"Dracula" Review

 

by Daniel White

"Listen to them, children of the night, what music they make."

Ah yes, that's Bela Lugosi as the infamous count who uttered that most memorable of lines in Tod Browning's Dracula. This month is the 140th anniversary of Lugosi's birth and I can't think of a better way to pay homage than to watch him in the role that made him a film immortal. He may not be cinema's best Dracula but he's MY Dracula - I am his faithful minion, tethered to my master for eternity.

The flick itself is not the greatest movie of the macabre but it is comprised of such eerie moments and distinct, noteworthy lines like the one above that it remains involving and compelling - an essential in the horror film canon. Released by Universal on Valentine's day, 1931 (billed as "The strangest Passion the world has ever known"), the film was an immediate hit and made a superstar out of Lugosi. Yes, the Hungarian actor was typecast as a horror performer (something he feared would happen) but if it weren't for Dracula, I doubt he would have achieved any lasting fame at all.

Though Browning was the director, cinematographer Karl Freund helmed large portions of the flick. It seems Browning was involved in several projects simultaneously and could not give the movie the attention it warranted. Freund is a genius, responsible for several critical inventions in both film and television. Any dude who was integral to the success of both Dracula AND I Love Lucy is a Hollywood god and belongs in the pantheon of artistic giants. Besides Bela as the diabolical Dracula, the fright flick also contains a riveting, mesmerizing turn by Dwight Frye as the fly-feasting Renfield. He gives an unsettling, uncompromising and most of all, unforgettable performance.

Lugosi, Frye and Edward Van Sloan as the fearless, determined Van Helsing have been provided with a pithy, juicy screenplay by Garrett Fort (adapted from the stage play). I'd forgotten how many quotable lines this movie contains! With the tragic Helen Chandler as the fragile Mina, David Manners as the hapless Harker, and the haunting music of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Dracula is currently streaming on Tubi.

"To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious... There are far worse things waiting man than death."