MY DVD Collection - 09 Feb 2007

(Dracula [de])

USA 1931
d: Tod Browning
Universal Pictures Video (Region 1 us)

>> The Cast & Crew [click to show or hide]

Not by any means the masterpiece of fond memory or reputation, although the first twenty minutes are astonishingly fluid and brilliantly shot by Karl Freund, despite the intrusive painted backdrops. Innumerable imaginative touches here: the sinister emphasis of Lugosi's first words ('I...am...Dracula') and the sonorous poetry of his invocation to the children of the night; the moment when Dracula leads the way up his castle stairway behind a vast cobweb through which Renfield has to struggle as he follows; the vampire women, driven off by Dracula, reluctantly backing away from the camera while it continues hungrily tracking in to Renfield's fallen body. Thereafter the pace falters, and with the London scenes growing in verbosity and staginess, the hammy limitations of Lugosi's performance are cruelly exposed. But the brilliant moments continue (Renfield's frenzy in his cell, for instance), and Freund's camerawork rarely falters.
— TM, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula, the original, is said to have stood the test of time less well than other horror classics of the early Thirties (slow dialogue and a general reticence to be as horrific as it could be). "Nevertheless...enough remains of a kind of macabre poetry to leave a stronger impression in the memory than many slicker examples since. The whole opening sequence is splendid.... the first sight of the gaunt coachman who takes over for the final part of the journey, the misty ruined castle, the rats and dust, the Count and his three wraith-like concubines...all this is highly atmospheric, and magnificently photographed by Karl Freund...." --Ivan Butler, "The Horror Film." At Dracula's close, Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) warns the audience from the screen that vampires really do exist. Curiously, Professor Godard says something similar in talking of Dracula, The Birds, Germany, Year Zero and his own Weekend: "One says, 'Dracula doesn't exist,' but...[s]till today in all the offices of administration or in high society, people look like that. So, where are the monsters? Who are the monsters?.... For Weekend, it's more interesting to say 'monsters' than to say 'politics.'" (in "...Histoire du cinéma," trans. J.B.)
•••••
Tod Browning's "Dracula" 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.
— Dan Jardine, AMG
•••••
The atmospheric opening is the best part--moody and full of sinister potential. After that, it's stilted drawing-room talk, variably acted, except for the cultish over-the-top dementia of Dwight Frye. Still, DRACULA is the film that started the 1930s horror cycle, secured Universal's position as the horror studio, and made Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi a worldwide curiosity. ...
While the first part of the film is quite cinematic (mainly due to the brilliant cinematography of Karl Freund), the movie bogs down once it gets to England, after which it appears that director Tod Browning was intent on making a documentary of the stage play. Originally released with no music at all (except for the portion of Tschaikovsky's "Swan Lake" played over the opening credits and, later, a snippet from Wagner's "Der Meistersinger"), DRACULA was scored in 1999 by modern composer Phillip Glass. Though the original version's eerie silence sets a uniquely uncanny mood, Glass' ominously repetitive compositions, performed by the Kronos Quartet, genuinely enhance many scenes.
— TV MovieGuide