Universal Monsters Presents: Dracula (1931)

Before Halloween is out, I wanted to make sure I had seen some of the most classic monster movies I could. I started the month with Nosferatu, and I've waited almost the whole month before attempting to watch director Tod Browning's Dracula. I have plans to watch another Universal monster movie today, so I got up early so I would have the time. This unfortunately worked against me when combined with some other factors which I'll explain after the jump. So how does this, the most classic of all vampire movies, hold up 80 years after it was made? Hit the jump and find out!


Do I really need to go into the story for this, other than to explain that it's the same as Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1992, or that they're all based on the same book that Nosferatu also stole its basic plot from? Might as well. A man named Renfield (Dwight Frye) goes to Transylvania to finalize a property sale to one Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi). Dracula comes to London to live in his newly purchased property, Carfax Abby. There he encounters, and subsequently attacks several young women, including Lucy (Frances Dade) and Mina (Helen Chandler). The brilliant professor Van Helsing knows of the mysteries of the things that go bump in the night, and he'll stop at nothing to put an end to the evil vampire!

Watching this movie became a bit of chore, sadly. Not only have I seen the 1992 movie several times, but less than a month ago I saw the same story played out in Nosferatu. This combined with the fact that I got up early, meant that I actually fell asleep in the middle of the movie. When I woke up, I did go back and pick up the movie where I last saw it, but it can't be denied that I wasn't very captivated by a story I've seen so many times before.

Bela Lugosi, the best Dracula ever on screen

Thankfully, the acting and the characters were really good. The acting in particular was fantastic. Dwight Frye who plays Renfield, and the man who subsequently goes insane after his horrific encounters with Dracula in Transylvania, is really fun to watch. On all the depictions of the Renfield character, Frye is easily the best, going from calm and seemingly normal, and snapping in an instant back to his insane, bug-eating, blood-obsessed alter-ego.

While Nosferatu cut out Van Helsing entirely, he's present, and a major character here. Played by Edward Van Sloan, I thought he was great in portraying this slightly creepy, yet brilliant and knowledgeable professor who specializes in the unbelievable. Bela Lugosi is possibly the best depiction of Dracula I've ever seen. He embodies the character like no one else. Every other actor who tries to be Dracula, is just imitating Bela Lugosi who pulled it off perfectly 80 years ago.

Dwight Frye as the crazy Renfield

One of my favorite scenes in the film is when Dracula comes to visit his neighbours, and to see Mina. Moments before his arrival she was complaining of a terrifying dream about red eyes and a pale face in the mist, and of the marks on her neck. Professor Van Helsing is also there to check on her. When Dracula shows up, at first no one suspects anything, but Helsing notices that Dracula has no reflection in the mirrored interior of a cigarette box. When everyone departs the room, Dracula confronts Helsing face to face in a battle of words. Now they both know who the other truly is. The tension in this scene in intense, even though nothing happens except the two talking to each other. Easily the best scene in the movie!

Van Helsing knows Dracula's secret

Not everything is great though, and the effects, if I can even call them that, are odd at best, and laughable at worst. Particularly bad are the bats in the movie. Dracula is supposed to be able to transform into a bat, or a wolf. We never see the wolf form, but we do see the bat. Unfortunately it's nothing more than a rubber toy on some strings and it flaps and flops around awkwardly in every scene it appears. The other odd effect is how they depict Dracula's piercing and transfixing gaze. Because there's no colour in the film, the best they can do is shine little reflected lights on his eyes. While I understood what was happening plot-wise, it was just a weird looking effect.

Possibly the most WTF moment in the film is very early on while still in Transylvania. We see Count Dracula and his transformed vampire wives open their coffins and leave them. Then, for a second, we see a bee or a wasp crawl out of a miniature of a coffin. Some sites suggest that this is supposed to look like a man-sized bee and a normal sized coffin, but it's pretty obvious what it really is, and it has to be the most silly moment of the film. Dracula has quite the collection of animals in his house, like the possums that seem to live in his crypt, and then of course there are the armadillos that run around his living room! Don't ask me, I have no idea if those are vampire armadillos. 

The Vampire Bee!

Do armadillos even live in Transylvania?

Of course a favorite moment of mine when watching old films is hearing classic lines pop up. Unfortunately I only recognized 1 or 2. The best one being from Dracula as he hears wolves howling in the distance. "Listen to them. The children of the night. What music they make."

In the end, I can say that Dracula is a very good film, even today. Its silly bat effects don't hold up, but the acting, characters, and even the grand sets and locations are very good. The only thing that held it back for me was that I've seen the story so many times before, be it in remakes, or rip-offs. Nevertheless, it's like this because it's a good story and a good script. If you're curious about this classic, it won't disappoint. This is by far a better movie than Nosferatu could ever be! There's a reason why these characters have lasted the decades and why Bela Lugosi has the reputation that he has!