Bela Lugosi
Sometimes certain things combine to make history. Such was the case in 1931 when Universal released the first American made monster film. That film was Dracula, and it forever cemented the images and sounds of Bela Lugosi in our minds as Count Dracula.
Even today, 80 years later, people speak with that Lugosi “accent” when imitating Dracula.
Bela’s screen presence is still a powerful force so it is easy to understand why!
Today the film can seem creaky, slow and at times “stagey” (of course it WAS adapted from the stage play which had been very loosely adapted from the novel) but at times this slow pace propels the movie into a kind of other worldly place. There is no soundtrack to speak of, and some of the shot selection in kind of static, but the Dracula/Van Helsing confrontation is memorable, and Dwight Frye as Renfield is played with great gusto. (Gusto: He really gets into it!).
It’s the first 20 minutes or so that REALLY sets the standards though. Renfield travels to Castle Dracula, and there we see the castle ruins, bats, rats, spider webs and a GRAND set, where we also meet Dracula himself for the first time. The scene where Bela descends the huge staircase in castle Dracula is a movie classic. There he is wearing the amulet, cape and vest all the while speaking in that strange accent. Then there are Dracula’s three wives, that even today seem awfully eerie. They never speak a word and want only ONE thing, and that is Renfield’s blood! Dracula makes Renfield his slave and travels to England on a ship where he kills the entire crew leaving only Renfield “alive” on the ship mad as a hatter!
After this point the film does tend to slow down and lose steam, but thanks to Bela’s performance it never sinks into boredom. If you can get past some of the more stagey bits Dracula is always worth a look.
Dracula was a big hit when it was released and very soon after Universal released Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff and the floodgates had opened!
Oh ….and Dracula also contains some of the famous lines like “I never drink….wine.” This is the movie that pretty much established the category of Hollywood monster movies and it has never been the same since!
Thanks Universal, Tod Browning (director), Carl Laemmle (producer), Charles Hall (art director), Karl Freund (Cinematographer), Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan (Van Helsing) and of course Bela Lugosi.
Best,
Robert
Best,
Robert
