children of the night
 

White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack

Bela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box

Bela Lugosi's dead
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Bela Lugosi's dead

The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time's dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count

Bela Lugosi's dead
Bela Lugosi's dead
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead

Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead
Undead undead undead

;);););););););)

I will be starting my reviews tonight starting with Dracula. If I'm honest I would rather not review it because everyone has seen it and reviewed it a million times but it would be stupid to not include it. Sorry for the delay with the thread I need the time to sit down and watch it and pick it apart. It took me well over an hour just to review Mr Sardonicus last night. Reviews are not my strong point please bare with me and thanks for all the interest so far.

I love all those films you featured. Invisible Ghost is a low budget fave of mine.

Dracula 1931

Solicitor Renfield leaves his home in London his destination is the Carpathian mountains in eastern Europe where he must meet with the mysterious Count Dracula to finalise the sale of a property in London call Carfax Abbey. Ignoring the warnings to stay away from the Counts castle Renfield is determined to stick to his appointment and get the transfer of Carfax Abbey complete so he can return to London as soon as possible. Shortly after meeting Count Dracula Reinfield is drugged and used to protect Dracula while he sleeps in his coffin on his journey across the sea to London.

On arriving in London the everyone on the ship is dead apart from Renfield who is found below deck after loosing his mind and feasting on rats and insects. Renfield is taken to a a sanitarium run by Dr. Seward. Dracula comes to Dr Sewards house to try and find Renfield but instead finds Mina the daughter of the doctor and he becomes entranced by her beauty. After killing her friend Lucy Dracula turns his attention to Mina and soon she is totally under his spell. With her moods and health in rapid decline Dr Seward consults his colleague Dr. Van Helsing who is convinced her sudden change is cause by an encounter with a vampire and Count Dracula is the vampire then seek.

We have all seen the films heard the stories and read the books so there is no need to go to too much detail my main focus with talking about Dracula is the discuss the performance of Bela Lugosi and Count Dracula. But before i do that i have to mention Dwight Frye as Renfield. His performance is outstanding when he is totally under Draculas spell his role of a man no longer in control of his own sanity and emotions ranging from weak and afraid of his own shadow to a crazed lunatic he almost steals the spotlight from Lugosi. Almost

From the moment Bela Lugosi appears on screen he is a very intimidating and imposing figure. When he first appears on the steps to greet Mr Renfield he seems to float where he delivers the famous line " Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make." with such creepy conviction. Every close of on his face of which there are many throughout the film he delivers an almost hypnotic stare that in 1931 im sure frightened the lives out of the cinema going public. Lugosi has to be given a lot of credit for his performance because at the time he could barely speak any English but still managed to give a very convincing performance non the less and sadly people do not seem to be very aware of this fact so just put how he delivers his lines as bad acting or over dramatisation. Love or hate his performance there is no one that can deny the lasting impact Lugosi had on what image pops into peoples minds when they hear the name Dracula.

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http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...r48co1_500.gif


http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp...3cceo1_400.gif


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Keep in mind Dracula is almost a silent film. ;)
I mean it's somewhat of a transition between silents and talkies as Tod Browning (as well as many actors) was just adjusting to the talkies.

Reportedly there was even a silent version for theatres not yet equipped for sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UehobGtSnOk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqr3yzr64V4

It's interesting some scenes from the script were filmed for the Spanish version and apparently not for the English one, I always wondered about those? The English version has always felt suspiciously short imho. ;)

The second Gif sums up Lugosi for me. ;)

The Spanish version seems more sexualised or is that just me :blush: