“Son of a…” Dracula! Tonight!
Quick reminder- today in Elk Grove Village, I face off against the town’s mayor, each of us having a pig assigned in a race- and the loser will have to be sawed in half! (Not the pig- though I’d guess, eventually, it’ll be part of the breakfast special at Denny’s…)I’m signing autographs there too- just check under our “appearances” tab…
Meanwhile, tonight on ME-TV, down in bayou country, the problem isn’t pigs- it’s bats- one in particular, in fact, as Lon Chaney Jr. brings the vampire legend to America in “Son of Dracula”!
In this 1943 Universal flick, the occult-obsessed daughter of a New Orleans plantation owner invites a Hungarian count she met in her travels overseas to visit the family home in America. When a greeting party awaits his arrival at the train station- he is not aboard- but some of his luggage- large boxes, in fact- are there…and one of the enterprising welcoming committee notices that the spelling of Count Alucard’s last name backwards is…Dracula! What a coincidence!
The luggage is taken to the “Dark Oaks” estate of the family- where a huge party is held that night- and , suspiciously, the old family patriarch, Colonel Caldwell, suffers a heart attack and dies- never mind those marks on his neck… that same night, Count Alucard finally shows up. Did I use the word “suspicious”- or any form thereof?
When the Colonel’s will is read, the occult- steeped daughter Katherine surprises everyone with a newer will- which appears to be valid- that gives her sister Claire all the money- and leaves Katherine with the drafty old mansion, whose servants appear to be leaving the premises- but she’s just fine with it. She also seems to be abandoning her fiancé, Frank, for the Count, and a midnight elopement! When Frank fights back, there is an alleged murder- whose victim reappears, apparently fine- new victims with bite marks are found- and a visiting expert on the undead helps prove that the Dracula family still exists- and appears to be the source of the current mayhem!
This rare turn for Lon Jr. as Drac Jr., right before John Carradine picked up the torch in “House of Frankenstein”, comes two years after he played his definitive role of Larry Talbot in “The Wolf Man”- and perhaps his moustache in this film was meant to differentiate the role from Talbot. We also get his perennial co-star, Evelyn Ankers (whom he often enjoyed tormenting!), as the sister Claire. We’ll tell you about other cast members, including one who was a part of an iconic Christmas classic- and, reveal a “first” among Dracula pictures that occurs in this film- as well as a glaring contradiction of vampire lore! Of course, there’s a lot of Sven Dracula shtick to round out the show…
“Son of Dracula” runs tonight on Me-TV at 10 pm eastern, 9 pm central, 1 am on San Francisco’s KOFY, and please check your local listings for the run time where you live. In the Chicago area, you get your additional dosages of Sven- the 11 am WCIU program is “The Mummy’s Hand”; and , at 3 pm on U Too, it’s another vintage Sven oldie- “Beach Girls and the Monster”- which also runs this week in San Francisco on Me-TV in the KOFY 20.2 earlier timeslot. It seems our San Francisco fans have adapted pretty well to the two timeslots on the sister KOFY stations- I’ve been getting fewer confused complaints lately!
See you on your TV or at the Little Boots Rodeo- I’ll have the exciting results of the pig race and subsequent sawing in tomorrow’s blog!
36 Responses to “Son of a…” Dracula! Tonight!
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i can’t wait to see son of dracula. i haven’t seen that movie since i was in 2nd grade. it should be fun to watch again! as for your race, sven. bring home the victory!!! talk to the pig before the race, i heard jockeys do that to their horses and claim it helps them win?? also, could you please keep me updated on the batman stuff you heard? i’m hoping they do make it available on dvd and blue ray with extra features to watch. its been a long wait… again, good luck on your race!
Bring home the bacon tonight!!!
Looking forward to the “Alucard” film tonight! Ooh can’t wait to find out what the glaring vampire contradiction is.
Have a good day at the pig races!
Sven: “Son of Dracula” is one of the most memorable of the Universal horror classics. It has an absolutely morbid tone and atmosphere, an extremely interesting female character in Louise Allbritton, and a very good performance by Lon Chaney, Jr. as Dracula. It also has a surprising conclusion for 1940s horror films, which I won’t reveal for first-time viewers. The movie was directed by Robert Siodmak, who later became famous for such great film noir crime thrillers as “The Killers” and “Criss Cross,” as well as the classic gothic chiller “The Spiral Staircase.” To all Sven fans: Check out “Son of Dracula.” You will NOT be disappointed!
?niaga sdrawkcab etirw ot teg ew oD
I am SO ready to watch those rubber chickens fly tonight…
Yay! It’s Saturday, I call it my Me TV day and I wait impatiently all week for it. I do not watch any other station from 4:00 pm on and the best part of the day is watching my Svengoolie. I can’t wait for tonight’s movie “Son of Alucard” I know what the “first” is that you speak of but I won’t steal your thunder, I’ll let you tell ‘em. I am also looking forward to your musical tribute to the movie, you have such an ear for music – who did you get it from, Van Gogh? He didn’t need his anyways, he was a painter not a musician. I’ll be ready for tonight’s movie, popcorn in hand – I may even have an oversized box of Sno Caps somewhere.
In my humble opinion, Son of Dracula shows off Lon Chaney Jrs skills very nicely. Besides being a good Sven saturday night fare its a bit of a departure for Lon as you dont really identify with him with this role like several of his others. Kind of a darkhorse surprise. Sven as always keep up the awesome show!
1st of all Renee’ Please just stop it already. $500.00 dollar words do not impress me. The way Chuck spells and writes awesome!!! Sven keep up the good work and fire that fool who put on that marks brothers flick a while ago. Late night horror movies are what most of us watch your show for. The funny stuff should as always come from you and the svengollie crew. Love the bit where you and the hand of the person on the other side of the door talk. The funny jokes and banter has me doubled over laughing in tears. Also the pot that I smoke during your show really helps as well. LOL!!!!
Why do vampire films and the like come in 30-40 year cycles? This classic film is from the 1940′s. Remember the camp Dark Shadows craze in the 1970s (memories of running home from grade school to watch it…)? Now the Twilight mania and they even have a new film with President Lincoln as a vampire hunter (with good reviews from Ebert). Is this proof of their existence? I will stop…I’m scaring myself.
I have seen Son of Dracula many times but I want to see how Svengoolie puts his spin on it. It aught to be fun! Bring on the refried beans and hot chili sauce! I feel like a movie tonight!!
Have a great time at Little Boots Rodeo. Tonight’s film is a good one and I’m sorry I won’t be able to watch. Catch you next weekend.
Sven;
Thank you for mentioning the passing of Jonathan Frid a few weeks ago. I am a big Dark Shadows fan who attends their annual festivals. Jonathan always attended and I was fortunate to speak to him personally several times. He was a fine man and Dark Shadows was a fun program.
Evelyn
Thanks for showing “Son of Dracula.” For some reason it’s not in my VHS library so I haven’t seen it 143 times. I’m getting addicted to this Star Trek episode/Svengoolie routine on Saturday nights, It’s such fun. More fun than dates even. Kinda. Looking forward to this evening’s presentation.
first of all Steve from Michigan, which $500.00 words are you referring to? I only used simple, easy to understand words. Second, no one is trying to impress you. Third, what did I do to make you mad? I’m just having fun like you are, so please relax and don’t pick on people who have done nothing to you. Thanks.
Steve, I’m guessing the words used by Renee’ that you consider $500 ones are “Sno Caps,” since that’s how much someone would pay for a box of them if he were stoned enough.
Berwyn?
My weekend treat…wait all week for this. Saturday night spent watching MeTv and Sven! The food is being ordered and the snacks are prepared and waiting! Bring on “Son of DRACULA!!!!”
Steve: Who bit you in the behind? Why were you so nasty to Renee? By the way, the name of the classic comedy team you were knocking should have been spelled “Marx,” not “Marks”–or is that a $500.00 word you have trouble spelling?
Always did like the way Lon jr. did the wolfman.
It’ll be… interesting to see him as dracula.
(Being as how in most of the movies they were major rivals)
Thanks for the show!!
And may the best pig win at the races
I don’t know how I missed this movie! I thought I had seen every movie Universal Dracula movie they made! Thank you for putting this on. Lon Chaney, jr does show his skills at acting.
The contradiction is probably about sun light
No – reflection, i was wrong.
Yeahe! Yeaaaaahh! from Big D in Texas for Goolie!
Enjoyed meeting you today at the Little Boots – just wanted to let you know Autumn kept her promise and watched Son of Dracula!! Thank you so much for the last autograph of the day : )
Another fabulous horror classic from Lon Chaney Jr. Circa 1943. I miss watching these films on the old Zenith in the 80s from Northlake, IL!
Sergio
“Son of Dracula”–one of my all-time favorites! I always chuckle at that line when Dr. Brewster (Frank Craven) thinks that Claire (Evelyn Ankers) is in danger and should leave Dark Oaks immediately: “You can move in with me and send for your things later.” Could you interpret that as “Let’s live together, babe, and see how it works out?” I know what all of you are thinking–”Get your mind out of the gutter!” Well, I can’t help it–it’s been there for a long time! (LOL)
Loved the movie last night! Thanks, Sven. I never would have guessed that the mirror reflection was the “glaring” contradiction. I see how you hinted at it now, you sneaky devil!
By the way,the comments section on your blog is pretty lively lately and I wondered if perhaps there’s a forum where we could all throw around a $500 word or two. Or perhaps we could pelt each other with verbal Sno-Caps if that’s more your taste. (Get it? Sno-caps? Taste? Ahh shucks, my jokes really bite.)
Thank you, Sven, for that wonderful anthem to summer. Of course, I never thought of it quite that way before.
Doesnt dr and acula come together to form Dracula? I just love to watch svengoolie but the funny thing is i dont really like horror films but when i watch them on svengoolie i do. Im sixteen and i can actually see thing in the dark if i just concentrate on the thing that i want to see.
Hey sven! thank you for showing my artwork on saturday with the episode of “son of dracula. My mom and i are huge fans and for her to see it on was incredible. Again thank you so much and keep up the great work.
-Leo Perez
Svengoolie:
I just watched Son of Dracula with my dad. He records your movies and we watch them on Sunday night while my mom works. It was a very good movie, although it was a little scary towards the end.
As one of Sven’s new fans in New Orleans (thanks ME-TV), I am pleased that he has recently shown two flicks that very loosely rely on the bayous and the plantation in New Orleans (?) for extra chills and mystery. Count Alucard did seem to be somewhere in the swamps but I was having trouble placing the action until I read that it must have been just down the street from where I was watching. They need to give more guys names like Cajun Joe or something so sharp eyed viewers can identify the locale. Anyway, it’s an underrated movie and it was great to watch as the storm was brewing in the Gulf. Thanks Sven, I love the old Universal films.
Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Son of Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr was such a great actor he could teach a some things to the actors of today.
Loved the Surfin’ Ghoul song .
One line has stuck with me ever since and I laugh every time I think of it.
“I don’t know why it’s so hard / To decipher Alucard
Ncc: I wholeheartedly agree with you! Although he had to live in the shadow of his famous father, the “Man of a Thousand Faces,” all of his career, Lon Chaney, Jr. was a very under-rated actor. His creation of two pop cultural icons, Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man, and Lennie Small, of “Of Mice and Men,” more than qualifies him for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s unbelievable that, to this day, Hollywood has not bestowed that long-overdue honor on this great character actor.
My brother thinks its funny, I think its funny