So we end our look back at vampires. Not a Dracula film, but we do have Bela Lugosi. Lugosi only played Dracula a few times and other vampires even fewer, yet somehow he became THE vampire in pop culture.
1918 London is at the mercy of a vampire. Armond Tesla (Lugosi) has made London his hunting ground and he has his pick of victims. Dr. Saunders (Gilbert Emery) suspects the cause for the sudden uptake in anemia cases, which puts him in the vampire's sights.
Tesla, along with his werewolf servant Andreas (Matt Willis), stalk the doctor to his clinic and feeds on a patient. Saunders tries to use hypnosis to make her recall but all that does is kill her with a heart attack. Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort), is the good doctor's man about town and promises to assist him.
The pair track Tesla down to his hiding place and just to make extra sure shove an iron stake into the vampire's heart. Saunders and Ainsley consider the matter finished, while Andreas finds himself cured of his condition.
1943 and London is again at the mercy of evil, although this one wears a swastika. As the London bombings continue, Lady Jane continues her mentor's work, as the good doctor has passed away. The doctor's daughter Nikki (Nina Foch) and Lady Jane's son John (Roland Varno) are even engaged to be married.
This happiness is marred, however, when Lady Jane finds her mentor's notebooks regarding the Tesla case. Realizing the potential value of this information, Lady Jane rushes the notebooks to the highest authority she knows, Sir Fredrick Fleet (Miles Mander) of Scotland Yard.
Sir Fleet isn't buying this vampire nonsense though, but he is rather concerned about the part regarding their shoving a stake into a prone man's heart. Lady Jane protests but Sir Fleet threatens her with either the gallows or a padded cell unless she can produce some evidence.
So why can't she? Thanks to the Luftwaffe's efforts, Tesla's tomb is blown open. A repair crew find the body, unaged since 1918 with a shaft of metal sticking out. They remove the stake and rebury the body elsewhere. Of course without the stake the count soon rises...
When Lady Jane and Sir Fleet arrive at the crypt, they find nothing. Sir Fleet is writing her off as a loon, albeit a harmless one but with the undead Tesla now roaming the streets of London can Lady Jane protect her family?
Shockingly good? I mean there's enough plot here for two films but it breezes by pretty quickly and doesn't overstay its welcome. Lugosi steals the show here, showing us the sheer power the man had as a performer.
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