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: Steinmuhl rushes into the room where Dracula and Kharis the Mummy are waiting. He tells his master that he followed Raymond, Halsey, and the Talbots to the police where Talbot was locked in a cell before he turned into a werewolf. The other three then went to Inspector Krohl’s office where they told the police inspector about Dracula wanting to use the Frankenstein Monster to power up the Springfield Death Ray. They had gone to Edelmann’s burned out mansion and discovered that his disfigured assistant Nina was still alive and that she took the Monster away. Dracula smiles at this and turns to Kharis, saying that he has something very important for him to do.

CHAPTER FIVE: WOLF MAN ON THE LOOSE

Bidding Inspector Krohl goodbye, Miliza, Raymond and Halsey leave the police station. Turning a corner they walk right into the waiting arms of Kharis. He easily knocks Raymond and Halsey aside. Scooping Miliza up in his arms, he starts to make off with her. Inspector Krohl and several of his gendarmes rush up to the scene, having been alerted by all of the noise. Halsey and Raymond are quickly revived and head out in pursuit of Kharis.

Dracula uses this diversion to creep into the police station. Dracula unlocks the cell door housing the Wolf Man. As the lycanthrope bangs the door against the cell wall and plans to leap on the vampire, Dracula gives a condescending smirk and turns into a bat, easily escaping through a window before the werewolf can catch him. The Wolf Man bounds out of the police station, frightening several villagers in the process, who luckily manage to run away before they can be attacked. The Wolf Man heads out into the surrounding wooded area.

The posse tracking down Kharis are stopped by a messenger sent from the village. He informs Inspector Krohl of the werewolf’s escape. Torn between friendship and duty, Krohl decides to leave two gendarmes with Halsey and Raymond, while he returns to the village to organize search parties to capture the Wolf Man before he can hurt anyone. The shortened party continues on and catches up with Kharis.

Miliza beseeches them to not come any closer as Kharis will kill them. At that point Kharis inadvertently stumbles into a quicksand bog. As he and his captive start to sink down, Halsey and Raymond quickly cut down a vine from a nearby tree and toss it to Miliza. With the help of the gendarmes, the four men are able to pull Miliza free as Kharis flails about before disappearing from view. After making sure Miliza is all right they tell her about Larry’s escape. They all leave to help with the search. After they are out of sight, the edge of the quicksand pit starts to quiver and bubble, Kharis’ hand appears out of it, grasping firm earth, and proceeds to pull himself free. Once upright again, the mummy limps off into the woods.

Several of the search parties discuss how they don’t see any point in risking their lives to save a vicious killer like the Wolf Man. One states that he and his buddies have been planting traps to catch the beast. He raises a rifle, explaining that if they do catch him, he has a gun loaded with silver bullets to take care of the werewolf once and for all.

The Wolf Man is racing through the woods, agitated by the sounds of the torch bearing searchers. Stepping into a metal snare, it snaps shut on his leg and pins him to the spot. The werewolf struggles to pull himself free but can not. It finally collapses on the ground and cowers as the sounds of the search party get closer and closer.

NEXT WEEK-CHAPTER SIX: EVIL FORCES JOINED