Dracula (1931) is essentially an exercise in the style of Gothic Horror whose success succeeded in establishing that style as the definitive aesthetic of Universal Studios’ horror films of the 1930s. One of the most compelling choices Browning made when he was shooting Dracula was to push the performers in the direction of theatricality (or what today would be called “camp”). The narrative is unbelievably fantastic and is able to achieve an uneasy sort of otherworldliness as a result of not just the visuals, but of the direction Browning gave his actors.
In the thirties, the campy acting in Dracula was no doubt overshadowed by the lavish set design by Charles D. Hall. Hall, who worked on a number of Universal’s horror films, managed to combine the aesthetic of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923) with that of The Golem (1920) to create a pulpy kind of neo-expressionism. Browning, as was normal at the time, shot much of Dracula without recording sound, allowing scenes to build in silence, heightening the suspense dramatically in post (when often sound would be added throughout the entirety of a film). Carl Theodor Dreyer would improve upon Browning’s use of silence significantly the following year when he directed his own gothic horror film Vampyr (1932).
Count Dracula is also not the classic “anti-hero” of The Unknown or West Of Zanzibar. Bela Lugosi depicts Count Dracula with such a lack of dimension that the character is unable to transcend being anything more than a monster. The obvious difference between the quality of Dracula and that of Freaks is most often attributed to the death of Browning’s most frequent collaborator Lon Chaney Sr. In 1930, Lon Chaney Sr., “the man of a thousand faces”, died of cancer. Originally, Browning had committed to making Dracula under the assumption that Chaney would play the lead. With Chaney’s death, Browning had to make the film without him, and has been reported to have been disinterested in the films production.
Regardless of Browning’s personal feelings toward his film, Dracula remains one of the most influential and popular American films ever made. Despite this popularity most of Tod Browning’s silent work is largely ignored by fans of this later film. In many ways Browning was never able to achieve the technical greatness of his silent period again.
