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Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

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Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (Blu-ray) (1931)

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (Blu-ray) (1931)

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Overall Package

     In the 1930s and 1940s Universal hit the jackpot with their horror films which put monster icons such as Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Invisible Man, the Mummy and the Wolf Man into the film mainstream.

     Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection includes the 6 Dracula themed films Universal made between 1931 and 1948, including the original Dracula which made a horror icon of Bela Lugosi. None of the sequels, including a couple of monster mashups, can match this classic film but some of them are decent and there is a very funny Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, in which, surprisingly, Bela Lugosi played Dracula for only the second time. All the films have been restored and look fabulous in HD making this Blu-ray collection excellent value for fans of Universal horror.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Tuesday, April 07, 2020
Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray)

Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray)

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Released 17-May-2017

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Featurette-The Road To Dracula (35:04)
Audio Commentary-David J. Skal (Film Historian)
Alternate Audio-New Music by Philip Glass performed by Kronos Quartet
Alternative Version-Dracula (1931) Spanish Version (103:16)
Theatrical Trailer-Lugosi: The Dark Prince (35:04)
Trivia-Monster Tracks Trivia Track
Featurette-Dracula: The Restoration (8:46)
Gallery-Dracula Archives (9:11)
Trailer-Trailers for four of the Universal Dracula films
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1931
Running Time 74:26
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Tod Browning
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Bela Lugosi
Helen Chandler
David Manners
Dwight Frye
Edward Van Sloan
Herbert Bunston
Frances Dade
Case ?
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
French dts 2.0
German dts 2.0
Italian dts 2.0
Spanish dts 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
German
French
Italian
Spanish
Swedish
Norwegian
Danish
Finnish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

"Listen to them.
Children of the night.
What music they make."

     In the 1930s Universal hit the jackpot with their monster / horror pictures starting with Dracula and Frankenstein (both 1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Invisible Man (1933). These were not the first horror films of course; there was a silent Frankenstein as early as 1910, the Dracula story had been filmed as Nosferatu in 1922 and Universal themselves had produced The Werewolf in 1913. However it was Universal in the 1930s that put monsters into the mainstream and Dracula was the film that set everything in motion.

     Renfield (Dwight Frye) travels to Transylvania to visit Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) with the documents for the Abbey Dracula has leased near Whitby in England. Renfield ignores the warnings of the locals, who say that Dracula is a vampire, and in Dracula’s gloomy castle that night Renfield becomes his slave, helping Dracula and his boxes of soil onto a ship bound for England. What the ship arrives in Whitby all the crew are dead and only a very demented Renfield is alive on board, who is transferred to the nearby sanatorium for the insane run by Doctor Seward (Herbert Bunston).

     As a new neighbour Dracula later introduces himself to Doctor Seward, Seward’s daughter Mina (Helen Chandler), her fiancé John Harker (David Manners) and her friend Lucy (Frances Dade). Dracula soon drinks the blood of Lucy, making her one of the undead, but his eyes are really on Mina, whom he also bites. Her father and fiancé cannot understand her change in character but visiting Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), who has come to the sanatorium to examine the insane Renfield, suspects that Dracula is a vampire. But can he get the others to believe him before Mina is lost to become undead forever?

     Dracula was released in 1931 when talking films were very new, indeed many theatres were not yet equipped for sound so a silent version of the film was also released. Dracula’s genesis was, of course, the novel by Bran Stoker but the film was itself based on the stage play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston; three of the performers in the 1927 American version of the stage play, Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan and Herbert Bunston, reprised their roles in the film. As a result, Dracula is very stagey in performance with slow and deliberate dialogue, expressive mannerisms and only a handful of tracking camera moves. Filmmakers at the time also did not think that audiences would accept music playing over the visuals, so in Dracula there is only Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake over the opening credits plus some other music when the characters meet during a symphony performance at Covent Garden.

     But what amazing visuals. Filmed by cinematographer Karl Freund this is German expressionist in Hollywood; Dracula’s castle with its sweeping staircase, cobwebs, shafts of light and shadow, his ghostly “wives” in white, flickering candles is visually stunning and atmospheric. Equally so the presence of Bela Lugosi, his deliberate dialogue delivery and accent, aristocratic and charming demeanour, piercing eyes and that black cloak all have become synonymous with Dracula ever since. Indeed, it is Lugosi and this film that has settled the iconography of Dracula for the last 90 years through many other filmed treatments while Lugosi, even for those who have not seen this version of the picture, will always be the vision one has of Dracula, which is pretty amazing as Lugosi played Dracula only once more, in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). The other standout performance is by Dwight Frye as the insane fly and spider eating Renfield, as maniacal as Lugosi is still and controlled. Frye gets as much screen time as anyone and is so effective that he, like Lugosi, became thereafter typecast.

     Dracula made a horror icon of Bela Lugosi and left a legacy and an iconography that survives to this day, almost 90 years after its release, which is not something that can be said of many films. What’s more Dracula, with its fabulous black and white atmospheric visuals and the mesmerising performances of Lugosi and Dwight Frye, remains a film that is still spooky and well worth watching today. This is really classic cinema and a film for the ages.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Dracula is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This is an almost 90 year old film which I doubt has ever looked better! This is a very clean restored print; there are some tiny flecks, a little aliasing against vertical surfaces and minor edge enhancement in one scene but nothing obvious or very noticeable. Many scenes take place at night, in Dracula’s castle, the crypt of the Abbey or outdoors, where the blacks, greyscale and shadow detail are excellent. Painted glass backgrounds in the mountains and elsewhere do look predictably soft but Dracula’s cloak is solid black, while the darkness in sequences is highlighted by sections of brilliant white, such as Renfield’s hat, Dracula’s white dinner shirt or the whites of the dresses of Mina and the “wives” in the castle. There is grain, mostly nicely controlled except for a few outside sequences in the fog.

     English for the hearing impaired, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles are available for both the film and the audio commentary.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio choices are English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono), Italian, French, German and Spanish dubs in DTS 2.0, plus the English audio commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0).

     Dialogue was always easy to understand. There was little by way of effects except carriage wheels, the roaring wind in the storm sequence, bat’s wings flapping or wolf howls in the distance and many scenes were silent without effects or music which, as noted in the review, only accompanied the opening credits and one scene at the symphony orchestra. Obviously there is no surround or subwoofer use.

     With little effects and no music some scenes had a very slight hiss although no crackle was present.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

100 Years of Universal (2:28)

     This promotion for Universal Pictures plays on start-up.

Dracula (1931) Spanish Version (103:16)

     A fabulous extra, this Spanish version was made simultaneously with the English version, using the same sets; English crew by day, Spanish by night but as the Spanish crew had been able to watch the dailies of the English version they make their own improvements, so much so that some maintain that this Spanish version is technically a better film. Starring Carlos Villarias (Count Dracula), Lupita Tovar (Eva), Eduardo Arozamena (Van Helsing), Barry Norton (Harker) and Pablo Alvarez Rubio (Renfield), directed by George Melford, this Dracula is certainly a sexier version and runs 30 minutes longer with extended and additional scenes containing a fair bit of exposition; some is useful, but others slow down the pacing of the film. This version can be played with or without a lively introduction by actress Lupita Tover Kohner (4:14); it is also restored by Universal and looks very good except for scenes when Renfield visits Dracula’s castle which have a wide range of artefacts; the restoration extra mentions having to source some poor elements. In any case, this is a wonderful opportunity to compare versions. Audio is Spanish DTS-MA HD 2.0, and with the same range of subtitles available as for the English language film.

The Road to Dracula (35:04)

     Made in 1999, this extra is hosted by Carla Laemmle, niece of Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures. As a young girl Carla had a small part in Dracula and in fact spoke the first words in the film. Using stills, drawings, posters and film footage, plus comments by a range of film historians, including David J. Skal, author / filmmaker Clive Barker, Bela Lugosi’s son, make-up artist Rick Baker, Universal archivist Jan-Christopher Horak and others, the featurette looks at Bram Stoker’s novel, including his working notes, the development of the character of Dracula through early film treatments including Nosferatu, the various stage adaptations in England and America, Bela Lugosi was Dracula on stage but was not first choice to play him on screen, the other cast of Dracula and the director Tod Browning, filming the English and Spanish versions at the same time and some of the differences between the two versions, the impact of the film and how Lugosi set the mould for all future Draculas. Still an excellent companion piece to the film.

Lugosi: The Dark Prince (35:04)

     Made in 2006, a range of people including authors / screenwriters Gregory William Mank, Peter Atkins, Kim Newman, Christopher Wicking, Ramsey Campbell, film historian Sir Christopher Frayling, producer Richard Gordon and directors Joe Dante, Jimmy Sangster talk about Lugosi the man, his performance as Dracula that became the model for all those who followed and his subsequent, often sad, film career including the number of films Lugosi and Boris Karloff appeared in together, Lugosi’s legacy. This extra includes film clips and posters from a number of those films.

Dracula: The Restoration (8:46)

     For Universal’s 100th Anniversary their centennial project was to restore 100 of their classic films. Dracula (both English and Spanish versions) was one. Made in 2012 various individuals at Universal explain how the restoration was done including some before and after comparisons.

Monster Tracks

     Watch the film with a trivia and information track.

Alternative Score by Philip Glass

     The Swan Lake music over the opening credits is dispensed with and the film plays with an score by Philip Glass performed by the Kronos Quartet. The music is almost continuous; sometimes it aids to the atmosphere but to my mind it often feels intrusive and strident when a more restrained score might have been a better match. Each to their own, of course, and it is good to have this track as an option.

Feature Audio Commentary

     Film historian David J. Skal provides a non-stop, entertaining, and well researched commentary. He talks about the careers of the stars of the film and the director, identifies minor players, continuity lapses and Biblical and Shakespearian references, he reviews vampire literature and lore from the early 1800s and discusses the variations between the novel, the various stage plays and the English and Spanish versions of the film. Along the way he quotes from the novel, the play’s script and the film’s shooting script. This is fabulous, a recommended listen.

Dracula Archives (9:11)

     Over 250 colour film posters in various languages, black and white film stills and publicity stills which advance automatically with music.

Trailer Gallery (6:22)

     Trailers for four of the Universal Dracula films. All are unrestored. There is a play all option:

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     There have been numerous releases of Dracula over the years. This Blu-ray release has most of the extras currently available in the US except for an additional commentary by Steve Haberman. The film is also included in the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below).

Summary

     How good is this original Dracula? The answer is very good! Released in 1931, with its fabulous black and white expressionist visuals and mesmerising performances it made a horror icon of Bela Lugosi and left a legacy that survives to this day. All subsequent Dracula films, and they have been numerous, owe their iconography to this, original, Dracula, the film whose success paved the way for all the subsequent Universal monsters.

     Here is your chance to check out the classic original film in glorious HD. The film looks marvellous on Blu-ray, the audio is the original mono, and the extras are extensive, interesting and informative, resulting in a fabulous Blu-ray package.

     Dracula is available as a stand-alone Blu-ray but it is also included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which also has Dracula’s Daughter (1936), and Son of Dracula (1943) on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by itself on the fourth, a collection that is great value for fans of Universal horror.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, April 02, 2020
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936)

Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936)

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Released

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1936
Running Time 71:09
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Lambert Hillyer
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Otto Kruger
Gloria Holden
Marguerite Churchill
Edward Van Sloan
Gilbert Emery
Irving Emery
Case ?
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
French
Spanish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Dracula’s Daughter begins immediately after the conclusion of Dracula (1931): two English Bobbies enter the crypt of Carfax Abbey to find two bodies, Count Dracula and Renfield, plus Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) (called Von Helsing in the credits) who admits to killing Dracula. The two bodies are taken to the local Police Station in Whitby while Van Helsing is arrested and taken to Scotland Yard; there he is interviewed by Commissioner Sir Basil Humphrey (Gilbert Emery), who of course refuses to accept Van Helsing’s story or the existence of vampires. Van Helsing nominates psychiatrist Jeffery Garth (Otto Kruger), one of his previous pupils, to help prove otherwise. Meanwhile, the Police Station in Whitby is visited by the mysterious Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), Dracula’s daughter. She hypnotises the policeman and takes Dracula’s body and that night, helped by her servant Sandor (Irving Pichel), she burns the body believing that with the destruction of Dracula’s body she will be able to break the spell of vampirism and live a normal life in London.

     Such is not to be, for she cannot restrain her urges to kill and to drink the blood of her victims. At a dinner party she meets Garth and his assistant Janet (Marguerite Churchill) and starts to visit Garth in his professional capacity believing that he may be able to help her to break the spell and save her soul. Zaleska’s urges, however, cannot be contained and more victims are drained of blood; Garth suspects that the Countess is the vampire, alerting Van Helsing and Sir Basil. But before they can act Countess Zaleska and Sandor abduct Janet and flee to the Dracula family castle in Transylvania. Accepting that she can never get rid of the curse, the Countess’ price for the release of Janet is that Garth joins her in eternal life. The race is on!

     Dracula (1931) was such a success for Universal that, as with their other horror franchises, Frankenstein, the Mummy or the Wolf Man, a sequel was inevitable. With Bela Lugosi’s non-involvement the sequel took five years to emerge. Based on a story by John L. Balderston, one of the writers of the stage play upon which Dracula was based, Dracula’s Daughter is anything but the weak exploitation of an earlier film that other monster franchise sequels became. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, who ended up with 167 credits listed on the IMDb spanning 1917 to 1956, including the 1943 Batman serial, and filmed by cinematographer George Robinson, who had shot the Spanish language version of Dracula, Dracula’s Daughter remains a horror film with some atmospheric visuals but by concentrating upon a female protagonist who is trying to change her birthright and to save her soul the film becomes more of a psychological drama, and a decent one in its own right at that. There is also a strand of humour that runs through the film, helping to alleviate some of the darker moments. As the Countess Gloria Holden is both chilling and beautiful with a strong screen presence, while Edward Van Sloan reprises his Professor Van Helsing role from the earlier film. Irving Pichel is a familiar face as the creepy Sandor; among his roles was Apollodorus in Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra (1934) with Claudette Colbert.

     As a sequel to a classic film, Dracula’s Daughter is far better than one might expect. The story of a vampire who tries to break the spell and live a normal life, and tragically failing, is intriguing and helps make Dracula’s Daughter well worth a look.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Dracula’s Daughter is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Dracula’s Daughter looks great for an 80+ year old film that was hardly a high profile title. It has been restored and blacks, greyscale and shadow detail are good, the close-ups clean. There is controlled grain and this is a nice clean print without obvious marks or artefacts except for occasional motion blur.

     Clear white subtitles are available in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono).

     Dialogue was easy to understand. The effects are as one might expect in a film of this vintage but there are not a lot of them anyway except for the occasional scream or gunshot, the crackles of the fire. On the other hand the score, by an uncredited Heinz Roemheld, is quite prominent and intrusive. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation was good.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Theatrical Trailer (1:24)

     On start-up you are asked to select Dracula’s Daughter or Son of Dracula to watch. The selected film commences without a further menu, but you can use the pop-up menu via the remote to select chapters, subtitles and the film’s unrestored theatrical trailer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Blu-ray release of Dracula’s Daughter starts with the US FBI antipiracy warning. There is a Region A US stand-alone Blu-ray, with only the trailer as an extra. Here the film is released as part of the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below) which is also available in other regions.

Summary

     Dracula’s Daughter is a better than expected follow up to the classic Dracula of 1931. Without the contribution of THE Dracula, Bela Lugosi, Dracula’s Daughter takes a different, and interesting, approach to the Dracula legend. Gloria Holden is beautiful and chilling helping to make this story of a female vampire, seeking to break her birthright, one for fans of classic horror to check out.

     Dracula’s Daughter looks very good in HD, the audio is the original mono. A trailer is the only extra, although you also get Son of Dracula on the same Blu-ray.

     Dracula’s Daughter is included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which has Dracula (1931) and copious extras on one Blu-ray, Dracula’s Daughter and Son of Dracula (1943) on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by itself plus extras on the fourth, a collection that is great value for fans of classic Universal horror.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Saturday, April 04, 2020
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943)

Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943)

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Released

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1943
Running Time 80:16
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Robert Siodmak
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Robert Paige
Louise Allbritton
Evelyn Ankers
Frank Craven
J. Edward Bromberg
Lon Chaney Jr
Case ?
RPI ? Music Hans J. Salter


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
French
Spanish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) of the Dark Oaks Plantation in southern USA eagerly awaits the arrival of Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr), whom she met in Hungary and invited to America. As the train bringing his trunks arrives during daylight hours of course Alucard (which is Dracula spelt backwards) is not on board, although he does put in an appearance that night to suck the blood of and kill Katherine’s father, Dracula’s first victim in America. Katherine’s sister Claire (Evelyn Ankers), their family physician Doctor Brewster (Frank Craven) and especially Katherine’s fiancé Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) cannot understand her fascination with the Count. Doctor Brewster becomes suspicious when his enquiries fail to turn up any Hungarian family with the name of Alucard and he contacts Professor Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg), a Hungarian expert on the occult, for advice. Frank also becomes suspicious and rightly so; one night he tries to follow Katherine when she goes to meet Dracula, but loses them. He returns to Dark Oaks to be told by the couple that they are now married. During a fight Frank shoots Dracula, but the bullets pass straight through him and kill Katherine, who falls to the floor. Demented, Frank flees into the night and stumbles into Doctor Brewster’s house, telling the doctor what he has done. Doctor Brewster goes to Dark Oaks, to find that Katherine is very much alive.

     Next morning Frank goes to the Sheriff to confess to killing Katherine and is arrested. Doctor Brewster assures the Sheriff that he saw Katherine alive the night before; the Sheriff does not believe him and the group visit Dark Oaks and find the body of Katherine in a coffin in the family crypt. So now Frank is jailed and the Doctor considered an accessory. In jail that night Frank is visited by Katherine, who, of course, is now one of the undead. She tells Frank that she loves only him; she drinks his blood and urges him to destroy the Count so that the two of them can live forever together. Meanwhile Professor Lazlo, who has arrived in town, and Doctor Brewster set out themselves to find Dracula’s coffin and destroy him.

     Son of Dracula, the second sequel to 1931’s classic Dracula, owes nothing to the original story and instead moves the location to the USA for a rather slow paced and twisted love story. The film was directed by Robert Siodmak, who was Oscar nominated for the excellent noir thriller The Killers (1946) with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, but the pace of that film is not evident here. Son of Dracula was based on a story by Curt Siodmak, who had written the screenplay for The Wolf Man (1941) which made a horror star of Lon Chaney Jr, allowing him to step out of the shadow of his famous silent screen actor father. Thereafter Chaney Jr became Universal’s go-to monster actor of the 1940s, appearing as The Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, five films as the Wolf Man and, in this film, Count Dracula.

     Chaney is a big man with a strong physical presence that worked well as the Wolf Man but as Dracula he is more a brute force lacking the aristocratic foreign charm that, for example, Bela Lugosi brought to the part. Chaney’s Dracula is no aristocrat; he has no qualms about what he is and is prepared to use physical violence to achieve his ends.Louise Allbritton is fine as the female vampire, doing what she does out of a twisted kind of love, while Evelyn Ankers, who was also in The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), does not have a lot to do, and J. Edward Bromberg as Professor Lazlo is the Van Helsing type character.

     Son of Dracula is a rather standard horror film without any of anguish about being a vampire that was so nicely done in the first Dracula sequel, Dracula’s Daughter (1936). It is dated by a couple of things as well; the Negro servants that everyone seems to have and the repeated dialogue that Dracula has come to America to a young and virile country, as opposed to the deadness of his home. In 1943, when this film was made and Europe was in the midst of war, the significance for American audiences would not be unintentional.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Son of Dracula is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Son of Dracula looks great for an almost 80 year old film that was hardly a high profile title. It has been restored and blacks, greyscale and shadow detail are good, the close-ups clean. There is controlled grain and this is a nice clean print without obvious marks or artefacts except for occasional motion blur.

     Clear white subtitles are available in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono).

     Dialogue was easy to understand. The effects are as expected in a film of this vintage; there are not a lot of them anyway except for flapping bat’s wings, the occasional gunshot or car engine, the crackles of the fire. On the other hand the score, by Hans J. Salter, who received four Oscar nominations and composed scores in many genres, including other Universal horror films including Son of Frankenstein (1939) and The Mummy’s Hand (1940), is loud and strident, signalling, for example, the appearance of Dracula with obvious cues. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Theatrical Trailer (1:37)

     On start-up you are asked to select Dracula’s Daughter or Son of Dracula to watch. The selected film commences without a further menu, but you can use the pop-up menu via the remote to select chapters, subtitles and the film’s unrestored theatrical trailer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Blu-ray release of Son of Dracula starts with the US FBI antipiracy warning. There is a Region A US stand-alone Blu-ray, with only the trailer as an extra. Here the film is released as part of the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below) which is also available in other regions.

Summary

     Made more than a decade after the original and classic Dracula, Son of Dracula is a standard monster horror story with no real connection to the original. It still has some good moments, mostly due to the performance and dark beauty of Louise Allbritton as a women who chooses eternal life as one of the undead. In The Wolf Man (1941), his signature role, Lon Chaney Jr, brought to his performance both physicality and a sadness and vulnerability that is touching and elicits our sympathy. Any such subtlety is not in evidence here as Dracula, which I guess sums up the film as well.

     Son of Dracula looks very good in HD, the audio is the original mono. A trailer is the only extra, although you also get Dracula’s Daughter on the same Blu-ray.

     Son of Dracula is included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which has Dracula (1931) and copious extras on one Blu-ray, Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by itself plus extras on the fourth, a collection that is great value for fans of Universal horror.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, April 06, 2020
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945)

House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945)

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Released 17-May-2017

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1945
Running Time 67:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Erle C. Kenton
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Lon Chaney Jr
John Carradine
Onslow Stevens
Martha O’Driscoll
Jane Adams
Glenn Strange

Case ?
RPI ? Music Hans J Salter


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
French
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     As The House of Dracula opens Baron Latos / Count Dracula (John Carradine) arrives at the castle where scientist Dr Edlemann (Onslow Stevens) is conducting his experiments aided by his humpbacked assistant Nina (Jane Adams). Ostensibly Dracula is seeking a cure for his curse of vampirism / immortality; Edlemann accepts the challenge, believing that blood transfusions may help, unaware that the real reason for Dracula’s arrival is because Dracula wants to possess Edlemann’s attractive assistant Miliza Morelle (Martha O’Driscoll). Shortly afterwards Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) also arrives at the castle, also seeking a cure, or at least a way to die, from his curse of lycanthropy.

     With the full moon due, Talbot turns himself in to the local police to avoid killing anyone; Dr Edlemenn and the local police are at first sceptical that Larry can turn into a werewolf but when the transformation takes place before their eyes, Edlemann agrees to try to cure Larry. The next night Larry, in distress and afraid of what he might do, throws himself off a cliff into the sea. Edlemann, believing that Larry may have been washed into one of the caves at the bottom of the cliff, has himself lowered down the cliff face and indeed finds Larry. But the discoveries do not end there; in the cave they find, encased in mud, the skeleton of Dr Niemann (from The House of Frankenstein) and Frankenstein’s Monster , which is comatose but still alive and is taken to the basement of Edlemann’s castle.

     Then things happen all at once. Dracula makes a play on Miliza, the blood transfusions between Dracula and Dr Edlemann start to turn Edlemann into a vampire, and a crazed scientist. Edlemann performs an operation which may cure Talbot, but also tries to revive the Monster. With the village mob at the castle gates, baying for blood, monsters fight and it all comes to a fiery end.

     The trailer for House of Frankenstein promised five monsters, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mad Doctor and the Hunchback, and the trailer for House of Dracula, made the year after with the same screenwriter, Edward T. Lowe, and same director , Erle C. Kenton, also promised Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mad Doctor and the Hunchback. However, while Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine and Glenn Strange return as The Wolf Man / Larry Talbot, Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster respectively, Boris Karloff’s mad doctor Niemann has been replaced by mad doctor Edlemann (Onslow Stevens) and the murderous Hunchback (J. Carrol Naish) is now a rather pleasant, and not at all monstrous, woman hunchback played by Jane Adams so the advertising seems somewhat disingenuous. In the plus column, however, is that John Carradine has far more screen time this time round, as does Lon Chaney Jr, although the Monster again still has little to do and no dialogue; instead poor Glenn Strange was encased in hours in cold liquid mud, and the story is that Lon Chaney Jr passed him a bottle of whiskey between takes to keep warm! Indeed, in House of Dracula The Wolf Man is a hero, not a monster, and ends up cured, a happy result amid all the mayhem at the climax of the film.

     House of Dracula takes place some years after the events of House of Frankenstein, with some of the same characters but continuity is not high on the list of priorities. At the climax of House of Frankenstein Dr Niemann and the Monster are swallowed by quicksand and disappear; in House of Dracula Dr Edlemann finds the skeleton of Dr Niemann and the body of the Monster encased in mud, which does explain how the Monster is still around, but both Dracula and The Wolf Man died in House of Frankenstein, one by exposure to sunlight, the other by being shot with a silver bullet, but both just turn up in House of Dracula without comment or explanation. Indeed, House of Dracula is even more of a mixed bag than House of Frankenstein, with some plotting which makes little sense, contrivances and characters who have very little to do.

     House of Dracula is the fourth film in which Lon Chaney Jr plays the Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man character. This time he has more to do than in House of Frankenstein and does it well while John Carradine is a decent Dracula. However, by now the monster mishmash was wearing a bit thin and Onslow Stevens lacks the charisma of Boris Karloff’s mad doctor. Still worth a look for fans, however.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     House of Dracula is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     It this film really 70 years old? House of Dracula looks fabulous with strong, clear detail except in a couple of external sequences such as where Talbot throws himself over the cliff. There is light grain in some sequences but otherwise this is a clean print without obvious marks or artefacts. Blacks, greyscale and shadow detail are very good.

     English for the hearing impaired, Spanish and French subtitles are available.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The only audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono).

     Dialogue was always easy to understand. The effects, such as the hostile crowd, the electrical crackles and buzz or the surf are crisp and provide a good audio experience for a mono track. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use. The excellent score is score by Hans J Salter.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Trailer (1:26)

     On start-up you are required first to select Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man , House of Frankenstein or House of Dracula to watch. The selected film commences without a further menu, but you can use the pop-up menu via the remote to select pause, chapters, subtitles and the film’s unrestored trailer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Blu-ray release of House of Dracula starts with the US FBI antipiracy warning. There is not a listing for an individual Blu-ray of the film but it is included in both The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection and the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below) which are available locally and in other regions. Buy local.

Summary

     But the time of House of Dracula the formula was wearing a bit thin and, other than Lon Chaney Jr and John Carradine, the cast list was not as strong as the earlier Wolf Man films. Nevertheless, House of Dracula is worth watching for Chaney and Carradine and the film is still a lot of fun.

     The film looks good on Blu-ray, the audio is the original mono. A trailer is the only extra, although you get three Wolf Man films on the same Blu-ray.

     House of Dracula is included in Universal’s 4 Blu-ray The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection which has Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula on one Blu-ray, Werewolf of London (1935) and She-Wolf of London (1946) on another and The Wolf Man (1941) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by themselves on a Blu-ray, a collection that is great value for fans of Universal horror.

     House of Dracula is also included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which has Dracula (1931) on one Blu-ray, Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula (1943) on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by itself plus extras on the fourth.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Friday, September 15, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray)

House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 17-May-2017

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1944
Running Time 70:25
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Erle C. Kenton
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Boris Karloff
Lon Chaney Jr.
John Carradine
Anne Gwynne
Peter Coe
Lionel Atwill
George Zucco
Elena Verdugo
Sig Ruman
William Edmunds
Charles F. Miller
Philip Van Zandt
Julius Tannen
Case ?
RPI ? Music Hans J. Salter


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
French
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Scientist Dr Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff), caught while trying to replicate Dr Frankenstein’s experiment, has been in prison for fifteen years. With the hunchbacked Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) he escapes in a storm, intending to get revenge on those who testified against him. They come across the wagon of Professor Lampini (George Zucco), who travels to fairs with various curiosities and horrors including, he states, the skeleton of Dracula which still has the wooden stake through its heart. Niemann has Daniel kill Lampini and he assumes his identity.

     They travel to the village where Hussman (Sig Ruman), one of the men who testified against him, is Burgomaster. Hussman is now a grandfather, and his grandson Carl (Peter Coe) and Carl’s wife Rita (Anne Gwynne) are visiting the village on their honeymoon. They all visit the display of curiosities and later Niemann removes the stake from the skeleton and Count Dracula (John Carradine) is reformed. Niemann sends Dracula to kill Hussman; Dracula succeeds but he diverges from the plan and abducts Rita in his carriage. Chased by Carl and the police, Dracula crashes and dies when he is exposed to the rising sun.

     Niemann and Daniel move on to their next destination, the village where Frankenstein’s castle is in ruins, having been destroyed, as we saw, in the end of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Niemann is hoping to find Frankenstein’s experiment records and promises Daniel that if they succeed he will be able to operate on Daniel to fix his deformity. There are gypsies in the village and Daniel is besotted by a gypsy girl, Ilonka (Elena Verdugo), he sees dancing. Daniel later sees Ilonka being beaten; he rescues her and takes her with them as they move on to camp beneath the ruins of Frankenstein’s castle.

     Niemann and Daniel enter the ruins and in the lower reaches of the castle they discover, frozen in ice, Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr) and the Monster (Glenn Strange). They build a fire and thaw out the two bodies; Talbot, who only wanted to die so that he would not kill again as the werewolf, is distraught, but when Niemann tells Talbot that he may be able to operate on his brain to cure him, Talbot helps him to find Frankenstein’s records. The Monster, however, has degenerated significantly and is comatose. The next step for Niemann is to take them all to his old laboratory, restore his apparatus, and operate on Daniel, the Monster and Talbot.

     On that journey complications arise when Ilonka becomes attracted to Talbot, causing Daniel to become jealous. They arrive at Niemann’s old house and laboratory and discover the equipment is not badly in need of repair. However, it is not ready for Niemann to operate on Talbot; indeed, he prefers to concentrate on reviving the Monster but as it is the full moon Talbot transforms into The Wolf Man and kills a man in the village. Ilonka becomes aware of Talbot’s lycanthropy, but is in love and determined to help. Everything happens at once the next night, another night of the full moon; Talbot turns into the Wolf Man, Niemann revives the Monster, Daniel’s resentment boils over and the villagers arrive at the gates of the castle with flaming torches.

     Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was the first film which paired two of Universal’s classic monsters, but obviously the more the better and so the trailer for House of Frankenstein promises five monsters, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mad Doctor and the Hunchback, and five times the horror. Like many films which bring together different franchises, such as in more recent times the Marvel Universe, House of Frankenstein is uneven, episodic, short changes on monster action and ends up, monster-wise, as two separate stories because Dracula dies well before The Wolf Man and the Monster appear. Nor do the Wolf Man and the Monster fight; indeed the Monster has very little to do, and no dialogue. However, what makes the film work as well as it does is the exceptional cast.

     The incomparable Boris Karloff, who was the first to bring to life two of the great Universal monsters, appearing as both Imhotep in The Mummy and as the Monster in Frankenstein, needs no introduction. Nor does Lon Chaney Jr in his third film as The Wolf Man, probably the most sympathetic of Universal’s monsters. Dracula, this time, is played by John Carradine, father of Keith and David; he has an astounding (and record) 351 credits listed on the IMDb and with his tall, cadaverous features and deep voice is a decent Dracula, although in truth he does not get much screen time. J. Carrol Naish was nominated twice for Oscars, the second for Sahara (1943), a war film which starred Humphrey Bogart. He has 224 credits listed on the IMDb, more frequently in westerns or adventure films than horror although, with some irony, his last film role was as Dr Frankenstein in Dracula vs. Dr Frankenstein (1971).

     The two earlier films featuring The Wolf Man were both written by Curt Siodmak who gave the character of Talbot some depth and pathos, as a distressed man who only wants to die because of the curse upon him. Siodmak provided the story for House of Frankenstein but it was written by Edward T. Lowe, an experienced screenwriter with credits going back to 1912 who had written The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) which starred Lon Chaney Sr! He does what he can, but in trying to fit too many monsters into the film’s short running time character and sympathy is lost. However director Erle C. Kenton, who himself had 143 credits on the IMDb, including The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) in which Lon Chaney Jr played the Monster, keeps things moving along nicely, helped by an impressive Hans J. Salter score and the atmospheric black and white photography of cinematographer George Robinson, who had 185 credits including a spate of these Universal horror films including Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

     House of Frankenstein is the third film in which Lon Chaney Jr plays the Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man character but whereas the first two, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, concentrated upon his character in House of Frankenstein he is a bit player, although not as short-changed as the Monster or Dracula. Chaney is still very good as a conflicted and sympathetic character but the film really belongs to Boris Karloff and J. Carrol Naish, and there is nothing wrong with that for fans of Universal horror.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

     House of Frankenstein is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     It this film really 70 years old? House of Frankenstein looks fabulous with strong, clear detail. There is light grain in some sequences but otherwise this is a very clean print without obvious marks or artefacts. Blacks, greyscale and shadow detail, such the scenes in the rain or in the ruins of the castle, are very good.

     English for the hearing impaired, Spanish and French subtitles are available.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The only audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono).

     Dialogue was always easy to understand. The effects, such as the hostile crowd, were crisp, the electrical crackles and buzz where Niemann is experimenting on the monsters is loud and sounds great and provides a good audio experience for a mono track. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use. The excellent score is by Hans J Salter.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Trailer (1:40)

     On start-up you are required first to select Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man , House of Frankenstein or House of Dracula to watch. The selected film commences without a further menu, but you can use the pop-up menu via the remote to select pause, chapters, subtitles and the film’s unrestored trailer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Blu-ray release of House of Frankenstein starts with the US FBI antipiracy warning. The film does not appear to be available anywhere as a stand-alone Blu-ray but is part of both The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection and the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below) available locally and in other regions. Buy local.

Summary

     House of Frankenstein is the first of the ensemble Universal monster films, advertising (breathlessly) in its trailer five monsters, all in one film. With such a group, and a running time of a scant 70 minutes, it is inevitable that many of the monsters will get short-changed and indeed, monster against monster action is limited. However, a great cast, atmospheric black and white visuals and a good score result in a film that is good fun and one that will please fans.

     The film looks good on Blu-ray, the audio is the original mono. A trailer is the only extra, although you get three Wolf Man films on the same Blu-ray.

     House of Frankenstein is included in Universal’s 4 Blu-ray The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection which has Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula (1945) on one Blu-ray, Werewolf of London (1935) and She-Wolf of London (1946) on another and The Wolf Man (1941) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by themselves on a Blu-ray, a collection that is great value for fans of Universal horror.

     House of Frankenstein is also included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which has Dracula (1931) on one Blu-ray, Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula (1943) on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) by itself plus extras on the fourth.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE
Overall | Dracula (1931) (Blu-ray) | Dracula's Daughter (Blu-ray) (1936) | Son of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1943) | House of Dracula (Blu-ray) (1945) | House of Frankenstein (1944) (Blu-ray) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Blu-ray) (1948)

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Released 17-May-2017

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Audio Commentary-Film historian Gregory W Mank
Featurette-Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters (33:18)
Featurette-100 Years of Universal: The Lot (9:25)
Featurette-100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters (8:18)
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1948
Running Time 82:47
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Charles Barton
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Lon Cheney Jr.
Bela Lugosi
Lenore Aubert
Jane Randolph
Glenn Strange


Case ?
RPI ? Music Frank Skinner


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
French
Spanish
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Chick (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur (Lou Costello), who for some reason incomprehensible to Chick has the sophisticated and beautiful Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert) madly in love with him, are storemen in New York who deliver a shipment of two crates, sent from Europe, to McDougal’s House of Horror. Unknown to the pair, inside the two crates are Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange). The two monsters revive and leave; Wilbur sees them but Chick doesn’t and of course does not believe Wilbur! A few days later Larry Talbot / The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) arrives from London, seeking to locate and destroy Dracula and the Monster; he finds Chick and Wilbur and tries to enlist their help although he is hampered because it is the time of the full moon and he cannot help transforming into a werewolf. Attractive insurance investigator Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph) is also trying the find the missing contents of the crates; thinking that Wilbur may know she also expresses her love for him. So now Wilbur has two attractive women competing for his affection.

     In reality, Sandra is in league with Dracula. She intends to lure Wilbur to the castle on the lake and there operate to remove his brain and graft it into the Monster’s body for, as Dracula notes, he wants in the Monster a simple and pliable brain that is easily controlled, and Wilbur fits the prescription perfectly! On a night of the full moon Talbot, Wilbur, Chick and Joan arrive at the castle for a night of monster mayhem.

     It was the fate of many of the famous Universal monsters, including Frankenstein, Dracula, the Invisible Man and the Wolf Man, to go from objects of fear to objects of fun when they were paired with Universal’s ace comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The first, wildly successful, crossover was this film, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, in 1948.

     Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the second highest grossing film that year for Universal, it still has an 88% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes and, of course, it spawned a number of Abbott and Costello Meet . . . films. The film does not feature any of the more usual Abbott and Costello verbal routines but most other things are in place: sight gags, pratfalls, disappearing monsters, hidden passageways, revolving walls and pure confusion. The monster cast are fabulous; Lon Cheney Jr. is the Wolf Man, playing the character here for the fifth, and last time in this original series, while Glenn Strange is the Monster for the third time, after House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945), and at least in this one gets to speak. Bela Lugosi will always be associated with Dracula, although, surprisingly, he only played the character twice, in the original Dracula (1931) and in this film, seventeen years later.

     Quite simply, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is still tremendous fun.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

     Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     The film looks pretty good. Backgrounds can be occasionally soft but faces and close-ups are firm. There is controlled grain but otherwise this is a clean print without obvious marks or artefacts. Blacks are strong, greyscale and shadow detail are good.

     Subtitles are available in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The only audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono).

     Dialogue was always easy to understand. The effects, including the electrical buzz to revive the monster, slaps and the music are nice and crisp. There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use. The music supervisor is Joseph Gershenson but there is no credit for the score as such.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation was occasionally out but nothing serious.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     The film commences without a menu, but you can access the extras using the pop up menu on the remote.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters (33:18)

     Made in 2000 and hosted by David J. Skal this is an excellent featurette. Using stills, film footage and rare outtakes, plus comments by Ron Palumbo, co-author of Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, collector Bob Burns, film historian Bob Madison plus Chris Costello (daughter of Lou) and Bela G. Lugosi (son of Bela), the featurette concentrates on the making of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, including the casting, script, the director, the firing of make-up artist Jack Pierce and shenanigans on set but it also looks at the early career of Bub and Lou as well as the subsequent “meet the monster” films they made.

Theatrical Trailer (1:40)

Feature Commentary

     This is an excellent commentary by film historian Gregory W Mank. It is well researched and Mank is amusing and knowledgeable as he discusses production details, on-set antics and conflicts, anecdotes, the career of all the main cast and the director, the budget of the film, cast salaries, the cost of sets and effects and the reactions to the film.

100 Years of Universal: The Lot (9:25)

     This extra was also included on The Wolf Man Blu-ray in the The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection. The featurette is a look at the Universal back lot where sets for films such as Psycho and Spartacus still stand as well as the sound stages and some of the films that were made there. Additional comments from some of the people who have filmed on the lot including directors Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Peter Berg, John Landis, Ron Howard and John Carpenter and actors including Dan Aykroyd and Meryl Streep.

100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters (8:18)

     A quick flick through some of Universal’s characters with monsters including Dracula, non-human characters from Jaws to ET, humans bad, such as Norman Bates and Tony Montana, “good”, Spartacus to Jason Bourne, the Blues Brothers and Back to the Future. Pure promo!

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     This Blu-ray release of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein starts with the US FBI antipiracy warning. There is a US Region A/B release of the film which includes the same extras as this release. However, there does not seem to be a release of the film in Australia except as part of both The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection and the Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection (see the summary below).

Summary

     Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, horror icons Lon Cheney Jr. and Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolf Man (here completing his transformation to one of the good guys) conniving women, jokes and scares are a recipe for entertainment and fun that has not dimmed. Fans, or anyone who likes a laugh, will not be disappointed.

     The film looks good on Blu-ray, the audio is the original mono. The extras are very good.

     Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is included in Universal’s 4 Blu-ray The Wolf Man: Complete Legacy Collection which has Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on one Blu-ray, Werewolf of London (1935) and She-Wolf of London (1946) on another and The Wolf Man (1941) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein by themselves on a Blu-ray, a collection that is great value for fans of Universal horror.

     Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is also included in Universal’s 4 disc Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection which has Dracula (1931) and copious extras on one Blu-ray, Dracula’s Daughter (1936) and Son of Dracula (1943) on one Blu-ray, House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) on another Blu-ray, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein by itself plus extras on the fourth.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE