Dracula (1931)
by Robbo
Posted on 28 October 2021
Rating -
Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort.
It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
It is hard to believe that Bela Lugosi wasn’t the first choice for his iconic role. Instead the part of Dracula was intended for Lon Chaney, who was to have played the role of Professor Van Helsing as well.
But Chaney’s untimely death in 1930 of throat cancer lead to problematic casting.
Lugosi, who had played the part on Broadway and was in a touring company in Los Angeles at the time of casting, lobbied hard for the role and eventually won the studio executives over. It may have been due in some part to the lowering of his expected salary to $500 per week.
The film opens with Renfield, a solicitor travelling to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania on a business matter. with the local villagers warning Renfield not to go there.
Renfield is driven to the castle by Dracula’s coach, with Dracula disguised as the driver who suddenly transforms into a bat.
Renfield enters the castle welcomed by the charming but eccentric Count, who, unbeknownst to Renfield, is a vampire.
They discuss Dracula’s intention to lease Carfax Abbey in England, where he intends to travel the next day. Dracula hypnotizes then attacks Renfield.
Aboard the schooner Vesta, Renfield is a raving lunatic slave to Dracula, who hides in a coffin and feeds on the ship’s crew.
When the ship reaches England, Renfield is discovered to be the only living person and is sent to Dr. Seward’s sanatorium adjoining Carfax Abbey.
At a London theatre, Dracula meets Seward. Seward introduces his daughter Mina, her fiancé John Harker, and a family friend, Lucy Weston. That night, Dracula enters Lucy’s room and feasts on her blood while she sleeps. Lucy dies the next day after a string of blood transfusions.
Dracula visits Mina, asleep in her bedroom, and bites her.
Dr. Seward then calls in a specialist, Professor Van Helsing, to diagnose the sudden deterioration of Mina’s health.
After meeting Dracula and seeing he has no reflection in a mirror, Van Helsing deduces that Dracula is a vampire and is behind the recent attacks.
At Carfax Abbey Van Helsing and Harker find Dracula asleep in his coffin and Van Helsing prepares a wooden stake while Harker searches for Mina.
Van Helsing finally impales Dracula through the heart, killing him, and Mina returns to normal.
I remember first seeing this film when I was a child, when on a weekend my parents would let me stay up late and watch TV. It left a real impression on me and sparked my love for classic horror.
Looking back now the film seems tame compared to modern horror films. The acting is a little wooden and stilted, you can definitely see the stage origins of the script, but every time I see this film it stirs up a feeling of great nostalgia and whisks me back to when I first saw it as a child.
I will often catch myself reciting lines like ‘I never drink wine.’ or ‘Listen to them, the children of the night, what music they make.’, adopting the thick Eastern European accent of Lugosi.
You can’t judge classic films like this by today’s standards, you have to look at it through the eyes of a 1930’s audience, an audience that has different tastes, different standards and hasn’t become de-sensitised to the blood and gore of today’s horror films.
The legacy of this film will live on, whenever you mention Dracula you always see Lugosi, the blueprint for Dracula throughout the ages, even inspiring the character of The Count on children’s TV show Sesame Street.
And if it hadn’t been for the success of this film then we possibly wouldn’t have had the Universal Monsterverse, and would perhaps have lost some classic films such as Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Wolf Man (1941).
This film is still atmospheric, providing some mild thrills and chills, and I would urge everyone to watch this at least once. And if you are of a nervous disposition, you may want to keep the lights on.
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