197) Dracula (1931)

Son of Halloween 2024's spectacular and not random vampire movie review extravaganza! (Part Two)

"The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield."

Director

Tod Browning

Cast
Bela Lugosi - Count Dracula
Helen Chandler - Mina Seward
David Manners - John Harker
Dwight Frye - Renfield
Edward Van Sloan - Van Helsing
Herbert Bunston - Dr. Seward
Frances Dade - Lucy Weston

F. W. Murnau's German expressionist horror film "Nosferatu" portrayed the vampire for the first time so audiences could gaze upon the bloodsucking ghoul written about in Bram Stoker's novel, "Dracula." The movie laid an undying foundation for the horror genre. It was before all the modern tropes and depictions which Tod Browning's 1931 horror classic "Dracula" established. 

The character of Dracula, thanks in very large part to Browning's iconic film, has surely given horror cinema so much material and support unlike any other character in literary or cinematic history. There's so much that can and has been done with vampires, not to mention with Dracula's allegorical nature - the battle of the spirit against the flesh, good against evil, the devil versus God. 

Browning's film established the image of Count Dracula which has endured from decade to decade. Basically, Bela Lugosi is Dracula though the character has been depicted in various ways since 1931. Lugosi is Dracula, and Dracula is Lugosi. And if you say the name "Dracula" to practically anyone out there, images of Lugosi's character will come to mind. 

Like "Nosferatu" the plot of "Dracula" is based on Bram Stoker's book. Still, there are plenty of differences between both movies. To begin with, "Dracula" has sound. Not only do audiences see Count Dracula, they hear his soft but authoritative controlling voice and middle European/ Romanian accent. Perhaps sound is both a good quality as well as bad. With "Nosferatu" the silence gives the audiences' imagination more room to play. 

Lugosi's Count Dracula is an upscale wealthy aristocratic character with a bit of sex appeal compared to Max Schreck's Count Orlock who's more of an entity than an evil person. 

This movie begins as Renfield (Dwight Frye) travels to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania on a matter regarding Dracula's leasing Carfax Abbey in England. 

When he arrives in Transylvania, the locals who fear Count Dracula warn Renfield not to visit his castle. 

Of course, he has business to tend to that can't simply be skirted based on the warnings of some superstitious locals. 

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula in 'Dracula.'

When he boards the carriage to Dracula's castle, Renfield doesn't realize that Dracula himself is the carriage driver in disguise. During the trip, he looks out of the window and notices the driver is missing. Instead, he sees a bat guiding the horses. 

When Renfield arrives and enters the castle, he's greeted by the Count himself (Bela Lugosi). Little does Renfield know Dracula's true nature! 

After the two discuss the lease, Dracula hypnotizes Renfield and makes him open a window. 

A bat appears causing Renfield to faint. Dracula's three wives move in to attack Renfield, but Dracula forces them to get away and attacks him himself.

Later, we find Renfield onboard the Vesta sailing back to England. He's now become Dracula's slave. 

Dracula is onboard, too, hiding in his coffin. At night, he feeds on the boat's crew. 

By the time the ship reaches shore, the entire crew is dead. From the boat, Renfield is taken to Dr. Seward's (Herbert Bunston) sanatorium near Carfax Abbey. 
Now in London, Dracula meets up with Dr. Seward who introduces him to his daughter Mina (Helen Chandler), her fiancé John Harker (David Manners), and their friend, Lucy Weston (Frances Dade). Lucy is rather taken by Count Dracula's charm and appeal. 

Later that night, Dracula shows up in Lucy's room while she sleeps and drinks her blood. 

She dies the following day after a series of blood transfusions are administered. 

In the sanatorium, an out-of-his-mind Renfield has been eating flies and spiders, and whatever other insects cross his path. 

Another doctor pays him a visit - Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan).

He tests Renfield's blood and discovers his bond to Dracula. Van Helsing knows an abundance of information on vampires. Renfield is agitated as Dracula calls him through telekinesis. Van Helsing presents Renfield with wolfsbane which agitates him even more. 

That night, Dracula intrudes into Mina's room while she's asleep and drinks her blood as well.

When the count visits again the night after that, both Van Helsing and Harker confront him. 

Van Helsing notices that Dracula doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. 

Later, Mina sneaks out to the garden and meets Dracula there. This is Dracula's chance to finish her off, which he does. 

Fortunately, one of the maids finds Mina, and she's given Van Helsing's care.

He puts Wolfsbane around her neck as she sleeps to keep Dracula away. 

Back at the sanatorium, Renfield escapes but is caught and taken back to his cell.

Dracula drops into the parlor at Seward's house where Van Helsing is waiting for him. 

Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Van Helsing.

Dracula, pissed off, says Mina belongs to him and suggests Van Helsing better return to his home country or suffer serious consequences. 

Van Helsing calmly tells Dracula that he's planning on killing him by driving a steak through his heart.

This irks the Count even more. He tries to hypnotize Van Helsing, which seems to work until the doctor pulls a crucifix out of his pocket, which scares Dracula off. 

Harker finds Mina out on the terrace and goes to talk to her. She starts going on about the night, and the fog, and how she loves both. 

A bat starts fluttering above them. All Harker can hear is squeaking. But Mina can understand its commands. She attacks Harker but fortunately, Van Helsing and Seward come to his rescue. 

Mina knows what Dracula has done to her, and she tells Harker about it before ending their love. 

Van Helsing makes it his mission to kill Dracula. It's the only way to save Mina. 

"Dracula" is a movie that is rich in imagery and visuals right from the start of the film. 

This is early talking cinema. So, the presentation and style of "Dracula" feels like a recorded stage play. Hollywood was still learning the art of movie making back in 1931. 

The grandiose gothic sets, smoke, shadow, pacing, exposition, and general layout are haunting. It all conforms well with the camera work that seems to move through scenes like a creeping fantom floating through the rooms leading the audience to view the horror building up.  

Bela Lugosi brings a lot of mystery to the character. What is Count Dracula's backstory? What led him to become a blood thirsty creature? What pushed him towards demonic influences? 

In my eyes, Edward Van Sloan is just as quintessential in being Van Helsing as Lugosi is as Dracula. He's not impulsive or rash. Or, at least, he hides it well. 

Edward Van Sloan's Van Helsing knows exactly what he needs to do and doesn't let his guard down. He presents Van Helsing as a character with the duty to do what no one else can. Van Helsing takes on the duty because he has the mental stability.

Van Sloan returns as Van Helsing in the next Dracula movie I'll be review - a direct sequel to "Dracula" and released in 1936. 

Where "Nosferatu" is quite the ambitious undertaking, "Dracula" doesn't quite hit the same level of ambition. Instead, Dracula's presence turns menacing little by little through the movie. He starts off welcoming yet dark and deceitful. His true evil nature intensifies as the story progresses. Like the devil himself, Dracula works in secret - a quality of that evil nature of his. 

Browning's movie certainly made a major impression on audiences' decade after decade, nightmare after nightmare. 

The proof is found in every Halloween costume shop to this day. 

Browning uses both wide shots to really utilize the menacing and frightening atmosphere alongside close ups of Dracula's evil glare - windows to a soulless monster. Eyes can arouse the emotions their owner is expressing. In this case, fear and intimidation. These eyes are illuminated by an otherworldly light surrounded by shadow. They have the power to burn themselves into the minds of audiences where they can remain for years after. Audiences might forget the movie they saw years ago, but they won't forget Dracula's eyes.

This technique is used, funny enough, in the 1993 movie "The Addams Family" with the matriarchal Morticia Addams. It's more of a gag. A gleam of mysterious light is always across her eyes in each scene she's in.   

The darkness in "Dracula" is similar to "Nosferatu," and has a looming presence. 

Lugosi would nail this role so remarkably and memorably well but would only return as "Count Dracula" in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." 

Though "Dracula" had no musical score upon its release, the inclusion of "Swan Lake" turns it into one of the best and most fitting scores in movie history.