Dracula

Director: Tod Browning Tod Browning

Overview

"I am....Drac-u-la. I bid you velcome." Thus does Bela Lugosi declare his presence in the 1931 screen version of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Director Tod Browning invests most of his mood and atmosphere in the first two reels, which were based on the original Stoker novel; the rest of the film is a more stagebound translation of the popular stage play by John Balderston and Hamilton Deane. Even so, the electric tension between the elegant Dracula and the vampire hunter Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) works as well on the screen as it did on the stage. And it's hard to forget such moments as the lustful gleam in the eyes of Mina Harker (Helen Chandler) as she succumbs to the will of Dracula, or the omnipresent insane giggle of the fly-eating Renfield (Dwight Frye). Despite the static nature of the final scenes, Dracula is a classic among horror films, with Bela Lugosi giving the performance of a lifetime as the erudite Count (both Lugosi and co-star Frye would forever after be typecast as a result of this film, which had unfortunate consequences for both men's careers). Compare this Dracula to the simultaneously filmed Spanish-language version, which makes up for the absence of Lugosi with a stronger sense of visual dynamics in the lengthy dialogue sequences. In 1999, a special rerelease of Dracula was prepared featuring a new musical score written by Philip Glass and performed by The Kronos Quartet.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/02/2014
UPC:	0025192249556
Original Release:	1931
Rating:	NR
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:15:00
Sales rank:	31,586

Special Features

Dracula (1931) Spanish version with introduction by Lupita Tovar Kohner; The road to Dracula; Feature commentary with film historian David J. Skal; Alternate score by Philip Glass performend with the Kronos Quartet; Poster and photo montage; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bela Lugosi	Count Dracula
Helen Chandler	Mina
David Manners	John
Dwight Frye	Renfield
Edward Van Sloan	Van Helsing
Herbert Bunston	Seward
Frances Dade	Lucy
Charles Gerard	Martin
Joan Standing	Maid,Surgeon
Moon Carroll	Briggs, Maid
Josephine Velez	English Nurse
Donald Murphy	Coach Passenger
Daisy Belmore	English-Woman Passenger
Nicholas Bela	Transylvanian Passenger
Michael Visaroff	Innkeeper
Carla Laemmle	Girl in Coach
Dorothy Tree	Dracula's Vampire Wife
Jeraldine Dvorak	Dracula's Vampire Wife,Dracula's Wife
Mildred Peirce	Dracula's Vampire Wife
John George	Van Helsing's Assistant
George Hill Mailes	Operating Room Doctor
Florence Wix	Concertgoer Outside Theatre
Lupita Tovar	Actor
Pablo Álvarez Rubio	Actor
Tina Saint	Actor
Eduardo Arozamena	Actor
Manuel Arbó	Actor
Barry Norton	Actor
Carmen Guerrero	Actor
Garrett Fort	Actor
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	Composer
Richard Wagner	Composer

Technical Credits

Garrett Fort

Bram Stoker

Hamilton Deane

John L. Balderston

Louis Bromfield

Louis Stevens

Frederick Stephani

Tod Browning	Director,Producer
Carl Laemmle Jr.	Producer
Phil M. Friedman	Casting
Garrett Fort	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Bram Stoker	Screenwriter
Hamilton Deane	Screenwriter
John L. Balderston	Screenwriter
Louis Bromfield	Screenwriter
Louis Stevens	Screenwriter
Frederick Stephani	Screenwriter
Frank H. Booth	Special Effects
C. Roy Hunter	Sound Effects
Carl Laemmle	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) has made the most lasting impression of all versions of the Bram Stoker classic, although it was neither the first version (there were numerous silent-movie vampire tales) nor, for many viewers, the best version (many aficionados cite F.W. Murnau's 1922 Nosferatu). There are at least three reasons for the film's lasting importance. First, the opening sequences in the foothills of the Carpathians, and the subsequent set-up shots in Dracula's castle, are rendered in classic German Expressionist style by cinematographer Karl Freund, establishing a Gothic creepiness and tangibly dark and perverse tone that stick with the audience long after the setting shifts to England. The success of these atmospheric shots would influence horror filmmakers for decades to come. Second, Bela Lugosi's interpretation of Dracula would define the role. His suave, faded gentry style and unusually cadenced line deliveries would become the touchstone for many imitators. Lugosi gives his character just a hint of the sexual carnivore in his pursuit of the pretty maidens of England, themes that Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola would develop more fully several decades later. Freund played a key role in defining Lugosi's sinister character by shining tiny pinpricks of light into his eyes, giving them an eerily otherworldly, penetrating quality. Third, the set designs are outstanding, from Dracula's Transylvanian castle to the London insane asylum housing Renfield, giving the film a perfectly Gothic horror quality. The film's second half deteriorates into a drawing-room drama, with too much chat and not enough horror. However, there is little doubt that the film's opening act, with its brilliant sets and stunning camerawork, together with Lugosi's elegantly sinister performance, make Dracula a memorable and influential classic.