Twenty-three years earlier, in 1918, Nicki Saunders (Nina Foch) was bitten by vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) when she was a young girl. When a World War II air raid over London releases him from the grave where Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) and Professor Walter Saunders (Gilbert Emery), Nicki's grandfather, staked and buried him, Tesla takes over the identity of Hugo Bruckner, a famous German scientist who recently escaped from a Nazi concentration camp, and presents himself as a new assistant at Lady Jane's sanitarium, where Nicki is currently making plans to marry Lady Jane's son John (Roland Varno). However, Tesla's plan is not to do scientific research but to avenge his 'death' at the hands of the Ainsley and Saunders families.
Return of the Vampire is based on a story idea by Kurt Neumann and a screenplay by American screenwriters Griffin Jay and Randall Faye.
When Tesla summons Nicki telephathically, Lady Ainsley and Scotland Yard's chief commissioner Sir Frederick Fleet (Miles Mander) follow her into the cemetery, arguing all the while about the existence of vampires. An air raid interrupts their pursuit, although Fleet manages to shoot Wolfman Andreas Obry (Matt Willis) in the shoulder. When Andreas begs Tesla to save his life, Tesla refuses. Andreas remembers Lady Ainsley's words about goodness being stronger than evil. He grabs a crucifix and holds it between Tesla and Nicki. At that moment, a bomb hits. Andreas carries Tesla's body out of the crypt and into the morning sun. He drives a stake through Tesla's heart, then collapses next to him. When Lady Ainsley and Sir Frederick catch up to her, Nicki says that it was Andreas who destroyed the vampire. After looking at Tesla's badly decomposed body, Lady Ainsley asks Fleet whether he believes in vampire now. He pooh-poohs her, then turns to two plainclothes policemen and asks them You two fellows don't believe in vampires, do you? To his surprise, they both reply that they do. Sir Fredrick then turns to the viewer and asks And do you people?
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- How long is The Return of the Vampire?1 hour and 9 minutes
- When was The Return of the Vampire released?November 11, 1943
- What is the IMDb rating of The Return of the Vampire?6.2 out of 10
- Who stars in The Return of the Vampire?
- Who wrote The Return of the Vampire?
- Who directed The Return of the Vampire?
- Who was the composer for The Return of the Vampire?
- Who was the producer of The Return of the Vampire?
- Who was the cinematographer for The Return of the Vampire?
- Who was the editor of The Return of the Vampire?
- Who are the characters in The Return of the Vampire?Dr. Hugo Bruckner, Lady Jane Ainsley, Nicki Saunders, John Ainsley, Sir Frederick Fleet, Andreas Obry, Det. Gannett, Miss Norcutt, and Frederick Hoskins
- What is the plot of The Return of the Vampire?When an errant bomb unearths the coffin of a vampire during the London Blitz, a gravedigger unknowingly reanimates the monster by removing the stake from his heart
- What was the budget for The Return of the Vampire?75,000
- How much did The Return of the Vampire earn at the US box office?$1.09 million
- What is The Return of the Vampire rated?TV-PG
- What genre is The Return of the Vampire?Drama and Horror
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