Dracula 1931

Dracula (1931)

Cast:

-Bela Lugosi: Count Dracula

-Helen Chandler: Mina

-David Manners: John Harker

-Dwight Frye: Renfield(My favorite character)

-Edward Van Sloan: Van Helsing

-Herbert Bunston: Doctor Seward

-Frances Dade: Lucy

-Joan Standing: Maid

-Charles K Gerrard: Martin 

 

Fun Facts:

-Dracula was the first talking horror movie.

-When Bela Lugosi died in 1956, he was buried wearing the black silk cape he wore for this film.

-The spiderwebs in Dracula's castle were created by shooting rubber cement from a rotary gun.

-Alice Cooper wrote 'The Ballad of Dwight Fry,' which is based off of the actor who played Reinfield. 

- Right after Dracula says "My blood now flows through her veins", he then walks across the room. As he does this, watch the lower right corner of the frame and you'll see revealed for a moment a big glaring light "hidden" on the floor behind the couch.

-Dracula was released on February 14, 1931. Valentines Day.

-The Footage from the 'Vesta' scene was actually taken from another silent film that Todd Browning had directed earlier in his career. 

- There is a scene at the end of the film in which Van Helsing comes back out and addresses the audience and says: "Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen. Just a word before you go. We hope that the memories of Dracula won't give you bad dreams, so just a word of reassurance. When you get home tonight, and the lights are turned out and you're afraid to look behind the curtain and you dread to see a face appear at the window, well, just pull yourself together and remember: There ARE such things!" This scene was censored by the Catholic Church because it promoted superstition.

-Music score is composed by Philip Glass

My thoughts?

   Two thumbs up :) At a time when movie graphics were not at their highest, the black bats were classic, as are the superstitious towns people.I love just how awkward Dracula is, and nobody seems to notice. It think if I came across somebody who was that weird I wouldn't stick around for too long; but the characters don't care and chat him up as if nothing was amiss. 

   The over dramatic acting is quite hilarious, especially the Dwight Frye's character Reinfield. I had to pause the movie when Van Helsing tries to show Dracula his figure in the mirror (or lack-there-of)and Dracula slaps the mirror out of Van Helsing's hands. 

   Poor Reinfeild's diarrhea of the mouth was his undoing.I also noticed that windows were left open at odd times of the day, even after Dracula is pronounced a Vampire (Nosferatu). 

   Van Helsing keeps repeating that Dracula is a Vampire, the undead. No one seems to pay him any attention. Continued ignorance carries the plot of the movie until the end.

A few of my favorite shots

       

(Not exactly sure what this means, but seems to be very effective.)