Winter Sucks 2024: Dracula (1931)
Director: Tod Browning Run Time: 75 min. Rating: Passed Release Year: 1931
Starring: Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Helen Chandler
Country: United States
Language: English, Hungarian, Latin
Winter Sucks 2024 at Gateway Film Center
A collection of the most blood-thinning vampire films of all time. The Film Center will present Dracula (1931) with the original score on March 19th and the Philip Glass score on March 20th.
About the film:
British estate agent Renfield travels to Transylvania to meet with the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a castle in London and is, unbeknownst to Renfield, a vampire. After Dracula enslaves Renfield and drives him to insanity, the pair sail to London together, and as Dracula begins preying on London socialites, the two become the subject of study for a supernaturalist professor, Abraham Van Helsing.
Based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula (1931) was originally released as a romantic thriller on Valentine’s Day in 1931. A relatively unknown actor at the time, Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of Dracula established the character as a cultural icon and influenced generations of retellings. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2000.
While the film originally featured select segments of classical music, a new version includes a full, compelling score commissioned by Universal in the late 1990s. The new score was composed by Philip Glass – one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century – and performed by the Kronos Quartet.
About the filmmaker:
Tod Browning was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. Belonging to a well-situated family, he fell in love at the age of 16 with a dancer of a circus. Following her began his itinerary of being clown, jockey and director of a variety theater which ended when he met D.W. Griffith and became an actor. He made his debut in Intolerance (1916). Working later on as a director, he had his first success with The Unholy Three (1925) which had his typical style of a mixture of fantasy, mystery and horror. His biggest hit was the classic Dracula (1931), in which he also appears as the voice of the harbor master.
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