4.12 - DRACULA (1931) and Abstraction

The next film in our vampire sub-season is the first talkie: 1931’s DRACULA. We do some reviewing, some not-always-favourable comparison with NOSFERATU, and then talk about late-Victorian culture, temporal distance, and the fact that there are two very different sorts of vampire film.

Next Time
Our next film is another Bela Lugosi vehicle, from later in his career: THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943).

Recent Media
GHOSTS (2019): Tom Kingsley, Lolly Adefope, Matthew Baynton
VERONICA MARS (2004–06): Rob Thomas, Kristin Bell, Percy Daggs III

Recommendations
FREAKS (1932): Tod Browning, Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams
WHITE ZOMBIE (1932): Victor Halperin, Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy
THE MUMMY (1932): Karl Freund, Boris Karloff, Zita Johann

Footnotes Firstly, here’s a reminder of the 1897 source material for both this week’s film and last week’s: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula. After our discussion of some of the brilliant camerawork in this film, here’s some more on this: www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/30-movies-with-the-most-brilliant-camera-work and www.slideshare.net/joebsmedia/camerawork-and-cinematography-in-thriller-movies. For more on Jack the Ripper, there’s so much to read out there; this www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Jack-the-Ripper and this www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ripper_jack_the.shtml are good places to start. Finally, this is a pre-Code film; for more on what this means, as we’ve mentioned before, see here: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code_Hollywood.