Son of Dracula

[PNGwynne]

SPOILER: This is really a Mummy thread.

So I'm rewatching Son of Dracula on Svengooli. I like nearly everything in this film, except the casting of Chaney, Jr. He's just too stolid and one-dimensional to play the Vampire Lord. No charisma.

I keep thinking, Carradine (or Lugosi of course) would have been better. I'm not trying to start a Chaney "hate thread"--I just feel his casting really pulls down an otherwise slick, inventive film.

[enyawd72]

I disagree...I think it's one of the best in the Dracula series. Chaney displays a vitality and power in the role that wouldn't be seen until Christopher Lee. I especially like the scene where he first arrives at Dark Oaks following the death of Kay's father and the servant tries to turn him away. "I said announce me!"

[Werewolf]

I agree he is a bit ill cast as Dracula. But I feel he is still better in the role than Carradine. Carradine strikes me as way more birthday party magician than Dracula in House of Dracula. I feel Chaney does his best with the role and makes a physically imposing and threatening Dracula.

[enyawd72]

Carradine strikes me as way more birthday party magician than Dracula in House of Dracula.

LOL Werewolf...that is too funny!

Yeah, Carradine was my least favorite...he always seemed kinda like grandpa Dracula. (Pre-Munsters of course!)

[palitoy]

He's miscast, although I think he tries hard and I love the guy but suave ain't really his thing.

I do agree with the sentiment on Carradine though, never big on his Dracula either.

[PNGwynne]

You know, I can give you that about Carradine--and I'm pretty sure he lost his moustache at the end of [I]House of Frankenstein[/I ] lol. But I think he was also limited by the scripts. He had performed as Dracula on the stage, and Son of Dracula was a more vivid, meatier role.

I can't concede that Chaney is vital or very vibrant in the role. His height makes him imposing, but his facial characteristics and diction are lacking. He can't play suave, and there's not much chemistry between him and Allbritton. She so easily betrays him--can you imagine Lee tolerating that? As Dracula, he's trying to suppress the humanity that made him so effective as Talbot or Dynamo Dan and the result is staid IMO. I wouldn't compare him with Lee, but I think Lee is somewhat over-rated as Dracula: It's a dynamic but one-note portrayal.

So, barring Chaney, whom might Universal have cast? I always wanted to see Conrad Veidt as Dracula--he was in the running against Lugosi initially--but he died in '43.

*Palitoy beat me to the suave comment as I typed.

[Mikey]

I'd much rather they played the one with Harry Nilsson

[hedrap]

I'm not a big fan of either Lon or Carradine as Drac. They're too American. Always felt they should have just handed the role to the Spanish Drac.

To me it's ironic that Karloff would have been the best option for Drac after Lugosi, and Bela was better suited for Im Ho Tep but it wasn't possible because of Karloff and Lugosi.

[PNGwynne]

I can't imagine Lugosi positively as Imhotep--and The Mummy was basically a remake of Dracula tailored for Karloff. Karloff had physical aspects and an ascetic element to his mummy performance that Lugosi lacked IMO.

Maybe I should mail Tom Weaver and ask him--he's about as full of himself as I am lol.

With Son, I always think of Bram Stoker's Dracula: visually compelling, but deficient in central casting.

[hedrap]

When it comes to the Mummy, people remember bandaged Karloff because it fit his build, features, etc...but not Im Ho Tep because Boris is very stiff in the role, (pun for Pngy). Lugosi would have made Im Ho Tep very memorable due to the female obsession. Bela would have had passion, where Boris was just too proper and made it more wizardry.

EDIT: I've read the "Karloff's Dracula" idea, and can see his Im Ho Tep as Dracula, but within the story confines of Mummy, it doesn't work. It's like The Ghoul, there's something missing.

[PNGwynne]

No, Lugosi would have played it like Drac, which is inappropriate. For me, the reserve, the obsessive formality, the suggestion of a fragile revenant, makes Karloff's Imhotep great.

Look at the later formula Kharis films--nothing but shambling zombie riffs.

[hedrap]

But Kharis became "The Mummy" in movie pop culture, not Im Ho Tep. The Kharis/Ardeth Bey formula was the winner. No one looks at a Mummy, even in the 30's, and sees old wizardry. They see a zombie/ghost monster. Even the 90's Mummy films didn't change that iconography.

If The Mummy formula was Kharis and Bey, with Karloff and Lugosi, it would have been the Mummy film and arguably the best Uni Horror film of all. That's why to me, Hammer whooped Universal with their remake. Hammer distilled the elements and outside visuals, like highlighting the eyes, little was found in the Karloff film.

[TrekStar]

Chaney as Dracula was a take it or leave it for me, although we got see him in a monster role without his face hidden
in make up, the scene where he's floating across the swamp was pretty cool. We're just used to associate him
as the Wolfman his title role, but he's the only universal actor to play all 4 of the major monsters, and I think he did them well.

[enyawd72]

But Kharis became "The Mummy" in movie pop culture, not Im Ho Tep. The Kharis/Ardeth Bey formula was the winner. No one looks at a Mummy, even in the 30's, and sees old wizardry. They see a zombie/ghost monster. Even the 90's Mummy films didn't change that iconography.

If The Mummy formula was Kharis and Bey, with Karloff and Lugosi, it would have been the Mummy film and arguably the best Uni Horror film of all. That's why to me, Hammer whooped Universal with their remake. Hammer distilled the elements and outside visuals, like highlighting the eyes, little was found in the Karloff film.

I couldn't disagree more.

Karloff is the Mummy in pop culture, and the merchandising proves it. Karloff's Im-HoTep was an actual character, while Kharis is little more than a prop. Don't get me wrong, I love Chaney and Lee as Kharis, but there is only one original MUMMY.
Strictly looking at licensed merchandise,
Kharis has a Marx figure, Aurora model, Colgate Soaky, Horizon model, and Hasbro 12" figure. That's it.
Im-Ho-Tep has a Remco mini-monster, Remco 9" figure, Remco puppet, Hasbro 12" figure, U.S. postage stamp, Sideshow 8" figure, two different Sideshow 12" figures, Sideshow quarter scale figure, Sideshow life size bust, two different GeoMetric model kits, Moebius model kit, Diamond Select figure, EMCE figure, and a second Diamond Select figure on the way...

It's pretty clear who the most popular Mummy is, and it ain't Kharis.

[MIB41]

I think Lon Chaney Jr. gave an admirable job in the role but it was clearly not his strong suit. He could be imposing for his scale, but he lacked that presence which was essential to play this kind of role. Carradine was probably one of the most ill-cast Draculas I have ever seen during Universal's monster run. There was absolutely nothing about him that was imposing. He looked more like a grave digger than a vampire and his vocal quality could not have been more off the mark. I think Werewolf summed it up best by describing him as a "birthday party magician". That's about as accurate as it comes. I also think performances like Carradine's really set the whole image of vampirism ablaze with camp. Onslow Steven's performance as Dr. Franz Edelmann (transformed by his blood) only added fuel to that flame. That whole chase sequence between the villagers and Edelmann is the closest thing to a Looney Tunes cartoon brought to life, I have ever seen. It has to be one of the funniest non-intended moments of suspense in a horror film. I laugh hard every time I watch it. But I digress.

I think when it comes to Chaney and the Mummy image, you have to look at different eras for actor dominance. With the rebirth of the Universal Monsters in the 60's and 70's, it was definitely Chaney's image as the Mummy that adorned products like Aurora monster kits, figures like AHI monsters, and even the jigglers. It was a common sight to see Chaney's image as the Mummy adorned on everything. By the turn of the 80's though, the Karloff image took hold and that's when you started seeing the Remco figures with Karloff inspired artwork and that wave carried forward. I suspect Sarah Karloff played a big role in promoting her father's image since monster merchandise enjoyed another resurgence in the 80's and the video age was exploding. That was around the time when the estates of these actors really became a little more business savvy and got their ducks in a row regarding who could use their dad's likeness on product.