Dracula (1931 film)

Dracula is a 1931 horror film produced by Universal Pictures Co. Inc. and based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Description

The first official Dracula movie was directed by Tod Browning, with a screenplay based on the stage play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston. The title role was played by Bela Lugosi. Also starring in the film were David Manners as Jonathan Harker, Helen Chandler as Mina Murray/Harker and Dwight Frye as Renfield.

Carl Laemmle Jr had originally intended the movie to be a lavish production to rival both The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, and would again star the man of a thousand faces Lon Chaney. Tod Browning was set to direct Chaney with a script based exclusively on Bram Stoker's gothic novel. Alas this wasn't to be, Lon Chaney had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and the onset on the Great Depression also caused a drastic reduction in the budget, forcing Laemmle to look at a cheaper alternative (this meant several grand scenes that closely followed the Stoker storyline, had to be abandoned). Already a huge hit on Broadway, the tried and tested Hamilton Deane/John L. Balderston Dracula play would become the blueprint and the production gained momentum. Next up was who would play The Count? This would fall to the Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi but not without controversy. Originally Carl Laemmle Jr had instructed that he was not interested in Lugosi, despite him receiving warm reviews from his already famed portrayal on the stage and sought to hire another actor. Fortunately Universal went ahead with Lugosi (at a reduction in his salary) and the rest is history. Lugosi's portrayal became the one by which he was most remembered and despite his earlier stage successes in a variety of roles, typecast him. The eerie speech pattern of Lugosi's "Dracula" was said to have resulted from the fact that Lugosi did not speak English, and therefore had to learn and speak his lines phonetically. This, however, is urban legend; Lugosi spoke English as well as he ever would by the time the film was made.

The film was a great success, and newspapers reported that members of the audiences fainted in shock at the horror onscreen. This publicity, shrewdly orchestrated by the film studio, helped ensure people came to see the film, if for no other reason than curiosity.

It was one of a group of films (including Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man) that formed the bedrock of Universal Studios' horror movie series of the 1930s and 1940s.

A box office success in its day, which has come to be regarded as a classic of the era and of its genre, it has been selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. Tod Browning's Dracula is without question a corner stone in Hollywood history. Sure, it may be a little hammy and from a techincal point of view it's no masterpiece, but where it's good it's peerless; especially during those first fifteen minutes set within Castle Dracula. And if the film occasionally falters after that, then there is always Lugosi and Dwight Frye to keep the viewer hooked.

Sequels

Five years after the release of the film, Universal released Dracula's Daughter, a direct sequel that starts moments after the end of the first film. A second sequel, Son of Dracula, followed in 1943. Despite his apparent death in the 1931 film, the Count returned to life in three more Universal films of the mid-1940s: 1944's House of Frankenstein, 1945's House of Dracula and 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Only in this final film did Lugosi finally play the role of Count Dracula on screen a second time.

1998 score by Philip Glass

Due to the short lived limitations of adding a musical score to a film's soundtrack, during 1930 and 1931, no score had ever been composed specifically for the film. In 1998 minimalist composer Philip Glass was commissioned to compose an original score for the classic film. The score was performed by the Kronos Quartet under direction of Michael Riesman.

Of the project, Glass said:

''"The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With Kronos Quartet we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film."

The film, with this new score, was released by Universal Studios Home Video in 1999 in the VHS format. The current DVD release allows the viewer to chose between the original, unscored, release or this version.

The Spanish Language Version

A Spanish language version of Drácula was made by director George Melford who simultaneously filmed the movie using the same sets at night. Melford used a different crew and cast that featured Carlos Villarías, who played the title role, and Eduardo Arozamena who portrayed Van Helsing. Carl Laemmle Jr. was the producer of both versions.

In recent years this version has become more highly praised by some than the English language version. The Spanish crew had the advantage of watching the Dailies from the English crew's version when they came in for the evening. They would work out better camera angles and more effective use of lighting. With the film being intended for a Mexican audience, they didn't have to adhere to the Hays Code, as was the case for the English-language version. As a result, this version's supporters consider it to be much more artistically effective.

Trivia

David Manners (John Harker) was so unimpressed with the production, he never once watched the film in the remaining 67 years of his life.

The design on the towering windows in Castle Dracula were actually based on the windows found at Whitby Abbey, the place where (in Stoker's novel) Dracula seduces his first victim, Lucy.

In various scenes set in Castle Dracula several Armadillos are seen wandering around the set. Purportedly this is an in-joke on the part of director Tod Browning, who insisted Castle Dracula contain Armadillos (an animal much beloved in his place of birth, Texas), regardless of the fact that they don't occur naturally in Central Europe.

External links

EOFFTV - The Universal Dracula series

Dracula at the All Movie Guide
1998 score by Philip Glass

Dracula (1931) | Drakula (film, 1931) | Дракула (фильм, 1931) | Dracula (1931)