It's back to 1931 with Bela Lugosi starring as the king of vampires taking a trip from Transylvania to London. A man named Renfield (Dwight Frye) travels to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula, confused as the others who share his carriage want to rush to an inn. They don't want him to go out at night, suggesting he wait until morning, because they claim the night is when vampires will roam. He naturally doesn't believe them, insisting that he must catch his ride to Dracula's castle, horrifying them. They claim Dracula and his wives rise from coffins in the night, and when he still refuses to listen, one woman gives him a crucifix necklace. He meets with another carriage later, driven by Dracula (Bela Lugosi) himself. During the bumpy right, Renfield tries to complain to the driver, but no one is there; a bat is hovering above the horses. He arrives at the castle unsure what happened to the driver and his luggage, and inside meets Dracula personally. In Dracula's crumbling castle, Renfield learns his bags have already been personally taken up, and the Count invites him to talk business. Heading up to Renfield's room, they discuss some property Dracula wants to buy, as as Renfield becomes nervous due to the Count's intense gaze. Renfield cuts himself looking through some papers, and Dracula suddenly begins staring and approaches him. The crucifix around his neck suddenly falls down, however, and Dracula recoils until Renfield puts it away and sucks on his finger. Dracula offers Renfield some wine, but notes that he himself doesn't drink it, and bids the man goodnight. Renfield opens a window as three women walk in, and after a bat begins fluttering around, he suddenly collapses. Dracula suddenly enters through the window and waves the women away, then bends over Renfield's body as the scene fades. The next day, Renfield is on the "Vista" on his way to England. He pries open a coffin, telling his "master" that the sun is gone, and Dracula climbs out. Renfield begs Dracula to keep his promise that he'll get "lives," and though not human, full of blood, in exchange for his loyalty. Dracula wordlessly heads out to the deck, where he watches the sailors deal with a storm that is blowing water aboard the ship. When the ship comes into port, all the sailors are dead; those who find the ship assume they went through a terrible storm. They hear Renfield, who had been below deck talking to Dracula, and find him staring at them with crazed eyes and laughing. Renfield is put into Doctor Seward's Sanitarium due to his odd behavior and desire to eat small creatures like ants and flies for their blood. Now in London, Dracula feeds on a woman, whose body is found in the streets. He then goes to a playhouse, where he hypnotizes a woman to go get Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston), then forget having met him. While confirming Seward's identity and explaining that he just bought Carfax Abbey, Dracula meets Mina Harker (Helen Chandler), Lucy Weston (Frances Dade), and John Harker (David Manners). Seward tells them about the purchase, then excuses himself to deal with the woman's excuse from before. The others say it will be good to see the abbey repaired, but Dracula reveals he won't be repairing it; it's dismal state reminds him of Castle Dracula. Lucy brings up a creepy poem of death the abbey reminds her of, and Dracula mentions that it must be quite something to be dead. Mina is surprised, but he states that there are worse things than death, and the others watch the play as Dracula stares at Lucy, a smile on his face. Later, Mina laughs about Dracula and his romanticism, but Lucy says he's fascinating. Noting that she prefers someone normal, Mina leaves Lucy with her thoughts. Not knowing Dracula is watching from outside, Lucy opens her window and lies down to read. Dracula flies up in his bat form, and when she falls asleep, he returns to his regular form and stalks toward her. Lucy is later found dead; despite multiple blood transfusions, there was an unexplainable loss of blood, and like the other victim, two marks on her neck. Renfield is still under Dracula's spell, upset when worker Martin (Charles K. Gerrard) at the sanitarium tosses away a spider he wanted, having moved on from flies. Seward meets with Prof. Abraham Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), who claims they are dealing with a vampire, which attacks the throat. Seward protests that modern medicine doesn't believe in vampires, so Van Helsing claims he'll bring proof. Alone later, Seward points out that Renfield has only been after small things thus far, but Van Helsing reminds him that the man has escaped his cell and been gone for hours at a time. Van Helsing goes to shake Renfield's hand, explaining that he's here to help and commenting on the man's improvement. Renfield keeps up a thankful act until Van Helsing begins studying his hand, which he then angrily rips away. Renfield begs Seward to let him go somewhere else, claiming his fits might bother Mina and give her bad dreams. A sudden wolf howl distracts them, and while this confuses, Seward and Van Helsin, Martin says he's heard the wolf howling before; Renfield believes it's talking to him. Van Helsing approaches Renfield, saying they know how to get rid of the wolves and whipping out an herb that causes Renfield to cry out. The crazed man snarls that Van Helsing knows too much to live, and Seward has Martin take him away as he warns the doctor that he'll be responsible for what happens to Mina if he doesn't oblige and send him away. As Martin takes Renfield out, Van Helsing reveals the herb was wolfsbane, which people use to ward off vampires. He urges Seward to keep an eye on Renfield, especially at night. Locked in his room, Renfield laments his fate until he again hears the howling, and sees Dracula outside. He is pleased to see his master until he realizes the vampire wants him to go after Mina, whom Dracula then goes to as she sleeps. Sometime later, she explains to John how that night, her room seemed full of mist, and she could see red eyes and a white face that came to her. She felt its breath and lips, and when she woke, she felt weak. John assures her it was just a dream and suggests she think of something cheerful. Van Helsing steps in and takes a look at Mina's covered throat; he finds marks there. She reveals she's had the marks since the morning after this event, they wonder what could have attacked her just as Dracula enters. Van Helsing seems suspicious as Dracula and Mina take an interest in one another, suggesting she go to her room, but she says her condition probably isn't serious. Mina tells Dracula about her encounter, and he says he hopes she's not taking his stories too seriously. He explains to an angry John that he amused her before with grim stories from Transylvania. John gets a cigarette, opening a mirrored box, in which Van Helsing notices there are reflections of Mina and Seward, but not Dracula. They finally convince Mina to go to bed, and after bidding her goodnight, Dracula apologizes for his interruption. Van Helsing replies that his visit may actually help, and asks that he take a look at the cigarette box, as he doesn't know if he can trust what he saw before. He opens the lid, but when Dracula realizes a mirror's inside, he slaps the box away. Dracula soon hides his angered expression and tells Seward that Van Helsing will explain why he doesn't like mirrors. Bidding them farewell, he states that, although Van Helsing hasn't lived a full lifetime yet, he is very wise. John and Seward are shocked at the Count's reaction, and when John goes to the door, he sees a wolf running across the lawn. Van Helsing explains that vampires can become wolves, or more often bats, and that Dracula is the one they're searching for, which is why his reflection didn't appear. The others are skeptical, noting it sounds like something a patient at the sanitarium would say, but Van Helsing points out that this is also true of everyone else, as a vampire's great power is that no one will believe in him. Mina soon goes outside and leaves with Dracula, while inside John points out that vampires are simple story monsters. Van Helsing reveals the creatures live after death by drinking living blood, and that they are only powerful at night; during the day they have to rest in the dirt they were buried in. Seward notes that Dracula would have to return to Transylvania for this to be true, but Van Helsing theorizes that he brought boxes of soil with him. Renfield suddenly arrives, telling them to listen to Van Helsing, and lamenting that they didn't heed his warning earlier. He urges John to get Mina away, but Dracula suddenly arrives in bat form, which causes him to fearfully keep quiet, claiming he's never heard the Count's name. Van Helsing suggests he help, saying he'll die in torment if innocent blood is on his hands, but Renfield says God won't punish a lunatic for his weakness. Nurse Briggs (Joan Standing) suddenly enters, screaming that Mina is dead outside, and when the others rush out, Renfield begins laughing, and she collapses. He crawls toward her body while outside, Dracula watches the men carry Mina inside, with Van Helsing saying the Count already has power over her. Meanwhile, Lucy has returned from the dead and begun attacking children; reports of a "woman in white" say she lures children with promises of chocolate, then bites them. Mina recounts to Van Helsing how she saw Lucy and went to speak to her, but remembered she was dead. He promises that he'll help Mina, and she asks that he do the same after she has died, which John assures her won't happen. Mina sadly explains to John that he must avoid her; their life together is done now that Dracula's influence overpowers her love. John, sick of it all, decides he's going to London tonight and demands that Mina come with him, despite everyone else suggesting otherwise. Van Helsing reveals Mina's room has been decorated with wolfsbane and instructs Nurse Briggs to give Mina a wreath of wolfsbane and not let her take it off or open the windows that night. With the threat of Renfield's actions against Briggs a sleeping threat and Dracula on the horizon, the group is about to have a showdown with one of the most iconic monsters of all time. I had a great time getting to finally see the classic version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi, as of course I'd heard about it, but I'd never watched it before.
Obviously there is a bit of silliness to it; this was still early in the sound era for film, and technology wasn't perfect. As with other classic films, however, there is a kind of charm to how simple everything is, with ordinary camera tricks to show Dracula's magical abilities. Whenever a bat is seen fluttering around, if Dracula arrives after, he usually does after a cut or once the bat has flown offscreen. Bela Lugosi is fun and intimidating as the Count himself, even with his more over-dramatic moments, giving off an air of confidence and charm. You see some old-fashioned makeup with Renfield after he becomes Dracula's slave, with dark circles around his eyes. Dwight Frye does an excellent job as Renfield, really selling that he has slipped into total insanity after visiting the vampiric Count. Van Helsing actually has some intelligence to him, which is good to see, as although he obviously has no way of knowing about Dracula at first, he properly assumes there could be something about this new visitor who keeps appearing. His knowledge of vampires allows him to quickly identify Dracula, though it's also funny that the Count was a bit careless in blending in. He doesn't do a great job hiding that he's doing something, speaking in a strange manner and standing rather stiffly. It does give him an otherworldly kind of movement, though, as he turns his entire body for simple things while talking. This was done purposefully decades later for Batman, where Michael Keaton's full cowl forced him to always turn his entire body to do anything. I was glad to see that the original movie actually did something later movies seem to not realize: vampires can turn into more than just bats. Van Helsing does say bats are favored, but classic Dracula becomes a wolf, as repeatedly seen in the movie, a swarm of mice, and mist, like when he approached Minain her bedroom. Having the ability to turn into so many things adds quite a terrifying aspect to Dracula, as he could appear in many forms to catch you off-guard. If you're into the oldest classics and haven't seen Dracula, you can have a good campy time time this Halloween getting back to the character's roots.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|