Dracula 1931: Movie Review
I recently for the first time, watched the 1931 Dracula and here are my thoughts on it.
While I am very familiar like many others with the character of Dracula, he's been featured in many movies, TV shows and commercials for decades. The character usually has a thick Transylvanian accent and usually says something about wanting to suck blood. He wears a cape and always hides when the sun comes out. Even Sesame Street has a Muppet called Count Von Count! So the character of Count Dracula is familiar to all ages. I've never read Bram Stoker's Dracula either so anything I've ever seen has been later versions of movies or shows.
Bela Lugosi is probably best known as portraying the title lead. He was originally in the stage production and was in his mid 40s when he was cast in the film version. Dracula is one of the earlier Universal Pictures films that began cranking out other horror hits like Frankenstein and The Mummy.
Dracula is a early movie and by that I mean, the special effects aren't great. When Dracula turns into a bat it's easy to tell it's a fake bat. A fake spider crawls on the wall and the background sets are so fake. It was filmed on a Los Angeles soundstage (like many movies of that decade). Still it's one of the earlier horror films so I'll let it go.
Bela Lugosi portrays Dracula pretty good honestly. He can pull a woman in seductively before ultimately killing her. In one scene when Dracula lands in London for the first time he's dressed very elegantly, in a top hat and coat. One might find him out of place or overdressed but no one would know he was a killer.
The rest of the cast is fairly good, Dwight Fyre who plays Renfield is convincingly well as someone who goes crazy and must be admitted to a mental hospital. Helen Chandler who plays Mina Seward is a mostly strong female lead, she's not a typical 'save me' character and that makes her a little more interesting. And Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing played opposite Bela Lugosi in the stage production of Dracula.
This movie isn't what I'd call a typical horror film, it's not that scary but it can be strange at times. It's filmed in black and white (which nearly all films in the 1930s were) but that adds to that whole suspenseful theme. At 85 minutes it's fairly short and at times falls repetitive. Still it's a classic and I think should be seen at least once.
I give it 3 out of 4 stars and I do recommend it especially since it's October and close to Halloween.
Until Next Time,
Ashley A.
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