Book Review: VAMPIRE OVER LONDON--Bela Lugosi In Britain

 

I purchased this volume a couple weeks ago at the 2026 Summer Monster Bash Conference. 

Perhaps no other actor's profile has been affected by various myths and legends as that of Bela Lugosi. Many of these fables are still all over the internet, to the point where one must be very wary when reading something about Lugosi on social media. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON--Bela Lugosi In Britain, is a heavily researched, minutely detailed book that deals in facts, not legend. Written by Frank Dello Stritto and Andi Brooks, the volume takes a deep dive into the 1951 British stage tour of DRACULA starring Lugosi, and the three films the actor made in England (MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE, THE DARK EYES OF LONDON, and MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE). 

Legend says that the 1951 DRACULA tour was so unsuccessful that Bela and his wife Lillian went broke and were basically stranded in England, forcing Lugosi to take part in the terrible MOTHER RILEY movie just to raise enough money to get home. The authors reveal that Lugosi spent nearly six months touring on stage in the U.K as the Count, giving 229 performances despite physical travails and worries over his career. 

A number of people that were actually involved in the tour, either on stage or off, have been interviewed for this book, along with many folks who were blessed to witness one of Bela's performances. They state that despite Bela being in his late 60s, he was still a compelling and captivating figure on stage. 

The book also gives an almost day-by-day portrait of Lugosi during a tumultuous period in his life. Bela was a complicated individual, but he still had plenty of Old World European charm, and despite his frustrations over typecasting, he could easily slip into his Dracula persona when he needed publicity. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON also shines a much-needed spotlight on Lillian Lugosi. Out of all of Lugosi's wives, Lillian lasted the longest, and this book shows that she was Bela's one-woman entourage, taking care of him and watching over him at all times. It's no coincidence that after Bela and Lillian split up the actor's life went downhill. 

VAMPIRE OVER LONDON is nearly 500 pages long, and it is jammed packed with material and heavily illustrated, with many rare photos of Lugosi. The book has a number of appendices that give even more knowledge on Lugosi's overall appearances on stage as the Count, and how critics at the time reacted to the 1951 British stage tour. 

This volume is an absolute must for Bela Lugosi fans. We will never know what it must have been like to see Lugosi play Dracula on stage, but VAMPIRE OVER LONDON gives the reader as close of an approximation of that experience as one could have. It also gives us a much better idea of what Bela was like as a human being. The book is published by Cult Movie Press.