55. Dracula (1931)

Directed By Tod Browning

Synopsis

He never drinks... wine. He's more of a beer man.

Review

Ok, if you are looking for camera work, or technical achievements and so on, look somewhere else, actually you can look next door in the Spanish language of the same film, made for the Latin American market when making a new film was the only way to export talkies. You lose Bela Lugosi, but you get good directing...

In the end the English version is the best one. While the directing is a lacklustre affair, basically filming a parlour theatre play, there are a couple of iconic performances that make the film an enjoyable experience.

The first presence you are aware of is that of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. Lugosi was always associated to Dracula from here on, but so was Dracula associated to Lugosi, a testimony to his over the top iconic role. Watching this film is a lot of fun, it is basically for me one of those films that you know the lines by heart, and Lugosi has the best ones. "Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.", or " I never drink... wine." After the move to England however Renfield starts stealing the show, and Lugosi is much more subdued, and Van Helsing is pretty good as well.

This film gives you that giddy fun that most cult B movies do, it is so cliched, but it also invented many of the cliches. If you want some high culture while watching it, get the version with the Phillip Glass soundtrack, it really adds something to the film. Get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

8/10


Trivia

Here you go, the best part of the film, in these 8 minutes, you get the most famous quotes and see Lugosi in all his glory:



From Wikipedia:

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.

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 [the 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. Universal's DVD releases allow the viewer to choose between the unscored soundtrack or the Glass score.

The Spanish language version

It the early days of sound, it was common for Hollywood studios to produce foreign language versions of their films (usually in French, Spanish and German) using the same sets, costumes and etc. Unfortunately, most of these foreign language versions no longer exist. The Spanish version of Dracula is an exception.

The 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 Spanish-speaking audience, they didn't have to adhere to the Hayes 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. The Spanish semiologist Roman Gubern considers that the longer duration allows better development of the plot in spite of the shorted shooting time and smaller budget.

The Spanish version was included as a bonus feature on the Legacy Collection DVD in 2004 and the 75th Anniversary Edition DVD set in 2006.