Drácula (1931)

At midnight on Walpurgis Night, an English clerk, Renfield, arrives at Count Dracula's castle in the Carpathian Mountains. After signing papers to take over a ruined abbey near London, ... See full summary »

Director:

George Melford

Writers:

Bram Stoker (novel), Baltasar Fernández Cué (Spanish adaptation),

Stars:

Carlos Villarías, Lupita Tovar, Barry Norton

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carlos Villarías	...	Conde Drácula (as Carlos Villar)
Lupita Tovar	...	Eva Seward
Barry Norton	...	Juan Harker
Pablo Álvarez Rubio	...	Renfield
Eduardo Arozamena	...	Prof. Van Helsing
José Soriano Viosca	...	Doctor Seward
Carmen Guerrero	...	Lucía Weston
Amelia Senisterra	...	Marta
Manuel Arbó	...	Martín

Storyline

At midnight on Walpurgis Night, an English clerk, Renfield, arrives at Count Dracula's castle in the Carpathian Mountains. After signing papers to take over a ruined abbey near London, Dracula drives Renfield mad and commands obedience. Renfield escorts the boxed count on a death ship to London. From there, the Count is introduced into the society of his neighbor, Dr. Seward, who runs an asylum. Dracula makes short work of family friend, Lucia Weston, then begins his assault on Eva Seward, the doctor's daughter. A visiting expert in the occult, Van Helsing, recognizes Dracula for who he is, and there begins a battle for Eva's body and soul.

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Plot Keywords:

count | abbey | doctor | castle | death of title character | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

Spanish Hungarian

Release Date:

24 April 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dracula, Spanish Version

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$66,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When this film was released on DVD in 2004 as part of the "Dracula: Legacy Collection", it included closed captions for the hearing impaired, but did not contain the straight English subtitles. Universal answered buyers' complaints by telling them to simply select the "closed captions".

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Goofs

The famous quote "The next morning, I felt very weak, as if I had lost my virginity" is a mistranslation of the English subtitles in the home video version. What Eva is actually saying in Spanish is, "The next morning, I felt as weak as if I had lost my vitality."

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Quotes

Eva: [English subtitle] The next morning, I felt very weak as if I had lost my virginity.

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Connections

Version of Drakula halála (1921)

User Reviews

Lugosi vs Villarias

Like many others I believe that Bela Lugosi is superior as Count Dracula (even though the Spanish film is far better in other aspects).

At first I thought that Carlos Villarias was hilarious as the Count, too much "over the top" and he doubtlessly lacks Lugosi's suave and chilling screen presence. But Lugosi had been perfecting the character on stage, and Villarios must have been trying to do a different kind of Dracula.

I believe that Villarios must have been thinking of Lon Chaney and "London after midnight" when he created his Dracula. The staring eyes, the uncanny smile - it's all there! After all: it would have been natural for Villarios to seek an inspiration from the greatest horro star of the time, wouldn't it?