Tuesday, October 9, 2018

1931 Dracula

Dracula (c)1931
The 1931 movie version of Dracula, with the title character acted by Bela Lugosi, produced by Universal, and directed by Tod Browning is a classic movie that will probably be famous for ages to come as a wonderfully made and acted story in its genre. The story changes a little, with Renfield going to Transylvania instead of Jonathan Harker, likely done to explain Renfield's insanity later. As might be expected, Renfield's excursion to Dracula's castle doesn't go as well for him as Harker's does in the book. After this, we get an exciting story with characters recognized from the book but changed a little to adapt to the screen. We're missing Arthur and Quincey, but we still get John Seward, no longer a twenty-something young doctor, but a middle-aged man, and the apparently widowed father of Mina. He's still in charge of the same asylum as in the book, and Renfield is a patient there. Jonathan Harker is still there, as is Lucy, whose fate is the same as in the book. The heroic Van Helsing played by Edward Van Sloan  is also one of the main protagonists in the fight to save Mina from Dracula.

I enjoy the movie every time I watch it, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys slightly scary classical movies with little blood, and no foul language.

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