hands of the wrathful mummy, Miliza snatches up an oil lamp and throws it at Kharis. The lamp breaks open, spilling oil on the mummy and igniting. Now aflame, Kharis stumbles around in pain, setting parts of the room on fire.

Nina quickly finds Raymond’s arm and works her way up to his head and revives the stunned secret agent. Getting him to his feet, the three of them rush out of the room and start alerting other people to the fire in the hotel. Everyone manages to get outside safely. Nina, Miliza and Raymond watch in horror as the mummy comes out on to a terrace and looks to be about to escape when it collapses and he falls into the burning building, perishing. The three of them decide that they have to get to the castle soon before Dracula realizes that Kharis has failed in his mission.

Steinmuhl and the Monster have returned with the equipment and Dracula immediately begins to rebuild the damaged machines. Steinmuhl leaves and visits the prisoners in the dungeon, taunting them with the news that soon Dracula will have the Monster recharged and then he will power up the Springfield Death Ray. Talbot and Halsey try to convince Steinmuhl that Dracula is just using him and that when the Death Ray is usable the vampire will have no further use for Steinmuhl and will get rid of him. Steinmuhl scoffs at their pleadings tells Halsey he hopes he enjoys being locked up with a werewolf since there is going to be a full moon that night.

Back in Valaria, several men have gathered at the local pub and are commenting on the equipment that arrived in town and that now lights are being seen from Frankenstein’s castle. One of the villagers thinks that the strangers in town are responsible but no one else agrees with him. He then proposes blowing up the dam above the castle and washing the whole place away. This cause the others to leave his table, accusing him of trying to drown everyone in town.

Raymond, Miliza, and Nina reach the hidden entrance and sneak into the castle. Raymond says he will try to get to the lab and destroy the Death Ray while the girls try to find the dungeon and free Talbot and Halsey. The three separate. Miliza and Nina have trouble circumnavigating the corridors and when they come to a split in the tunnel the two become separated. Milza is so concerned about her husband that she doesn’t notice at first but when she does, she knows that she is too far along the path she took to turn back. She finally comes to the dungeon and after a tearful reunion with her husband separated by bars, Milza discovers that there are no keys for the door there. She will have to hunt for them. Talbot tells her to hurry because there will be a full moon that night and Halsey is in danger.

Meanwhile Nina has become hopelessly lost. Rounding a bend she is surprised to run into Steinmuhl. Steinmuhl recovers himself first and grabs the startled girl before she can get away. Steinmuhl says he remembered her as the nurse who assisted Dr. Eddleman and must have helped him kill Steinmuhl’s brother. Pulling out a wicked looking knife he tells Nina that he is going to kill her. Nina screams.

NEXT WEEK-CHAPTER TWELVE: DRACULA’S SUCCESS