The Fantastic Disappearing Man (1958)
"The Return of Dracula" (original title)

After a vampire leaves his native Balkans, he murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves in with the dead man's American cousins.

Director:

Paul Landres

Writer:

Pat Fielder (original screenplay)

Stars:

Francis Lederer, Norma Eberhardt, Ray Stricklyn

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Francis Lederer	...	Count Dracula, posing as Bellac Gordal
Norma Eberhardt	...	Rachel Mayberry
Ray Stricklyn	...	Tim Hansen
John Wengraf	...	John Merriman
Virginia Vincent	...	Jennie Blake
Gage Clarke	...	Reverend Doctor Whitfield
Jimmy Baird	...	Mickey Mayberry
Greta Granstedt	...	Cora Mayberry
Enid Yousen	...	Frieda

Storyline

Count Dracula kills a passenger on a train in Transylvania and assumes his identity. He travels to a small community in California where the Mayberrys are expecting their cousin from Europe. His strange behavior, sleeping all day and going out at night are surprising to young miss Rachel Mayberry. A policeman from Europe comes to investigate while Rachel's best friend Jenny dies unexpectedly. And the count plans on giving Rachel the gift of eternal life...

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Plot Keywords:

dracula | train | vampire | immigrant | funeral | 

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Taglines:

The most terrifying name in the history of the world now gives you the most horrifying thrill in the history of motion pictures!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for images of vampire violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Curse of Dracula

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gramercy Pictures (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ray Stricklyn noted in his autobiography "Angels & Demons" that co-star Norma Eberhardt had one blue eye and one brown eye. If you look carefully at a few of her closeups, even in this black and white film, you can notice the difference.

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Goofs

Before Meiermann interviews Doctor Rev. Whitfield,there is an establishing shot of the front of the residence where they meet. The sign that hangs outside indicates that the house belongs to Dr. Paul Beecher, Phyisican Surgeon, but there is no Dr. Paul Beecher in "The Return of Dracula." Instead, the same people who made "The Return of Dracula" had previously made "The Vampire" where Dr. Paul Beecher was the protagonist. The shot is up momentarily, but it is clearly a shot from "The Vampire."

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Quotes

[first lines]
narrator: It is a known fact that there existed in Central Europe a Count Dracula. Though human in appearance and cultured in manner, he was in truth a thing undead... a force of evil... a vampire. Feeding on the blood of innocent people, he turned them into his own kind, thus spreading his evil dominion ever wider. The attempts to find and destroy this evil were never proven fully successful, and so the search continues to this very day.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Robot Monster (2010)

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Soundtracks

"DIES IRAE"
(from Gregorian Chants)
Arranged by Gerald Fried

User Reviews

Dracula Leading the Blind

Not a bad Dracula updated adaptation as a man readying for a journey in Romania is killed and his identity stolen(seems to have been a problem even then). He moves in with his "family' only to start wreaking havoc in a small Californian town. The small town atmosphere is carried off fairly nicely in large part to the small town characterizations from the cast - most of whom were either character actors or unknowns at the time. Exception is Francis Lederer as the vampire with a very thick accent, but actually he gives some credibility to the role of the brooding, oft charming, malignant force cast into the lives of these newly found innocents. John Wengraf plays the Van Helsing type and is interesting when on screen yet the part is way too underdeveloped. There is not much for plot here to be honest and the story quickly wraps up in the last third, but director Paul Landres has competence(and a whole television episode list as his resume)and creates some effective scenes. The scene where Rachel is "dreaming" of seeing the vampire in her boudoir and then is wakened quickly by her brother even gave me a bit of a jolt. The acting is okay but pedestrian, and there is not much here in terms of great sets or effects. Nonetheless The Return of Dracula is a nice little film with a different twist to Dracula lore that I found interestingly conceived.