THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Monsters can come in all shapes and sizes. If 1931’s Dracula taught us anything, they can look a lot like us as well.
PLOT
Based on the 1924 stage play that is also inspired by the 1897 Bram Stoker novel, the film follows solicitor R.M. Renfield travel to Transylvania, to do business with Count Dracula. Despite the fear local villagers have over vampires possibly inhabiting the castle, he refuses to stay at a local inn and insists reaching the castle overnight. The suspicions do confirm to be true when a bat leads a carriage he rides to the castle. Upon arrival, he meets the Count who reveals the intent lease Carfax Alley and head to England the next day. Overnight, Dracula would reveal his vampiric persona by turning him into a lunatic slave, guarding his coffin he would rest in during the trip to England. There, the Count would continue his hunt for blood by killing a flower girl in public, undetected to civilians. At an opera house, he would introduce himself to Doctor Jack Seward (who runs a sanatorium) and his family: his daughter Mina, her fiancé John Harker and family friend Lucy Weston. While John and Mina find him odd, Lucy is quickly attracted to him but would be killed by him at night as well. Around the time of her passing, Renfield would be remanded to Doctor Seward’s care due to the disgusting habit of eating insects. Professor Gabriel Van Helsing would be called upon to analyze Renfield’s blood and catch on to the connection he has with vampires. The behavior of the latter would deem odder than before when claiming his nightly cries will trouble Mina’s dreams and become troubled of the howls of a wolf nearby, as the well as the presence of wolfsbane said to be used as protection against vampires. Dracula would now find himself infatuated with Mina, where he would bite her at night. When she meets Van Helsing the next evening, she shares her dreams of a man attacking him, which is only proven real when noticing the bite mark on her neck. When Dracula chooses to visit, Van Helsing and Harker realize the Count is a vampire when noticing he doesn’t have a mirror reflection. When the professor shows this to the latter, he would violently react by smashing the mirror before leaving. Just as it’s confirmed whose been causing trouble in London, Mina would encounter Dracula at the garden and get attacked by him. When a maid finds her unconscious, she is taken home to recover. Nights after this, reports are going around of a woman attacking children. When Mina is asked of who it could be, she confirms it to be Lucy whose now become one of Dracula’s vampiric wives. Harker suggests leaving with Mina, but Van Helsing insists for her to stay in order to prevent her from dying in the hands of Dracula. Renfield would escape from his cell and confess Dracula convinced him to be allowed to enter the sanatorium, being promised to feast on rats. Once he gets taken back, the Count confronts Van Helsing, claiming Mina belongs to him and will take her with him back to Transylvania. The vampire tries to hypnotize the professor, but to no effect in shocking fashion. He tries to attack him, only for the human to draw his crucifix, causing him to retreat. As Mina converses with her fiancé over the love of nights, a bat would appear, triggering her to attack her true love. When Van Helsing intervenes with a crucifix, she confesses that Dracula turned her. Another night, he is able to convince her nurse to remove wolfsbane from her so he can take her to his new home in Carfax Abbey. When Van Helsing and Harker spot Renfield heading there, they catch up to him and realize what the vampire is up to. Believing to have been betrayed, Dracula kills his servant before choosing to rest in his coffin. Knowing he has no choice but to sleep during daytime, Van Helsing is able to stab his heart with a makeshift stake. The film would end with Mia being confirmed to be free from the curse.
THOUGHTS
Growing up, watching Universal's catalog of films in which the monsters were the leads always interested me because it represented how the most complicated creatures have a lot to say. That was the case here because director Tod Browning came through in moving us with a story bound to be unpleasant. If the name doesn't get you feeling such, then hearing 'Swan Lake' during the intro will get the job done. I've been highly fascinated with the production design here, especially whenever it was Dracula's castle because it makes clear this isn't a peaceful vicinity. The whole time, you're on edge because you're not entirely sure how a monster like a vampire can come for prey. The idea of vampires have remained scary to this day because you never imagine someone dead to still lurk around actively. A character like Count Dracula has stood the test of time because you assume he is a respectable figure until the cover is blown. You never expect being attractive to be so dangerous until you see him take action. He gets you on edge because you start to assume this draining force would come for you next. Without question, you know Bela Lugosi was meant to play this character and succeeds in doing so thanks to a costume and makeup that accurately insinuates how formidable he was within. The actions this character makes and the blindness people have over him originally defines the true theme of the story whereas you cannot assume everything is fine, never be blinded by charm/beauty and never ignore what people believe because if you choose to act self minded, there will be a string of consequences. The one character who learns this harder than anyone is Renfield. Dwight Frye showed him as one who was completely clueless of all the red flags and was selfishly focused on the investment he was hoping to make. Sadly for him, he would become slowly deranged and the only you'd respect about him is how he refused to kill humans and compromised with bugs. Had he been aware of what he walking into, he would never have to be put into a position to be put out of misery. It's no surprise that the true hero of the story is Van Helsing. We were rooting for this guy the whole time because Edward Van Sloan portrayed him as one who understood everything he knew and used it to his advantage against the enemy. The second he knew the enemy was vulnerable, he didn't waste any time finishing him and it was a glorious victory. The fact that he had enough will ignore Dracula's hypnotism is downright incredible because it comes to show you don't always need a power to outsmart the enemy. Knowing how formidable he became here is no wonder he's been around in various adaptations with the Count ever since. What doesn't get enough credit these days is the trailblazing performance of Helen Chandler as Mina. She goes from acting disinterested, to being trance-like invigorated which I find to be an incredible transition. Seeing how innocent she is in the situation has you rooting for her the whole time, putting us in relief she survives the curse by the end. The big difference she had from Frances Dade's Lucy was the latter being too open minded intimately, which only paved the way for a tragic end to her mortality. With the great threat being dealt with, I'm sure Mina will have a happily ever after with Harker however they can. In short, 1931's Dracula is a horror classic for feeling suspenseful dread in unexpected ways. If vampires are your favorite kind of monsters, you gotta go where it all started.
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