Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)

A flawed classic, Tod Browning's very loose adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula was his third sound film after an incredible run of silents in the '10s and '20s. The result is a mixed bag with several moments of genius, especially Bela Lugosi's scenes, and a constant tension between Browning's wonderfully perverse sensibility and the studio's corny blandness. Fortunately, the bad scenes are pretty forgettable and the great scenes are immortal.

Browning's Dracula takes many liberties with the source material, limiting the importance of some characters, abbreviating much of the plot, and making Renfield the character who visits Dracula's castle in the Carpathians instead of Jonathan Harker. None of these changes hurt the film much, except for Frances Dade's truncated scenes as Lucy. She has a real spark, and the film could have used a lot more of her, especially considering her importance in the novel.

The most egregious problem is the dullness of the characters of Harker (David Manners) and Mina (Helen Chandler), fascinating characters in the novel and in some of the other film adaptations. Chandler is reasonably competent in her scenes, but only shows a few flashes of personality and only really comes alive when she shares the screen with Dade. (Bette Davis was Browning's choice for the role, but studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr., didn't think she had enough sex appeal.) Manners as Harker is a milquetoast bore, a snooze who drags the film down whenever he's onscreen. It's strange to see such flat characters in a Browning film considering how most of his other work is full of memorably strange people, from the leads to the extras, but Browning didn't have final cut. Laemmle, the same genius who vetoed Bette Davis, said Browning's cut was too creepy and forced a re-edit. Browning has said of the final product that most of his best scenes were removed.

What we have left, and what has made this film endure, is Lugosi's iconic performance as Dracula, Dwight Frye's unsettling turn as Renfield, Karl Freund's wonderful cinematography, the gorgeously creepy set design, the underused but memorable shots of Dracula's brides, and Browning's weird personal touches (like having a couple armadillos roaming around Dracula's castle). I was also particularly fond of this line of dialogue: "Isn't this a strange conversation for men who aren't crazy?"

Dracula is not the triumph it could have been, but there are enough great scenes, images, lines, and performances to make it worthy of its classic status. Browning would go on to make three more horror films that better represented the strangeness and complexity of his point of view (Mark of the Vampire, Freaks, and The Devil-Doll), but Dracula is still very much worth visiting and revisiting. Except for that dork Harker. Catch you later. 

Bloodsuckers (Robert Hartford-Davis as Michael Burrowes, 1971)

Also known as Incense for the Damned, Freedom Seekers, and Doctors Wear Scarlet, this pulpy, offbeat British vampire tale makes room for international political intrigue, a hangover-of-swinging -'60s Greek death cult, a couple of lengthy chase and fight scenes, gay and bisexual text pretending to be hidden as subtext, a wigged-out acid trip, precarious dangling from rocky cliffs, overbearing future fathers-in-law, Oxford University administrative and faculty shenanigans, Patrick Macnee, Peter Cushing, and an Edward Woodward cameo for the ages.

A slowly paced film punctuated with scenes of action, Bloodsuckers throws us right in the middle of a somewhat complicated plot with a helpful, enjoyably ridiculous voice-over bringing us up to speed. Promising young Oxford student Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower) is missing in Greece and has been alarmingly close in proximity to a series of murders. Richard is engaged to Penelope Goodrich (Madeleine Hinde), whose father is Dr. Walter Goodrich (Cushing), the head of Oxford University. The controlling, overbearing Dr. Goodrich sees Fountain as his academic successor and wants to get him married into the family. Dr. Goodrich and Penelope are a lot more interested in making this happen than Richard, who likes to spend his down time sailing and having intense conversations with friend, protege, and fellow Oxford student (and possible romantic interest) Bob Kirby (Johnny Sekka). Oh yeah, Richard is also a virgin who has been impotent his whole life.

While doing academic research in Greece, Richard falls under the sway of a group of libertine Greek hippies who enjoy dancing in kaftans by the pool and having acid-fueled bisexual orgies. But, wait, it's more sinister than that. The Greek hippies are a death cult led by sexy vampire Chriseis (Imogen Hassall) who has put Richard in a trance. Richard can't get it up, but he can experience sexual thrills from Chriseis' vampire bite. Long story short, the Greek government wants Richard the hell out of its country, and the Oxford people want him back. Neither want any publicity or scandals. Two British government officials, Derek Longbow (Macnee) and Tony Seymore (Alexander Davion), team up with Bob Kirby and Penelope and head to Greece to get their boy back. Wild shit ensues, and getting him back is only the half of it.

Whew, that's a spicy flavor combination of story, but not everyone was enthused about the filmed results. Many online reviewers claim that this film is too slow and boring, but I disagree. Bloodsuckers has a relaxed, leisurely pace, and genre fans looking for nonstop thrills and outrageous gore will be disappointed, but the unusual story, entertaining cast, used paperback atmosphere, time capsule feel, and dry British hilarity kept me happily watching, and the slowness was broken up by several scenes of horror, action, and suspense.
Director Hartford-Davis was another of the film's detractors, but he had a rough time making the movie. The bulk of the film was shot in 1969, but production stopped when the money ran out. When the producers finally raised the funds to resume shooting the final scenes, Hartford-Davis was unavailable and another director (whose name is strangely difficult to find online) finished the job. Hartford-Davis disowned the film, believing it still looked unfinished, and is either credited as Michael Burrowes or not at all, depending on the print.

OK, Bloodsuckers is far from a classic, but if you're a fan of late-'60s/early -70s B-movies, British horror, offbeat vampire stories, and Cushing, Macnee, and Woodward, I think you'll find a lot to enjoy here. About that Woodward cameo. He plays Dr. Holstrom, an expert on anthropology, sexuality, and the occult who is visited by Tony Seymore to get some insight into why Richard fell under the sway of Greek bloodsuckers, and Woodward gives this five-minute cameo the best five minutes of the film. Dr. Holstrom is the polar opposite of Woodward's Wicker Man character, who would have never stopped blushing around this guy. "Vampirism is a sexual perversity," Holstrom says with a gleam in his eyes, rolling the "r" in "vampirism" to comic lengths and pronouncing "sexual" as "secks-you-alll," kicking off a monologue of perversions that builds in hilarity and is more than worth the price of admission/rental/the two hours of your life the rest of the movie occupies.