Dracula 1931

Mordaunt Hall, New York Times: With Mr. Browning's imaginative direction and Mr. Lugosi's makeup and weird gestures, this picture succeeds to some extent in its grand guignol intentions. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: The opening scenes, set in Dracula's castle, are magnificent -- grave, stately, and severe. But the film becomes unbearably static once the action moves to England. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Dracula deserves its status as a classic, although one might be tempted to append the word 'lesser' to that label. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Certainly it is Lugosi's performance, and the cinematography of Karl Freund, that make Tod Browning's film such an influential Hollywood picture. Read more

TIME Magazine: An exciting melodrama, not as good as it ought to be but a cut above the ordinary trapdoor-and-winding-sheet type of mystery film. Read more

Tom Milne, Time Out: Not by any means the masterpiece of fond memory or reputation, although the first twenty minutes are astonishingly fluid and brilliantly shot by Karl Freund. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: A sublimated ghost story related with all surface seriousness and above all with a remarkably effective background of creepy atmosphere. Read more