Stars:
Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, and Miles Mander
Writer:
Griffin Jay
Director:
Lew Landers
Feature
length: 69 minutes
Extras:
Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, and Japanese Language
Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1943/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Almost
three hundred years ago Armand Tesler, (Bela Lugosi), once a brilliant
scientist, fell prey to the very supernatural phenomena he studied and wrote
about and became the vampire Tesla. For
two hundred years he terrorized the citizens of England by feeding on their
blood with the assistance of his werewolf servant Andreas Obry (Matt Willis).
Then in 1918, his reign of terror was put to a halt when scientists tracking him
put a railroad spike through his heart.
However during a Nazi bombing raid
twenty years later, the “undead” Tesla is freed from his confinement and
immediately seeks to avenge him imprisonment upon those who entombed him.
“The
Return Of The Vampire” is an interesting take on the vampire myth with Lugosi
playing his signature character under another name, but the twists that I like
about the film are that unlike Dracula, we know that Tesla was once a good
scientist whose damnation was a fate he accepted centuries ago and thus Tesla is
a more brooding version of the Vampire than Lugosi’s interpretation of the
Bram Stoker character decades before it became fashionable to portray self
loathing vampires on the screen. Made during World War II, the film also manages
to serve as a subtle incitement of the atrocities of war where the evil Nazi’s
are responsible for Tesla’s resurgence and so as we fight the evil of Tesla so
do we also strike a blow against the Axis Powers in the name of God and goodness
and the Allies! Not bad for a pre-cold war analogy. The film also contains a
strong undercurrent theme of redemption that shows that even when one has fallen
as low as they can go more than once in their lifetime, there is always a chance
at redemption and spiritual rebirth.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment presents “The Return Of The Vampire” to DVD with
a new digital down converted transfer from a new high definition master. The
transfer is far from perfect with nicks and artifacts from the source print
clearly visible on the screen, but while the film transfer does have consistent
grain throughout, at least an attempt was made to preserve the film as best as
possible so likely this might be the best version of “The Return Of The
Vampire” to ever be released. The film uses a lot of stock footage that is cut
into the film and is grainier in appearance than the feature. Again this should
not be viewed as a result of the digital transfer or from MPEG-2 compression.
The footage was probably noticeably different when the film first premiered back
in 1943. The English Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack is clear and free of
background noise and hissing. English Captions and Closed Captions and French,
Spanish, and Japanese Language Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options.
Widescreen
trailers for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “The Revenge Of Frankenstein”
are also included on this DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate. “The Return Of The Vampire” will debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, August 13, 2002 from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.