The original Dracula (1931) still has power and the Gothic tone of Bram Stoker’s novel! It set a legacy of vampires on film and television! Also, comic books like the upcoming Bram Stoker's Dracula Starring Bela Lugosi adapted by Kerry Gammill! Director Todd Browning had collaborated with Lon Chaney, but here he brings talking for the first time to horror pictures. The screenwriter is Garrett Ford who also adapted Frankenstein (1931). The is said to be based on the 1924 play from Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. The drama was set entitrely in London and without Castle Dracula, at the beginning and end, the story loses its Gothic setting. It must be that the play was popular and the film would want its association and plus it was Bela Lugosi’s first English role.
Bela Lugosi is a fascinating actor. He brought the authenticity with his Hungarian accent that limited his acting roles. Lugosi, a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, the SAG part of SAG-AFTRA, continued playing roles in horror films. He was overshadowed by Boris Karloff in movies like The Raven (1935) even when Lugosi played the lead. It is in glorious black and white which is perfect for a Gothic story. The film is available in Blu-ray and DVD as part of Universal Studios’ Complete Legacy Collection. It includes a host of extras and the Spanish version which is said to be the best telling of the tale. Also, it is streaming now on Amazon Prime. It strangely opens with Swan Lake, Op.20 which does have some hints of the sinister.
We see the Transylvania peaks, a decent matte painting, as a coach with several horses heads up a trail. Inside, five passengers are rocked by the movement of the coach. A Coach Passenger, played by Carla Laemmele, reads from a tourist book. Laemmle played th Prirma Ballerina in The Phantom of the Opera (1925). She is kinda nerdy with glasses and flapper hat, a cameo, but a very fun part. Laemmele said she has the first dialogue in a horror picture! Renfield (Dwight Frye) asks the driver to slow down. Frye also played Fritz in Frankenstein (1931). Another passenger (Nicholas Bela) tells them that it is Walpurgisnight, “the night of evil”, April 30th. At the inn, a woman prays in Hungarian, the Innkeeper (Michael Visaroff) goes out to see the approach of the coach.
The sound doesn’t catch the coach, but we hear the innkeeper and his family. The inn was filmed at the Little Europe section that is in the Universal Studios tour. Renfield points out he doesn’t want his luggage taken from the coach since he is going to Borgo Pass. The innkeeper tries to explain to him that he has to wait, but Renfield says that he has to meet a carriage at midnight. Renfield tells him that it is Count Dracula’s carriage. This makes the innkeeper stunned and his wife crosses herself. He is headed to Castle Dracula. The innkeeper warns Renfield that the mountain people believe there are vampires, Dracula, and his wives! Renfield says his talk of vampires transforming into wolves and bats, rising from coffins, and feeding on blood is superstition. A great setup to introduce Dracula!
He says he is not afraid and the innkeeper’s wife gives him a crucifix. The carriage leaves and we see another matte painting of the twisting road to Castle Dracula and then the castle itself, this is an iconic image! Inside the castle, we move to a closeup of a coffin on a floor, it opens and a pale hand reaches out! Then we see an oppossum by a coffin, do they keep a zoo down there?, a woman’s hand stretches from a coffin. Then, a Jersusalem cricket native to Southern California. The coffin opens and we see the pale face of Dracula’s wife (Geraldine Dvorak). The opposum is terrified! In a medium shot we see Count Dracula (Lugosi) himself, wrapped in his cloak, and his light on his face makes his eyes blaze! Brilliant work by cinematographer, Karl Freund!
His three brides (Dvorak, Cornelia Shaw, and Dorothy Tree), slowly walk towards him, their dresses like funeral shrouds, cobwebs cling to the edges of the chamber! Dracula silently walks up some steps. Then, we see the bulging eyes of Dracula’s carriage driver. He waits in the fog as we hear a wolf howl. Behind them, Renfield’s carriage races up, and his luggage is thrown out. The driver looks at him and wordlessly takes up his luggage. Count Dracula’s carriage sets off up the road, Renfield leans out to check on the driver, and only sees a bat flying ahead of the horses! The carriage reaches Castle Dracula, the driver is missing, and the castle door creaks open. Renfield walks in and the interior is cavernous, a convincing matte painting.
Dracula descends the staircase with a candle. Then, there are armadillos crawling around a chair!, a very absurd part of the movie. Renfield backs away, probably confused seeing armadillos in Transylvania, and then turns to see Count Dracula. He introduces himself, “I am Dracula.” Lugosi’s delivery with his Hungarian accent and almost regal bearing is classic. He leads Renfield up the stairs as a wolf howls. Dracula says, “Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.” Iconic lines straight from Stoker. This movie is a must-see for Lugosi’s performance alone. He moves through a giant spider-web which Renfield has to use his cane to part. Dracula takes him to the guest chamber for dinner and also to discuss the Carfax Abbey lease.
Renfield presents him with the paper which Dracula intently studies and notes that he is bringing with him three boxes, coffins really, for his wives? Dracula says he has chartered a ship, the Demeter!, to take them to England the next night. He asks if the room is comfortable when Renfield accidentally cuts his finger! A closeup of Dracula staring then of Renfield’s bloody finger. He moves towards Renfield when the crucifix slips from his neck! Dracula turns away raising his arm. Renfield says it’s only a scratch and Dracula pours him a cup of wine. Dracula says, “I never drink… wine.” This movie is perfect. Dracula says good night to him and leaves. The door opens and we see mist with Dracula’s wives walking through it! They are beautiful, but their silence makes the scene unnatural.
Renfield goes to open the door to the outside, Dracula’s wives watch him, then a bat flutters at him before Renfield collapses! They walk towards him, but Dracula appears and his gesture sends his wives back. Dracula closes on his victim before a fade to black! We get the standard waves as there is lettering with the ship's name, the Vesta, not the Demeter! It is stock footage of a ship in storm tossed seas. Below deck, Renfield opens the coffin of his master, love the crazy expression on Frye’s face. He says the sun is down. Dracula rises from his coffin! Renfield asks about Dracula’s promise and wants small living victims for their blood. Dracula watches the crew battered by the waves. At London, we see a shadow of a dead man, there are other men talking about the ship with its captain tied to the wheel.
Renfield tries to tell his sleeping master about their arrival. He starts a low laugh that draws the attention of the other men. They pass the bodies of the crew to open the hatch. Renfield’s maniac grin and laugh make them see that he is insane. We see the headline of the arrival of the ship to Whitby Harbour. Renfield, eating flies, is sent to Dr. Seward’s Sanitarium. We see “London”, a girl (Anita Harder) gives out flowers and then sees Count Dracula with his top hat and tuxedo. His stare entrances her, he holds her, and hidden by the wall, she screams! Dracula’s first victim! He walks through the foggy streets as a bobby blows his whistle at the body of the flower girl which draws a crowd. Dracula walks towards a concert hall featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. He is taken into the theater by a usherette to the opera box.
There are four audience members in the opera box; Mina (Helen Chandler), John Harker (David Manners), the older Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston), and Lucy Western (Frances Dade). Chandler as the female lead, was known for the drama, Outward Bound (1930). Manners doesn’t match the charisma of Lugosi, but he later played Frank Whemple in The Mummy (1932). Bunston played in dramas like Vanity Fair (1932). Dade has a cameo part here and her last film was the crime movie, Big Town (1932). The orchestra has finished to applause from the audience. Outside the curtains, Dracula commands the usherette, she is mesmerized by him, to deliver a message. It reminds me too much about the similar scene in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), “You will remember nothing of what I tell you”, lol!
The usherette tells Dr. Seward that he has a phone call. He is about to leave and meets Dracula, Bunston towers over Lugosi, who asks him if he has the sanitarium and introduces himself. Jonathan glances at Mina. Dr. Seward introduces his daughter, then Lucy, and Mr. Harker. Jonathan says the abbey needs repairs. Dracula looks at Lucy and says the broken abbey reminds him of his castle. Lucy brings up a poem about death. Dracula says, “There are far worse things awaiting man than death.” The symphony continues and Dracula just stares. At Lucy’s room, Mina mocks Dracula’s words more interested in John, but Lucy is fascinated by him. Lucy opens her window and then gets into bed. A bat appears at her window! Lucy falls asleep, the bat enters, and then we see Dracula moving towards her neck!
We see a surgical room with doctors observing the operation in seats above it. The surgeon (Wyndham Standing) declares the death of the patient, Lucy! He asks when was the last transfusion, Dr. Seward says four hours ago, and the surgeons notes two marks on her neck. At the sanitarium, Renfield shouts for the guard, Martin (Charles K. Gerrard) taking away his spider! We see at his office, Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) testing a vial of Renfield’s blood. Van Sloan returned as Van Helsing in Dracula’s Daughter (1936)! His colleague reads in Latin. Van Helsing says to the group including that the threat is the undead, Nosferatu! They will need Van Helsing’s knowledge to combat Dracula to save Mina from his obsession. John doesn’t have the help of Lucy’s suitors, Lord Arthur Holmwood and Quincey P. Morris, who were in the novel. He must join Van Helsing to confront Dracula in Carfax Abbey. Dracula has set the horror standardfrom the Bram Stoker novel and the legendary performance of Bela Lugosi!
Five Stakes out of Five!
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