Dracula (1931)

The ancient vampire Count Dracula arrives in England and begins to prey upon the virtuous young Mina.

Director:

Tod Browning

Writers:

Bram Stoker (by), Hamilton Deane (from the play adapted by),

Stars:

Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bela Lugosi	...	Count Dracula
Helen Chandler	...	Mina
David Manners	...	John Harker
Dwight Frye	...	Renfield
Edward Van Sloan	...	Van Helsing
Herbert Bunston	...	Doctor Seward
Frances Dade	...	Lucy
Joan Standing	...	Maid
Charles K. Gerrard	...	Martin (as Charles Gerrard)

Storyline

After a harrowing ride through the Carpathian mountains in eastern Europe, Renfield enters castle Dracula to finalize the transferral of Carfax Abbey in London to Count Dracula, who is in actuality a vampire. Renfield is drugged by the eerily hypnotic count, and turned into one of his thralls, protecting him during his sea voyage to London. After sucking the blood and turning the young Lucy Weston into a vampire, Dracula turns his attention to her friend Mina Seward, daughter of Dr. Seward who then calls in a specialist, Dr. Van Helsing, to diagnose the sudden deterioration of Mina's health. Van Helsing, realizing that Dracula is indeed a vampire, tries to prepare Mina's fiance, John Harker, and Dr. Seward for what is to come and the measures that will have to be taken to prevent Mina from becoming one of the undead.

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Plot Keywords:

dracula | vampire | count | abbey | undead | 

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Taglines:

Carl Laemmle Presents The VAMPIRE THRILLER! (original posters)

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hungarian Latin

Release Date:

14 February 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drácula

Filming Locations:

Chatham Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$355,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min 75 min (corrected release length)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Universal purchased the rights to the 1927 Broadway play, Lon Chaney was considered for the title role. However, Chaney died on August 26, 1930, and the role went to Bela Lugosi.

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Goofs

As Dracula leads Renfield up the large staircase, he seemingly passes through a large spider web without breaking it. Renfield breaks through it as he follows Dracula. Though some may consider this a goof on the part of the filmmakers, it is more likely meant to suggest Dracula's lack of physical substance. This trait is further revealed later in the film when Dracula is shown to cast no reflection in a mirror.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Young Girl Passenger: [reading from a Transylvanian tourist brochure] "Among the rugged peaks that crown down upon the Borgo Pass are found crumbling castles of a bygone age."

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Crazy Credits

Joan Standing, who played Briggs, was credited as the maid, who was actually played by Moon Carroll.

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Connections

Referenced in That Certain Age (1938)

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Soundtracks

"Swan Lake, Op.20"
(1877) (uncredited)
Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Excerpt Played during the opening credits

User Reviews

Lugosi's Triumph

Tod Browning's film of the Stoker novel didn't so much eclipse Murnau's NOSFERATU (1922) as shove it into antiquity. One big reason was the technological advancement of sound. Roughly three years old by 1930, the public embraced the talking picture wholeheartedly over silents.

The other big reason for Dracula's success was that the star of the stage play had been cast as the star of the film. And movie history was made. Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula is now a eighty-one year old icon, outlasting all other interpretations before or since. The twist is that this Dracula looks nothing like Stoker's creation (read the book). Lugosi, either through his work with the playwrights or later at Universal with Browning, devised the most insidious form the character would ever take- a handsome, courtly, well-groomed, civilized aristocrat, so gracious and attractive that he projected an aura of well-being over the viewer. This was worlds away from the Murnau/Max Schreck approach of head-on abomination in NOSFERATU.

Sensibly, no one in their right mind would stay within viewing distance of Schreck (or Kinski in NOSFERATU, THE VAMPYRE and Dafoe in SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE) after the first glimpse. But Lugosi's Count would have you chatting and drinking wine- until he began to drink of you. That cape and those evening clothes are the perfect deception. Browning's Dracula is sometimes stagy and tentative in its continuity (it feels at times that the director was unsure where to go next in the progression of scenes). But Karl Freund's photography summons up a persistent mood of heavy gloom and enveloping dread.

Two other assets in the film are Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing and Dwight Frye as Renfield. Van Sloan was Universal's resident Learned Man, appearing as an Egyptologist in THE MUMMY (1933), and perhaps most famously as Dr. Waldman in FRANKENSTEIN (1931). A career-long character actor, Dwight Frye was an eccentric talent who appears to have worked exclusively at Universal. He had his best role as Renfield, producing a still blood-curdling, sneering laugh that seemed to come from the depths of a hellish insanity. If you haven't seen this Dracula please do so. The Count awaits.