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

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
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
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

     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.

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

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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

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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.

     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.

     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.

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