Dracula (1931)

I mentioned in my original post on Bela Lugosi as TCM's Star of the Month for October that the 1931 version of Dracula was going to get two airings: one on the first night of the tribute, and a second on Halloween itself. So I recorded the first airing to be able to watch it and do a post for the second, which is tomorrow (October 31) at 3:45 PM.

Lugosi of course plays Dracula, the vampire living in Transylvania. But we have to meet him first, and this character establishment is done in the form of a British estate agent, Renfield (Dwight Frye), going to Romania to see Dracula. Dracula has decided to visit England, since the people in Transylvania seem to know what a monster Dracula is and the English won't know this. Renfield has found a place for Dracula to stay and is there with the contracts. Of course, Dracula has the ability to hypnotize victims just by holding up his hand and staring at the poor unsuspecting dupes. Dracula does this to Renfield, turns Renfield into a fellow blood-sucker, and sets off for England aboard a tramp steamer.

When the boat gets to England, Renfield is the only one alive, seemingly having gone made. Dracula turned into a bat as he has the ability to do and flew off, one assumes. Renfield is sent to a sanatorium run by Dr. Seward. Seward has a lovely daughter, Mina (Helen Chandler), who is engaged to nice young Harker (David Manners). Dracula meets Seward and realizes he's got the opportunity to get at some very lovely young women to turn into his slave-brides. But poor Dracula doesn't realize that Seward has a friend, Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), who knows a few things about vampires, and is able to deduce that Dracula is a vampire turning others into fellow vampires. Van Helsing also has a strong will and knows how not to fall into that hypnotism schtick.

To be honest, the story in this version of Dracula isn't the strongest. To me, a lot of it seemed to rely on the idea that the English were a bunch of ignoramuses. What is worth watching, however, is the acting from Lugosi, who takes the role (well, actually he'd done it on Broadway already as this movie is an adaptation of a stage play based on the book) and milks it for all it's worth and then some. Dwight Frye isn't bad either.

If you haven't seen the 1932 Dracula before, now's your chance.