Columbia Pictures did not really embrace the horror genre in the 1940s in the way that Universal, and to a lesser extent, RKO did. They did produce Return of the Vampire (1943) which proved a good showcase for Bela Lugosi in one of his few on-screen vampire roles and a had a couple of eerie scenes as well as a very talkative tormented werewolf....

Nina Foch is quite efficient in this run-of-the-mill drama. She is a gypsy princess "Celeste", whom, we learn quite early on, has an interestingly carnivorous diet! Now I suppose what lets this down is that, from a creative perspective, the use of an actual beastie rather than a costume-clad person robs it of something. I could imagine someone...