Dracula - 1931 quick review
Dracula - 1931 Dir. Tod Browning Screenplay, Garret Fort. Staring Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Dwight Frye (Renfield), Helen Chandler (Mina Steward), Edward Von Sloan (Van Helsing), Charles Gerrard (Martin), Herbert Bunston (Dr. Steward), Frances Dade (Lucy Weston), David Manners (John Harker)
The film that launched the great wave of classic Universal monster films of the 30’s and 40’s. The film that cemented Bela Lugosi as a vampire and his accent as the go to for sounding like a vampire. The most important but by far not the best vampire film (the best being The Lost Boys).
Dracula tells the tale of an aristocrat vampire, having grown bored of his crumbling, ruin of a castle in Transylvania, decides to move to a crumbling, ruin of an abby outside of London. Sinister politeness follows.
This film is dated in some aspects. There isn’t any background score, it feels like a play at times (largely because it was adapted from the Broadway play), and the acting is a bit sparse. However, the shots involving wide vistas of Romanian mountainsides are simply beautiful. All the matte backgrounds in this are spectacular. The stage settings are gorgeous as well, though Dracula’s castle does seem to have an infestation of imported opossums and armadillos for some reason.
Bela Lugosi is pure class throughout this film. He is wonderfully restrained because Dracula has to be restrained. We get a few moments of melting charm when he talks with Mina and I wish there was more of that. Dracula as a character needs to be a social chameleon. He needs to go from unnoticed gentleman about town in order to blend into a crowd after attacking a flower seller. He needs to seem charming but harmless to Dr. Steward and John Harker to keep them off guard. And he needs to be a force of seductive charm with both Lucy and Mina. You really only see glimpses of the terror of Dracula for a few moments. When he interacts with Renfield after landing in England and when Van Helsing outs him for being a vampire. Aside from those two situations he moves from persona to persona as it fits the circumstances before him.
Dwight Frye steals the show as Renfield. He also steals much of Jon Harker’s story line as well. In the novel Jonathan Harker goes to Dracula’s castle to deliver the papers to sign over ownership of Carfax Abby, in the film it’s Renfield, glorious Renfield. I feel Renfield is slightly a bisexual coded character. He is enthralled with Dracula. It is for sure a toxic relationship but he very much seems enamored and threatened by Dracula. He also has a sentimental feeling of protection towards Mina. In his feelings towards Mina it’s very much kept at adoration from afar. He knows he can’t be with her because he is with Dracula and has done horrible things that he would rather Mina not know about.
Dwight Frye as Renfield being creepy on a boat.
Renfield is unhinged at times. The creepiest part of the film is Dwight Frye staring up from the cargo hold of the doomed ship (called the Vesta in the film), grinning wildly, his eyes wide, and his laugh a whining almost twisted sob. His monologue on flies vs spiders and blood content is deliciously weird.
There are two characters that I don’t think get mentioned enough in writings on Dracula, Mina Steward, our heroine, and Martin, the asylum’s put upon orderly. Chandler as Mina does an amazing job with her role. She is the sweet and innocent fiancé to John Harker, the loving child of Dr. Steward, and the down to earth friend of protogoth Lucy Weston (Lucy’s main contribution to this version is reciting a bleak toast to death and decay when first meeting Dracula at the opera). After Dracula gets his fangs into her Mina changes. Chandler gets to play with her new found aggressive side. She has a real power to her when she attempts to stand up to her loved ones and fight against her being taken care of. Towards the end of the film she has a lustful look on her face as she seems to get ready to pounce onto her fiancé and drink his blood. Chandler gets to run a wide range of emotions on screen as Mina and is amazing at it.
And then there is Martin the orderly. Poor Martin, always having to go out and get Renfield whenever he escapes, which is frequently. Martin, who despite Renfield being such a nuisance, still remains calm and kind to his annoying charge. He complains to the other staff about this and then switches to his customer service voice when in front of Dr. Steward or with any of the patients. He is a small part, largely just the comic relief in this otherwise serious film. It’s a delight. By far my favorite but he has is while out in the asylum yard at night when the rest of the house is frantic over covering windows with wolfsbane, Martin comments to the maid accompanying him, “They’re all crazy. Sometime I think the only sane people here are you and me, and sometimes I have my doubts about you.” To which the maid nods her head in silent agreement and Martin over reacts in shock. It’s a simple vaudeville type gag but it hits hard after several scenes of intense politeness.
Dracula was a highly effective horror film in its day, in a modern frame it can seem a bit slow and, on the surface, flat. However, there are still some juicy bits to the film that make it worth rewatching.
