Dracula (1931)

In film circles students of cinema are aware of the auteur theory, a theory that a director has a distinct style that is portrayed in his/her various films. This can clearly be seen in the stylings of such filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, or Frank Capra. In some cases this can be applied to that of producers or even an entire studio. This theory can clearly be seen as true towards production companies in the 1930s as the various major studios found a corner of the motion picture market that they excelled in better then their competitors and continued to produce like productions throughout the decade. Warner Bros. had a hold on the gangster genre. MGM was known for their lavishly dressed large productions. But Universal found its knack in the realm of the supernatural thriller, or as we may simply know it as the horror genre. From the moment Carl Laemmle Jr. set up his studio in hills north of Los Angeles, dubbing it Universal City, it seemed that he was continuously churning out films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Man Who Laughs, and The Phantom of the Opera. These films, though are tragic tales of misunderstood men, shocked audiences and Laemmle felt he had something. 1931 would prove to be a banner year for Universal as it would clearly established itself with the horror/monster films starting with the all-time classic Dracula.

Based on the famous novel by Bram Stoker, which would later become a successful production on the stage, Dracula is the supernatural tale of a Count who travels to London to pray on the blood of young women. Bela Lugosi in his defining role as Count Dracula portrays the eerie gentleman whom is the legendary vampire that prays and kills his victims through biting and sucking on there blood. With the help of his sadistic servant Renfield (Dwight Frye) he makes his way to London where he prays on young Mina (Helen Chandler). After the seduction by Dracula she becomes almost a different person with the craving of blood and the willingness to serve her new master. With the help of her fiancee John (David Manners) and Prof. Van Hellsing (Edward Van Sloan) they discover the truth about the Count and save Mina by driving the stake through the heart of the master vampire breaking her from the spell before she would be lost forever.

The film frightened audiences across the country. People fainted during its screening. As a stunt the film originally had an epilogue that had Van Sloan step onto screen and reassure audiences that they would not have nightmares before stating nervously that there are such things as vampires. Dwight Frye's maniacal lunatic was masterful, as he is downright uncomfortable to watch (in a good way) as a madman performing the bidding of Dracula, all the while sharing haunting laughter. Lugosi's slow movements gave the actions of a walking corpse which was frightening to watch. The film is quite tame compared to the slasher films to come decades later, but to portray on screen such a supernatural being was scary to a far more religious audience who feared for their souls at the sight of a being that could willingly control men and women as Dracula did.

Despite the early era the film was produced in the production quality is superb. Director Tod Browning uses the camera very effectively moving it to show the progress of action rather then showing all in a master shot as many cheap pictures would do. He would also use panning away to allow the transformation of Dracula from a bat to human form to happen off screen. Not that there was a better way to show a transformation on screen with such limited resources, but the slow camera movements and use of sound effects proved perfect for allowing the audience to use their imagination to fill in what was happening. The only real lacking part of production is the terribly fake bats and spiders in the picture, obviously poorly constructed puppets on strings being dangled in front of the camera, but that can be forgivable compared to the remained of the production.

Bela Lugosi would be made famous for his role as the infamous Count Dracula, creating an icon for all time .Lugosi was casted in the role after performing the stage production. His hand gestures, slow movements, accent, and look would redefine Dracula as the public would perceive it for generations to come being copied countless times in other vampire films or even with Halloween costumes. The role proved to be a double-edged sword for Lugosi as not only did it bring him fame, but he would be forever typecasted as that one character for the rest of his career until his death. He would don the cape a few more times, but never as promising or as menacing as in the original film, but as a smaller shadow of the character or even as a humorous version, as seen in Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. His career would slide into near oblivion, appearing in Lugosi performing for Ed Wood pictures as only a shadow of the legend that once frightened movie goers in 1931.

Years later when Hollywood would censor itself with the Hays Code the film would be slightly altered, including the removal of Dracula's groaning as he is being killed and the epilogue about nightmares. The groaning would return in later prints, but the epilogue would be lost in time. The film was a mass hit making great profits all over the world. It would spawn various sequels and remakes, but little stands up to the first real Dracula. (The first version being the copyright infringing Nosferatu which the Stoker estate sued filmmakers over.) Despite not being a 100% accurate portrayal of the Dracula story or appearance of the character it would be this version that would stand the test of time.

Later in the year Universal would release Frankenstein cementing the studio as a horror producing studio. With the likes of the many Dracula sequels, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and The Wolf Man Universal worked in full force to produce monster hits that are classics in the libraries of horror film collectors. Laemmle had an empire, a cheap one, but an empire nonetheless. The horror flick was hear to stay and Dracula is forever a classic.