One of the most common depictions of the vampire on the heaps of tourist that available is very familiar: dark eyebrows, slicked-back black hair, glowering eyes, courtly threads and a big black cape with a red lining. It’s a look that traces its roots back to “Dracula,” Todd Browning’s 1931 hit movie that helped Universal establish the golden era of Hollywood horror. It was also the first talkie vampire film, making the most of Bela Lugosi’s rich accent and stately manner in the lead role.
The story wastes no time throwing us into what is now familiar territory. A smart young lawyer named Renfield (Dwight Fryer) is traveling through Transylvania to conduct some business at Count Dracula’s castle. The locals are all superstitious and fear the place; Renfield laughs off their warnings and proceeds by coach, which is driven by supernatural powers.
On arrival at the crumbling castle high in the mountains, Renfield is greeted by Count Dracula (Lugosi); Dracula has brought him there to sort out the paperwork on a lease for Carfax Abbey in England. Despite the evident creepiness of his surroundings, Renfield accepts his host’s hospitality and stays the night.
Bad idea. The Count hypnotises Renfield and attacks him; subsequently he turns the young lawyer into a pathetic slave who craves the life force of small creatures. They travel to England by ship, Dracula treating the crew as a packed lunch to see him through the journey. By the time they reach their destination, Renfield is the only survivor, driven mad by the horrors he has witnessed.
While Renfield is sent to Dr Seward’s sanatorium, conveniently located next to Carfax Abbey, the Count heads to London. There he snacks on a flower girl and accidentally-on-purpose bumps into Seward (Herbert Bunston) at the theatre. There, he also meets Seward’s daughter, Mina (Helen Chandler), her fiancé, John Harker (David Manners), and their friend Lucy (Frances Dade). Later, Lucy is attacked in her bedroom by the Count, who then sets his sights on Mina. After he bites her, it is up to Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) to solve the mystery of the recent murders and kill Dracula before Mina succumbs to his dreadful curse…
This version of “Dracula” benefits from a superbly atmospheric start in Transylvania; it has some daunting matte-painted scenery and the Count’s spooky castle, which is shrouded in cobwebs and infested with bats, spiders, and, er… armadillos. The set design of the castle doesn’t quite match the expressionistic heights of James Whale’s “Frankenstein” from the same year, but it runs pretty close. Unfortunately, the surroundings aren’t as visually exciting once the action moves to England. Things get pretty stagey, perhaps reflecting the screenplay’s basis in the 1924 theatre version. Browning’s camera becomes static, fixed on groups of people standing around offices and drawing rooms spouting exposition at one another.
Considering we’re supposed to be racing against time to save Mina from a vampire’s curse, it’s all so curiously inert; it’s hindered further by the lack of incidental music. There is a dash of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” over the opening credits, but there is no score for the film. This results in a lot of dead air in the scenes where Dracula leers over his victims. The overall sluggish pace makes the trim 75-minute run time really drag at times. And we don’t even get any kills to spice things up a bit; the camera cuts away whenever Dracula moves in to take a bite out of someone.
I was looking forward to seeing Lugosi’s career-defining take on such a famous character, coming to the movie via Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” and his parts in “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and “Glen or Glenda.” He brings a sense of mystery to the role with his haughty manner and thick Hungarian accent, but it’s a very theatrical performance; and, like the rest of the movie, he is very static. Nevertheless, his intriguing line readings are iconic; listen to how he seems to add about seven extra syllables to his legendary “children of the night” line.
But here’s the thing—he’s just not very menacing. He seems more like a prowler stalking young women than an undead creature lusting after blood. I realise that I’m making that criticism from a distance of 90 years; but the film lacks the elemental power of “Frankenstein,” which still has the ability to disturb almost a century later.
The rest of the cast are a mixed bag. Manners as Harker plays the disbelieving husband-to-be as a stuffed shirt naysayer who petulantly rejects all evidence of the supernatural, even when a vampire is literally creeping up to bite his sweetheart on the neck. Chandler as Mina isn’t much better. She’s one of those simpering early cinema heroines, all “oohs” and “ahhs” and fluttering eyelashes; she has little to do but defer to her man and do a bit of shrieking and fainting. Dade as Lucy at least has a little bit of modern woman vitality about her, but unfortunately she’s not around for very long.
Van Sloan brings authority to the role of Van Helsing, and he’s an assured presence. The Professor is one of the primary sources of heavy-handed exposition in the movie; but Van Sloan makes him an intriguing, indomitable character. One of the highlights of the film is the scene when he finally faces off against Dracula and almost succumbs to the vampire’s hypnotic powers…almost.
Fryer goes big as Renfield and he is the film’s MVP as the seething, sniveling madman. His performance owes a lot to the silent era style of acting; he over-emphasizes emotions and gestures, but steals every scene he’s in and injects some much needed energy. He has quite a lot of screen time compared to other iterations of the character, and it’s very welcome. Fryer also has one of the film’s creepiest moments, when the police discover him giggling maniacally below decks of the death ship, with an insane stare and a rictus grin fixed on his face.
“Dracula” is a classic horror film that has had an unquestionable influence on the genre and pop culture, but has aged badly compared to other titles from Universal’s roster of classic monsters. It’s worth checking out due to its historical importance, but just don’t expect too many scares…
You can rent or watch “Dracula” on most streaming services.
