This DVD cover for the film shows Lugosi in the role which would type-cast him for the rest of his career.

Dracula is a 1931 horror film produced by Universal Pictures Co. Inc. and based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. DVD cover showing actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula in the film Dracula. ... DVD cover showing actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula in the film Dracula. ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... 1931 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... Universal Studios logo This article is about the Universal Studios movie studio and Universal Hollywood Amusement park. ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp Dracula is a fictional character, inarguably the most famous vampire in literature. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847–April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ...

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 film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Charles Albert Browning, Jr. ... A screenplay or script is a blueprint for producing a motion picture. ... Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc DezsÅ‘ Blaskó (October 20, 1882–August 16, 1956). ... David Manners (April 30, 1901 – December 23, 1998) was a Canadian film actor. ... Helen Chandler (February 1, 1906 – April 30, 1965) was an American film and theater actress. ... Dwight Frye (born February 22, 1899 in Salina, Kansas; died November 7, 1943 in Hollywood, California) was an American stage and screen actor. ...

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 Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to approximately 1939. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera Lon Chaney, Sr. ...

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. Frankenstein is a 1931 horror film from Universal Pictures loosely based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. ... The Wolf Man is a 1941 horror film written by Curt Siodmak and produced and directed by George Waggner, staring Lon Chaney Jr, Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Ralph Bellamy, Patrick Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and Maria Ouspenskaya. ... Universal Studios logo This article is about the Universal Studios movie studio and Universal Hollywood Amusement park. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... // Events and trends The 1930s were spent struggling for a solution to the global depression. ... // Events and trends The 1940s were dominated by World War II, the most destructive armed conflict in history. ...

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. The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Trivia

A Spanish language version, Dr�cula (IMDB:tt0021815), directed by George Melford and starring [[Carlos Villar�as]], was produced contemporaneously with the English version, using the same stages, props, and equipment. Carl Laemmle Jr. was the producer of both versions. The Browning/Lugosi crew would work on the English language version during the day, and the Melford/Villar�as crew would have the set in the evening. This article is about the international language known as Spanish. ... Carl Laemmle Jr. ...

Curiously, the Spanish version has recently become more highly praised by some than the English version, which became more famous. The Spanish crew would watch the reels from the English crew's version when they came in for the evening. They would work out better camera angles and more effective use of lighting. As a result, when compared side-by-side, the Spanish version is considered by some to be much more artistically effective.

External link

• Dracula at the Internet Movie Database
• Dracula at the All Movie Guide