One Paragraph Movie Review: Dracula (1931)

One hundred and nineteenth film: Dracula, the one from 1931 with Bela Lugosi in it, and the first time the book I’m using for reference has made me watch two films with the same name about the same thing in a row. An extremely good looking movie, all angles and shadows and painted backdrops and early 1930s styling, I prefer it over the comparatively garish and obvious 1958 version for its subtlety and craftsmanship, terms that only fall short when it comes to the depiction of realistic bats. Mind you, if everyone moved and spoke at normal speed instead of spooky melodrama speed, this film would be about fifteen minutes long. You never actually see a vampire bite a neck, presumably because that sort of thing is ankle-flash levels of sexy in 1931, but everything still manages to be sinister and romantic with only suggestions of horror. Good. And now I really want a steak. Three big boxes of dirt out of five.