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: Miller walks in to Hawkins office at the World Security Council building in Washington and asks if he has heard anything from Raymond. Hawkins replies that he has just received a report that Raymond tracked Dracula to the house of Larry Talbot but was unable to capture him. Miller tells him that he has just gotten news of Dracula reviving Kharis, the Mummy at the Scripps Museum and used him to steal the preserved body of Princess Ananka. Miller wants to know where Raymond is at the moment. Hawkins says that it turns out Talbot was a werewolf. He had apparently been cured by the late Dr. Edelmann, but a blow to his head has caused him to revert back to his former state. Raymond and Miliza Talbot are searching the woods outside Visaria for Talbot at the moment to keep him from hurting anyone.

CHAPTER THREE: THE MONSTER LIVES

Back in the woods, Miliza and Raymond have succeeded in tracking Larry to a cave. They have been lucky, no one has been hurt yet. They enter the cave to look for Larry. As they make their way into it’s interior, the sounds of shuffling feet and growling make them realize that the Wolf Man has circled around behind them. The Wolf Man steps into a shaft of moonlight and jumps on Raymond. The two grapple, but Raymond is no match for the lycanthrope. The werewolf throws Raymond to the ground and prepares to move in for the kill.

Just then the Wolf Man stiffens and falls to the ground. Miliza looks up at the shaft of light coming into the cave and realizes it is the sun coming up on the horizon. She goes to the collapsed man on the ground and carefully turns him over. He is again Larry Talbot. He wakes up shaken and scared at his slide back into lycanthropy. He begs Miliza to leave him there in the cave where he won’t hurt anyone that night when the moon comes back up. Miliza refuses, saying that she is sure she can help him be cured again somehow.

Pulling Talbot back up to his feet, the two go over to the prone form of Raymond. A quick examination proves that he is only knocked unconscious. He quickly revives and after being reassured that Larry is fine now, he explains how Dracula has possession of the Springfield Death Ray and is searching for a new power source for it. Larry notices that Raymond has no arm protruding from his coat sleeve and is told how he is invisible. They decide to head back to civilization to discuss what the next move should be.

Later in the day Steinmuhl is surprised to see that Dracula is up before nightfall. Dracula explains that after he has had sufficient rest he can be up as long as he avoids the sun. Steinmuhl wants to know why he revived Kharis the previous night. Dracula says that when he originally took the tana leaves it was to make sure Kharis might not be able to be used against him, but then something Miliza said gave him an idea of where they can find an adequate substitute power source for the Springfield Death Ray and he will need Kharis’s super strength to dig it out. They will go there that night.

Talbot, redressed and cleaned up, Miliza, and Raymond have gathered at Talbot’s house to discuss what they think Dracula’s next move will be. A knock sounds at the door. Talbot goes to answer it, being a little warier this time. He is greeted by Halsey, who explains that he is curator of the Scripps Museum and was told to meet an agent of the World Security Council named Frank Raymond there by a man named Hawkins. After introductions are made all around, Halsey tells them about Dracula reviving Kharis at the museum the previous night.

The group ponders this for a few minutes, when Miliza gasps. They all turn to her. She explains that she had told Dracula about Edelmann reviving the Frankenstein Monster and Talbot setting it on fire. Since the Monster can absorb energy through the electrodes in his neck it only makes sense that energy could be drained from him into the Springfield Death Ray. Talbot takes up the line of reasoning, that with the original house burned down and collapsed into the caverns underneath it, Dracula would need someone of great strength to dig the Monster out.

The group wastes little time heading back to the ruins of Edelmann’s mansion, knowing that once darkness falls Dracula will be on his way. Coming to the burned out ruin, Miliza quickly finds the trap door that leads to the caverns underneath. They go down into the darkness armed with flash lights and shovels. A quick examination shows where the monster had fallen when the house collapsed but he was obviously not buried there. Unknown to them the Monster is behind them and slowly approaches, his arms out in front of him, the fingers curled inward, preparing to kill them.

NEXT WEEK-CHAPTER FOUR: KHARIS ATTACKS