Introduction
Most people are aware of the 1931 Universal Studios classic film Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. However, there is considerably less knowledge of a second version made in tandem for Spanish-speaking audiences. This article will discuss the making of both of these films.
Nosferatu and the Rights to the Novel
In 1922, German Expressionist filmmaker F. W. Murnau directed the silent vampire classic Nosferatu. This bore a strong resemblance to the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The similarities between the movie and the novel did not go unnoticed, especially by Stoker’s widow. She sued the German filmmakers for plagiarism and copyright infringement. The court ruled in her favor and all copies of the movie were ordered to be destroyed (they weren’t).
Subsequently, in 1924, Stoker’s heirs authorized a play version of the novel to be produced by playwright Hamilton Deane and writer John L. Balderston. By 1927, the play, which starred Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi as the titular character, was a tremendous success and traveled across the United States throughout 1928.
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Carl Laemmle Jr, son of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle Sr., had his eyes set on making a spectacle to rival his father’s films The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1925) and The Phantom of the Opera (1928). Universal Pictures paid $40,000 for the screen rights to Dracula. This would be Universal’s first foray into monster-based horror in the sound age.
The studio decided to make two separate versions of Dracula. One would be in English and another in Spanish. By 1930 the studio concentrated on developing Spanish-language films for the foreign market. This was because the advent of sound made releases in foreign nations more difficult than during the silent era.
The English Language Version
Casting
The original choice to play both Dracula and Professor Van Helsing was Lon Chaney. Chaney had experience playing multiple lead roles in the same movie during the silent era. This was due to his makeup artist’s expertise allowing him to look different from each character. Unfortunately, Chaney died on August 26, 1930, from a pneumonia-related throat hemorrhage a month before filming was to begin.
Lugosi, who eventually won the role, was not considered at all after Chaney’s passing. Instead, actor Lew Ayres was cast. However, Universal soon put him in the film Many a Slip (1931) and scheduling conflicts caused the role of Dracula to be recast. Ayers was replaced by Robert Ames, who was in turn replaced with David Manners. It was then decided that Manners should play the role of John Harker in the film instead. This left the role of Dracula open once again.
Lugosi, who was in Los Angeles playing Dracula on the stage at the time, learned of this casting turmoil and lobbied hard for the part. When the actor agreed to a meager salary of $500 per week of filming, he was cast in the titular role.
Edward Van Sloan, who played the role of Van Helsing in the play, was also hired to reprise his role in the film. Bernard Jukes, who played Renfield opposite Lugosi and Van Sloan in the play, petitioned to reprise his role as well. However, he was replaced by Dwight Frye.
Tod Browning who co-produced the film with Laemmle Jr. cast Helen Chandler as the heroine Mina. This was based on her Broadway performance in the play The Silent House. Having appeared in several movies, she was the most well-known cast member. She was also the highest paid, earning $750 per week.
Script
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Louis Bromfield was brought in by Universal to write the adaptation of the novel. Bromfield’s draft was deemed to be too faithful to the novel and he was replaced. His draft included things such as Dracula being old at the beginning of the film and becoming younger as he feeds on the blood of his prey. Also, Jonathan Harker was in Transylvania in the film’s opening scenes.
Garrett Fort was brought in to write a new script. Fort’s version took the Dracula stage play and added elements from Nosferatu such as a scene at Dracula’s castle where Renfield pricks his finger on a paper clip and it starts to bleed.
Filming
Filming on Dracula began on the Universal lot on September 29, 1930. The 36-day production was extremely loose and disorganized with no true shooting schedule. Although Browning was the credited director, he shot very little of the movie. This left the majority of the work to cinematographer Karl Freund.
Lugosi was very distant from the other cast members during filming. He would often pose in front of a full-length mirror acting in character, which his cast mates found odd. Chandler, who was reportedly drunk during much of the filming, would often laugh at these antics in a loud and obnoxious manner.
“I can still see Lugosi, parading up and down the stage, posing in front of a full-length mirror, throwing his cape over his shoulder and shouting, ‘I am Dracula!’ He was mysterious and never really said anything to the other members of the cast except good morning when he arrived and good night when he left. He was polite, but always distant. I never thought he was acting, but being the odd man he was.”
– David Manners
Overall the cast didn’t think much of the movie while filming it, or after its release for that matter. Lugosi went as far as to vow to never play Dracula again. However, he would reprise the role in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
“No! Not at any price. When I’m through with this picture I hope to never hear of Dracula again. I cannot stand it…I do not intend that it shall possess me.”
– Bela Lugosi
“Overplayed — over-written — altogether lousy.”
– Edward Van Sloan
“It would be an awful fate, for instance, to go around being a pale little girl in a trance with her arms outstretched as in Dracula, all the rest of my screen career!”
– Helen Chandler