Directed by Tod Browning
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)
Mild mannered businessman Renfield (Dwight Frye) travels to Transylvania to complete a real estate transaction with one Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi, in his signature role). Ignoring the warnings of the locals, he goes to the Count's castle and spends the night. He is of course bitten by Lugosi, a vampire, and becomes his slave. They travel to England where Lugosi takes up residence in Carfax Abbey, which happens to be next door to the sanitarium where Renfield has been committed. The imminent Dr. Van Helsing correctly diagnoses Renfield and Lugosi as vampires, but not before they have infected the pretty daughters of the director of the institution. Helsing confronts Lugosi with a mirror, then follows him next door where he drives a wooden stake through his heart. The film is at its most powerful in the opening scenes in Transylvania, particularly those in Dracula's decrepit, crumbling castle. However, when the action shifts to England, the plot becomes talky and spends far too much time in boring drawing rooms at the sanitarium. Dwight Frye overplays his Renfield character and becomes an annoyance. There are too many fake flying bats, including one scene where a bat speaks to a character by squeaking. Things pick up towards the end with some scenes in the equally crumbling Carfax Abbey, but they are too brief and the ending rather abrupt.
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