Movies - Dracula

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	Movies - Dracula

Dracula is a 1931 horror film produced by Universal Pictures Co. Inc. and based on the novel Dracula
by Bram Stoker.

Description

Dracula was directed by Tod Browning, with a screenplay based on the stage play by John L. Balderston. The title role was played by Bela Lugosi. Also starring in the film were David Manners as Jonathan Harker, Helen Chandler as Mina Seward and Dwight Frye as Renfield.

The onset on the Great Depression caused a drastic reduction in the budget for the film, and several grand scenes that closely followed the Stoker storyline, had to be abandoned. It was considered less expensive to stage the film using Balderston's stage play as its basis. Lugosi's portrayal became the one by which he was most remembered and despite his earlier stage successes in a variety of roles, typecast him. The eerie speech pattern of Lugosi's "Dracula" was said to have resulted from the fact that Lugosi did not speak English, and therefore had to learn and speak his lines phonetically. This, however, is urban legend; Lugosi spoke English as well as he ever would by the time the film was made. Lugosi however was not the first choice to play the role. It had been intended as a vehicle for Lon Chaney but Chaney died before the project began.

The film was a great success, and newspapers reported that members of the audiences fainted in shock at the horror onscreen. This publicity, shrewdly orchestrated by the film studio, helped ensure people came to see the film, if for no other reason than curiosity.

It was one of the three films (with Frankenstein
and The Wolf Man
) that formed the bedrock of Universal Studios' horror movie series of the 1930s and 1940s.

A box office success in its day, which has come to be regarded as a classic of the era and of its genre, it has been selected for preservation by the National Film Registry.

Sequels

Five years after the release of the film, Universal released Dracula's Daughter
, a direct sequel that starts moments after the end of the first film. A second sequel, Son of Dracula
, followed in 1943. Despite his apparent death in the 1931 film, the Count returned to life in three more Universal films of the mid-1940s: 1944's House of Frankenstein
, 1945's House of Dracula
and 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
. Only in this final film did Lugosi finally play the role of Count Dracula on screen a second time.

1998 score by Philip Glass

Due to the short lived limitations of adding a musical score to a films soundtrack, during 1930 and 1931, no score had ever been composed specifically for the film. In 1998 minimalist composer Philip Glass was commissioned to compose an original score for the classic film. The score was performed by the Kronos Quartet under direction of Michael Riesman.

Of the project, Glass said: :''"The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film."

The film, with this new score, was released by Universal Studios Home Video in 1999 in the VHS format. The current DVD release allows the viewer to chose between the original, unscored, release or this version.

The Spanish Language Version

A Spanish language version of Drácula was made by director George Melford who simultaneously filmed the movie using the same sets at night. Melford used a different crew and cast that featured Carlos Villarías, who played the title role, and Eduardo Arozamena who portrayed Van Helsing. Carl Laemmle Jr. was the producer of both versions.

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Movies - Dracula

Description

Sequels

1998 score by Philip Glass

The Spanish Language Version

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