"Thank you, I never drink... wine."
- Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter
It's officially Halloween season! Which means I will be writing about all things ghoulish and frightful.
There are some disagreements as to who is the most iconic mistress of darkness out there. Morticia Addams, Vampira, Elvira and Lily Munster are all fan favorites. But my heart belongs to Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter.
Played by Gloria Holden in the 1936
Dracula's Daughter, she is equal parts mysterious, deadly and vulnerable. The film has it share of cheese and the human characters are somewhat on the bland side, but Countess Zaleska is mesmerizing.
Plot (with spoilers): Being a squeal, the film picks up from where Dracula (1931) left off. Countess Zaleska and her manservant Sandor steal Dracula's body and burn it. The Countess hopes that this would rid her of vampirism. But it does not work and she gives in to the blood lust. She meats Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), a psychologist and one of Von Helsing's foremer pupils, and after a conversation with him becomes hopeful that he could help her overcome her urges through psychoanalysis. But when she encounters a beautiful model Lili (Nan Grey), she cannot resist and drinks her blood. Countess Zaleska gives up any hope of becoming human again and lures Dr. Garth to Transylvania. Her attempts to make him her undead companion fail and she is destroyed by her manservant.
I think this film and the character are often, sadly, overlooked when people think of the Universal Studios monster line up. The film has very striking visuals and atmosphere. Its treatment of vampirism is also somewhat different from what we are used to today. The lust for blood is framed not as physiological need, but as a psychological affliction. There is no indication that Countess Zaleska needs to drink blood to survive. She drinks blood becasue she cannot help herself. And she expresses remorse and disgust at what she does. Consequently, the suggested cure is not a blood transfusion or any other antidote one could take, but rather psychoanalysis. Gloria Holden is superb as Countess Zaleska, equal parts poised, commanding and tragic. Her line delivery is always on point and she possess that magnetism that makes her dominate every scene.
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Source
If you want to know more about the film and its production history, check out a wonderful three part article over at Women Write About Comics or see the film, which you can sometimes find on YouTube.
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