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Dracula [1931] Prehistoric in film technique, amazingly mannered in its supporting
cast and stuck with a drawing room-centered script, this is nevertheless
an essential horror movie, spotlighting [literally, via tiny pinlights
aimed at his evil eyes] Bela Lugosi's star-making turn as Dracula, squeezing
Hungarian menace out of every syllable of 'cheeldren of the naight,
leesten to thaim' or 'I nevair dreenk vine!' Though it bogs down after
two reels, it opens magnificently with a trip to Lugosi's cobwebbed
and vermin-haunted castle [an armadillo nestles in a Transylvanian crypt]
and the appearance of three soulless vampire brides who descend on the
unwary visitor. Once it gets to London, Lugosi calms down, but Edward
Van Sloan is staunch as Van Helsing, the forgotten Helen Chandler frailly
charming as Mina and Dwight Frye steals every scene that isn't nailed
down as the fly-eating Renfield. Director Tod Browning may have been
on auto-pilot, but the star and the art department make this a classic. First Published In: Empire Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com
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