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The Return of the Vampire Overview:

The Return of the Vampire (1944) was a Drama - Horror Film directed by Lew Landers and produced by Sam White.

The Return of the Vampire BlogHub Articles:

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE On Blu-ray From Shout Factory

By Dan Day Jr. on Feb 28, 2019 From The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog

Shout Factory gives one of Bela Lugosi's best films of the 1940s the Blu-ray treatment with their release of THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE. This 1943 movie from Columbia has been categorized by some as nothing more than a copy of the Universal horror style. In many ways, though, it's more notable than ... Read full article

The Anti-Damsel Blogathon: Frieda Inescort in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE

By Dan Day Jr. on Aug 15, 2015 From The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog

The Anti-Damsel Blogathon is a celebration of empowered women in classic film history--and there are a lot more of them than most people generally assume. It is my belief that movie actresses had a far better range of roles available to them in the '30s and the '40s than they do today. When it come... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

This Columbia production directed by Lew Landers puts Bela Lugosi back into a vampire’s cape and fangs, but The Return of the Vampire (1944) is not exactly a success when it comes to following up on the iconic Dracula (1931). Despite a number of inspired elements, the film fails with its two m... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

This Columbia production directed by Lew Landers puts Bela Lugosi back into a vampire’s cape and fangs, but The Return of the Vampire (1944) is not exactly a success when it comes to following up on the iconic Dracula (1931). Despite a number of inspired elements, the film fails with its two m... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 26, 2013 From Virtual Virago

This Columbia production directed by Lew Landers puts Bela Lugosi back into a vampire’s cape and fangs, but The Return of the Vampire (1944) is not exactly a success when it comes to following up on the iconic Dracula (1931). Despite a number of inspired elements, the film fails with its two m... Read full article

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The Return of the Vampire Quotes:

Andreas Obry: Helo me, Master. I am hurt!
Armand Tesla: What is that to me?
Armand Tesla: I sleep... during the day. I am not to be disturbed... during the day.
Armand Tesla: Come Andreas. I must find a new resting place. There you will bring the coffin with my native soil...
[Ominously]
Armand Tesla: ... and then, Andreas, I have other plans!
Horace: [Looking at all the bodies unearthed in the cemetery by the bomb] Blimey! Look at this! It's getting so it ain't even safe to be dead!
Lady Jane Ainsley: Your eyes look like burning coals. Don't come any nearer. Don't touch me.
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The Return of the Vampire Facts
The Columbia Gower studios were rather cramped so the production moved to Fine Arts Studio for the cemetery sequence.
The text of Tesla's book as shown is: "THE SUPERNATURAL AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS By Dr. Armand Tesla. From the beginning of time, man has been troubled by the uncertainty of death and by the rare and horrible manifestations which occur at intervals in which the dead are known to return from their grave. Such people are known as vampires or werewolves. Scientific men throughout the ages have endeavored to delve into the mystery that has baffled them The most ancient writings have mentioned this strange phenomenon and it has always left the writer baffled. It is a known certainty that these beings do do return to earth and have been known to attack humans. They have at times left horrible marks of their visits. The victim of such an attack by the un-dead insists upon the memory of a horrible dream, or nightmare. In addition, there are lacerations about the size of pin-pricks, on the throat and an almost total absence of blood in the body. They strike with such suddenness that it has been impossible to locate their coming and going and it is usually a case of sudden death to the unfortunate victim.Some tribes have recorded the visits of these beings and scientific research has revealed them to be beyond the realm of superstition. From the beginning of time..." (text begins repeating at this point.)
The action of the prologue takes place beginning 15 October 1918, while the balance of the film takes place in late summer, early autumn of 1940 (according the the Regent Hall concert program shown).
This appears to be the first horror film ever made in which both a vampire and a werewolf are characters, anticipating Universal's House of Frankenstein (released 11 months later) and House of Dracula, as well as the the recent "Underworld" and "Twilight" movies.
Columbia originally intended this film as a direct sequel to Dracula, but when Universal threatened them with a plagiarism suit, Columbia went ahead and made the film anyway but changed the names of the characters to avoid any connection with "Dracula". They also held back its release for two months so as not to compete with Lon Chaney's "Son of Dracula."
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